The Politics of Women's Biology

by Ruth Hubbard

Overview

For a range of historical and contemporary issues in eugenics, human evolution, and procreative technology, Ruth Hubbard explains why scientific descriptions and choices should not generalize human, or female, attributes without acknowledging the realities of people's lives. Sophisticated in its analysis, yet not at all technical in its exposition, this book will find a wide readership among feminists, the general public, and the scientific community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813514901
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	01/01/1990
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Science and Science Criticism
Part One. How Do We Know?
1. Science in Context
2. Fact Making and Feminism
3. Women in Academia
4. Women Scientists
5. The Double Helix: A Study of Science in Context
Part Two. What Do We Know? 
6. Genes as Causes
7. Have Only Men Evolved?
8. Human Nature
9. Rethinking Women's Biology
10. The Social Construction of Sexuality
11. Constructing Sex Difference
Part Three. How Do We Use It?
12. Medical, Legal, and Social Implications of Prenatal Technologies
13. Prenatal Technologies and the Experience of Childbearing
14. Who Should and Who Should Not Inhabit the World? 
15. Of Embryos and Women
Some Final Thoughts
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Exposing the ideological bases of the medical/scientific information (and disinformation) we receive, Hubbard . . . gives us a book sophisticated in its analysis but accessible in its style."

Ms. magazine

"Exposing the ideological bases of the medical/scientific information (and disinformation) we receive, Hubbard . . . gives us a book sophisticated in its analysis but accessible in its style."

From the Publisher

Hubbard is a professor of biology at Harvard who has moved from research in photobiology to the feminist critique of science. This book is a sophisticated essay on the social and political assumptions that shape the ways biologists use scientific language, do science,, and apply it to women's lives. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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