Impartial Science

"Spanier's critique brings the strengths of feminist science theory to the heart of contemporary science. Moreover, Spanier speaks to natural scientists and to feminist scholars as a scientist, and that is especially valuable to both groups. The book is original, interesting, ambitious, and well-conceptualized." - Sandra Harding. Scientists present biology, the science of life, as impartial and objective. This book offers evidence to the contrary, showing that what counts as mainstream biology - in this case, the biology of life at the cell and molecular levels - is actually a partial vision skewed by invisible biases. "Im/partial Science" examines the reproduction of knowledge about molecular biology, exploring what the formal discourse of scientists and scientist-educators in molecular biology reveals about the impact of traditional gender beliefs on this ostensibly nongendered subject matter. Bonnie Spanier illuminates the biases, distortions, and implicit values in this field by analyzing its language, paradigms, and major principles.
In textbooks and scientific journals, for example, nongendered bacteria are described as 'male' and 'female', often in the service of traditional models of dominant-subordinant relationships. By treating the impact of sexual ideology on our thinking about 'the building blocks of life', Spanier calls for a cooperative relationship between science and feminism and helps us understand science in the social, economic, and political contexts in which it is inextricably enmeshed.