-----Original Message----And a significant body of feminist scholarship
>has challenged the "social construction" explanation of sex
>differentiation, arguing instead that men and women differ
>essentially.
>
I know it is very hard for many people to accept this idea but feminist
scholars do not have a party line. We don't know any more than
non-feminists do what is true or not true about the differences between the
sexes and the similarities among all human beings. We debate back and forth
a lot about it. What I think most of us accept is that it is a question.
Where do we draw the line between sex (presumably determined by biology) and
gender (which we think to be socially constructed)? No sane person would
pretend to know the real answer--especially in a world where the plumbing
itself is increasingly in question as research proceeds into the various
roles of gonads, hormones, etc. and the effects of ambiguous genitalia.
But an admission of ignorance and dispute is the beginning of scholarship,
isn't it?
Jo Ann
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