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Author continues debate on gender issues
Sunday, May 28, 2000
The Gendered Society
by Michael S. Kimmel. Oxford University Press. 315 pp. $30.
Earlier this year, on its editorial
page, this newspaper hailed Toys-R-Us' decision to segregate
its toys into separate "boys" and "girls" sections as
confirmation of the inherent differences between the sexes.
A quick glance at the available research would have shown
the flaws in such thinking; however, there is so much
research that it may be difficult for the non-expert to know
where to start. "The Gendered Society" is exactly the place
to begin.
Unclouded by jargon, this book
offers a concise compendium of gender scholarship, carefully
evaluating the evidence in the debates over what motivates
women's and men's (and girls' and boys') behavior. Examining
a range of studies based in biology, psychology,
anthropology and sociology, Kimmel argues that gender
differences are not essential, but develop from the
environment in which we grow up. As he puts it,
sociobiological claims that evolution determines men's and
women's social and sexual roles "give our contemporary
experiences the weight of history and science" but have "too
many convenient lapses in reasoning for us to be
convinced."
This may not be news, but --
because we continue to encounter myths in need of debunking
-- it is extremely helpful to have a collection of
information about gender in one place. For example, the next
time someone laments the recent admission of women into the
Citadel, we can point out that have long been there, serving
the food, cleaning the buildings and some -- though only
veterans and graduate students -- taking classes. As Kimmel,
an expert witness in the cases to admit women into both VMI
and the Citadel, points out, "The threat posed by women is
not posed simply by their presence, but by their
equality."
And that, finally, is the thesis of
this book: gender-based differences do not result from
gender inequality but create it. A better society, he
maintains, would be one in which "nurturing" (for instance)
would not be gendered as "feminine" but seen as "human,"
something of which both woman and men are equally capable.
Though it may upset the managers at Toys-R-Us, Kimmel has it
right when he says, "We're not opposite sexes, but
neighboring ones -- we have far more in common with each
other than we have differences."
PHIL NEL
(Phil
Nel is a visiting instructor of English at the College
of Charleston.)
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