Review - Does Feminism Discriminate against Men?
A Debate
by Warren Farrell & James P. Sterba
Oxford University Press, 2007
Review by David Benatar, Ph.D.
Dec 25th 2007
http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=3990&cn=135
Comment on this review
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I concur with the reviewer that this is an important book. As a university lecturer who has taught and written on Equal Opportunities issues, this book is a welcome and overdue addition to the literature.
In this book, one of the foremost liberal thinkers in the men's movement for equality - Warren Farrell - pits his arguments against staunch defenders of feminism. Counter arguments are presented by James Sterba, with input from over a dozen established feminist academics.
The organisation of the book is excellent: both Farrell and Sterba use the same chapter titles to construct their arguments on key topics. This is a useful approach that enables both lecturer and student to study arguments and counter-arguments on a series of contentious issues. The writing style is accessible, and also supported with appropriate academic references.
The value of this book is that for three decades, a men's movement for sexual equality has been gathering and organising arguments for progressive change. In many cases, their arguments are an evolution of, rather than a challenge to, feminist ideas on equality that developed in the 1960s. Despite this, a power shift in the late 1960s radicalised the women's movement and debate shifted (unconsciously?) away from advancing "equal rights" to advancing "women's rights". Those who radicalised the feminist movement have blocked the dissemination of Farrell's work in the mass media (although he has been able to publish six books and develop a strong following for his work).
When I started presenting academic papers exploring Farrell's perspectives at conferences, it quickly beecame apparent that antipathy to Farrell's work was mostly based on prejudice and not careful reading of his work. This book is, therefore, ground-breaking as it marks a point where alternative equality arguments are considered serious enough to warrant serious discussion amongst contemporary feminists.
For those with an interest in philosophy, this book represents a stage in a Kuhnian paradigm shift (a stage where new theoretical arguments are becoming so influential that they can no longer be ignored or disparaged). For this reason, I encourage all lecturers with an interest in gender relations / social science to examine this book and consider its value as a core text to reinvigorate the teaching of gender relations.
Dr Rory Ridley-Duff
Senior Lecturer
Sheffield Hallam University
Post a Comment