Social Construction Of Gender Essay
PART ONE
Social and Historical Constructions of Gender
Why start an introduction to women 's studies textbook with a discussion of science and medicine? If we begin our study of women 's lives by considering what makes women and men distinct in different cultures and time periods, we first have to ask what counts as difference. Many people think that biology answers such a question once and for all. But science
(including biology) has a history. People produce ideas and methods for science based on their sense of what is needed and important for their society.
None of these ideas is neutral. The categories that science creates are often seen as truths that cannot be challenged. Yet studying the history of science shows us that ideas and methods …show more content…
Consequently, governments become increasingly interested in women 's reproductive capacities and come to play a larger and often more intrusive role in women 's lives. So we have to understand these technologies not as neutral techniques and approaches but as tools of a particular society with specific agendas and aims. Who sets these agendas and aims?
Can we imagine an approach to women 's reproductive capacities that views them not as a disease or a medical problem to be solved but as a set of physical properties that have some distinct characteristics requiring some specialized attention and assistance?
Or can we imagine women 's reproductive capacities as somewhat different from men 's but also linked?
This view would acknowledge that men 's and women 's "biologies" probably share many more features than not and that reproduction is also a shared rather than a distinct set of concerns. What changes in science or medicine would enable us to ask these questions? Part One I Social and Historical Constructions of
Social and Historical Constructions of Gender
Why start an introduction to women 's studies textbook with a discussion of science and medicine? If we begin our study of women 's lives by considering what makes women and men distinct in different cultures and time periods, we first have to ask what counts as difference. Many people think that biology answers such a question once and for all. But science
(including biology) has a history. People produce ideas and methods for science based on their sense of what is needed and important for their society.
None of these ideas is neutral. The categories that science creates are often seen as truths that cannot be challenged. Yet studying the history of science shows us that ideas and methods …show more content…
Consequently, governments become increasingly interested in women 's reproductive capacities and come to play a larger and often more intrusive role in women 's lives. So we have to understand these technologies not as neutral techniques and approaches but as tools of a particular society with specific agendas and aims. Who sets these agendas and aims?
Can we imagine an approach to women 's reproductive capacities that views them not as a disease or a medical problem to be solved but as a set of physical properties that have some distinct characteristics requiring some specialized attention and assistance?
Or can we imagine women 's reproductive capacities as somewhat different from men 's but also linked?
This view would acknowledge that men 's and women 's "biologies" probably share many more features than not and that reproduction is also a shared rather than a distinct set of concerns. What changes in science or medicine would enable us to ask these questions? Part One I Social and Historical Constructions of