
Defining Females
The Nature of Women in Society
Shirley Ardener(Editor)
Berg Publishers
1st Edition
Published on 11. March 1993
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-85496-727-8 (ISBN)
Description
Second, Revised EditionTo what are we referring when we speak of women? What is the nature of women in society; what is the nature of women in society? These are the central questions of this classic text which looks at areas ranging from England and Greece to Mongolia and Africa. The authors - anthropologists, sociologists, ethnologists, neurologists and psychologists - consider the structural position of women; how they are defined by reference to physiological and social markers, and how they are required to behave. They also consider ways in which different cultures identify and deal with such `natural' aspects of women as virginity, sexuality and childbearing. The broad variety of geographical perspectives reveals dissimilar as well as similar ideas about women - in their use of language and of space, matrifocality, and life trajectories.
Reviews / Votes
'...useful to anyone interested in the cross-cultural study of women, anthropologically, geographically or politically.'Newsletter of the African Studies Association of Australia and the Pacific'... [a] historiographic landmark in feminist cultural analysis.'Gender, Place and CultureMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
293 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-85496-727-8 (9780854967278)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
03/2021
1st Edition
Routledge
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E-Book
12/2020
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
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E-Book
12/2020
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
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Person
Mrs Shirley Ardener Centre for Cross-Cultural Research on Women,University of Oxford
Content
S. Ardener, Introduction - K. Hastrup, The Semantics of Biology: Virginity - R. Hirschon, Open Body/Closed Space: The transformation of Female Sexuality - C. Humphrey, Women, Taboo and the Suppression of Attention - J. Okely, Privileged, Schooled and Finished: Boarding Education for Girls - W. James, Matrifocus on African Women - H. Callaway, `The Most Essentially Female Function of All': Giving Birth - H. Callan, Harems and Overlords: Biosocial Models and the Female - S. Macdonald, The Socialisation of Nature; The Naturalisation of the Social