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According to classical essentialism, there are underlying true forms or essences, there is discontinuity between different forms rather than continuous variation, and these true forms are constant over time. Modern essentialism consists of a belief that certain phenomena are natural, inevitable, and biologically determined. We consider sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, genetic research, brain research, and endocrine research as examples of essentialist approaches, focusing particularly on how these research approaches treat sexual orientation and sexual attraction. Social constructionism, in contrast, rests on the belief that reality is socially constructed and emphasizes language as an important means by which we interpret experience. We briefly review social constructionist research on sexual orientation and sexual attraction. Finally, we review examples of conjoint or interactionist research, uniting biological and social influences. We conclude that, although there may be theories and research that conjoin biological and social influences, there can be no true conjoining of essentialism and social constructionism.

En situant les rapports de genre au cœur de leur élaboration conceptuelle et en inscrivant leur transformation comme un enjeu stratégique, les études féministes se sont progressivement imposées dans l'univers des sciences humaines comme une approche critique et comme une problématique du changement. Après une revue des trois grands courants de pensée qui se sont développés au sein et en marge du mouvement féministe au cours des dernières décennies, l'auteure se demande si la pensée féministe, ou plutôt les différents courants de la pensée féministe actuelle sont encore engagés dans ces mêmes fins. Sont-elles encore capables de contribuer au renouvellement des savoirs, de proposer un projet de société original, et d'imaginer les termes d'un nouveau contrat entre les genres ? Sont-elles capables de nourrir une lutte féministe unie, une politique de coalition ouverte à la diversité et à la différence, mais qui ne perd rien de sa cohésion et de sa force de ralliement ? Ces questions servent de pistes thématiques pour la discussion de l'auteur.

Dans cet ouvrage essentiel de la théorie queer, Jack Halberstam s’attaque au statut protégé de la masculinité masculine et montre que la masculinité féminine lui offre une alternative distincte depuis plus de deux siècles. Démontrant que la masculinité féminine n’est pas une mauvaise imitation de la virilité, mais une mise en scène vivante et dramatique de genres hybrides et minoritaires, Halberstam catalogue la diversité des expressions de genre chez les femmes masculines, depuis les pratiques pré-lesbiennes du XIXe siècle jusqu’aux performances contemporaines des drag kings.

An examination of the social and cultural significance of body art by a major new voice. The past few years have seen an explosion of interest in body art, in which the artist's body is integral to the work of art. With the revoking of NEA funding for such artists as Karen Finley, Tim Miller, and others, public awareness and media coverage of body-oriented performances have increased. Yet the roots of body art extend to the 1960s and before. In this definitive book, Amelia Jones explores body art projects from the 1960s and 1970s and relates their impact to the work of body artists active today, providing a new conceptual framework for defining postmodernism in the visual arts. Jones begins with a discussion of the shifting intellectual terrain of the 1950s and 1960s, focusing on the work of Ana Mendieta. Moving to an examination of the reception of Jackson Pollock's "performative" acts of painting, she argues that Pollock is a pivotal figure between modernism and postmodernism. The book continues with explorations of Vito Acconci and Hannah Wilke, whose practices exemplify a new kind of performance that arose in the late 1960s, one that represents a dramatic shift in the conception of the artistic subject. Jones then surveys the work of a younger generation of artists -- including Laurie Anderson, Orlan, Maureen Connor, Lyle Ashton Harris, Laura Aguilar, and Bob Flanagan -- whose recent work integrates technology and issues of identity to continue to expand the critique begun in earlier body art projects. Embracing an exhilarating mix of methodologies and perspectives (including feminism, queer theory, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and literary theory), this rigorous and elegantexamination of body art provides rich historical insight and essential context that rethinks the parameters of postmodern culture.

From the moment intersexuality-the condition of having physical gender markers (genitals, gonads, or chromosomes) that are neither clearly female nor male-is suspected and diagnosed, social institutions are mobilized in order to maintain the two seemingly objective sexual categories. Infants' bodies are altered, and what was "ambiguous" is made "normal." Kessler's interviews with pediatric surgeons and endocrinologists reveal how the intersex condition is normalized for parents and she argues that the way in which intersexuality is managed by the medical and psychological professions displays our culture's beliefs about gender and genitals. Parents of intersexed children are rarely heard from, but in this book they provide another perspective on reasons for genital surgeries and the quality of medical and psychological management. Although physicians educate parents about how to think about their children's condition, Kessler learned from parents of intersexed children that some parents are able to accept atypical genitals. Based on analysis of the medical literature and interview with adults who had received treatment as interesexed children, Kessler proposes new approaches for physicians to use in talking with parents and children. She also evaluates the appearance of a politicized vanguard, many of who are promoting an intersexual identity, who seek to alter the way physicians respond to intersexuality. Kessler explores the possibilities and implications of suspending a commitment to two "natural" genders and addresses gender destabilization issues arising from intersexuality. She thus compels readers to re-think the meaning of gender, genitals, and sexuality.

Lors d'un colloque international sur les femmes et la création musicale organise par I'Unesco en mars 1996, Mme Zaimont et Mme Ostleitner des Etats-Unis et de I'Autriche, ont démontre dans leur conférence respective á quel point la vie musicale des pays qu'elles représente est encore puissamment dominée par les forces conservatrices et traditionnelles I'Autriche plie sous le poids d'un héritage musical ancestral alors que les Etats-Unis (et jusqu'a un certain point le Canada anglophone) vit actuellement au rythme des tendances politiques de droite. Plusieurs des acquis du mouvement féministe sont actuellement remis en question dans les milieux décisionnels et on ne peut que s'inquiéter de I' impact que pourraient avoir ces mouvements conservateurs sur la création musicale des femmes de ce pays. Mais dans ce même colloque, nous avons également pu entendre les propos de représentantes d'autres pays, je pense ici a la Corée au Japon, a la Bolivie, a I'Uruguay ou les femmes prennent une place de plus en plus importante dans le discours musical et dans la production artistique. De son cote, Le Québec, peut-être a cause de sa situation linguistique et culturelle minoritaire, a développe au cours de son histoire une vitalité artistique enviable et a été a I'avant-garde dans plusieurs domaines dont la création musicale. Le réseau de solidarité que les femmes ont bâti dans le milieu musical depuis quelques années et la place que les compositrices occupent aujourd'hui témoignent de cette vitalité.

Inside the Academy and Out demonstrates that the pedagogical and theoretical insights offered by lesbian/gay/queer studies can have relevance to a broader social sphere. The essayists represented here come from a wide range of disciplines, including English, education, philosophy, sociology, and women's studies. Their essays are divided into two broad areas: 'Pedagogy and Research' and 'Spheres of Action.' Taken together, they explore teaching and research theory, examining their implications in areas such as AIDS education, social services, law reform, and popular culture.

La littérature sur les femmes — tant féministe qu’antiféministe — est une longue rumination quant à la nature et à la genèse de leur oppression et de leur subordination sociale. La question n’est pas sans importance, car les réponses qui lui sont données déterminent la manière dont nous envisageons l’avenir et si nous jugeons réaliste ou non d’espérer une société égalitaire entre les sexes. Plus important, l’analyse des causes de l’oppression des femmes fonde toute estimation de ce qu’il faudrait exactement changer pour réaliser une société sans hiérarchie de genre

Analyse d'un autre paradoxe à la française : le modèle républicain fondé sur l'égalité et la liberté de la personne, mise au service de l'exclusion politique des femmes, qui n'ont obtenu le droit de vote qu'en 1944. Ce livre traite de la protestation féministe contre cette prétendue universalité des droits, qui excluait les femmes de la citoyenneté.

Within feminism, battles over pornography have become the wars without end. Despite the controversy it generates, the discourses of anti-pornography feminism have continued to make inroads into legal frameworks, most recently in Canada. This piece surveys the growth and questionable appeal of such feminist campaigning, under the theoretical leadership of Catharine MacKinnon: its rewriting of feminist theory; its parasitic relation to the authoritative, phallocentric discourses of gender and sexuality; its alliance with the most reductive, behaviouristic psychology; its disavowel of fantasy and psychic life; its provocative mirroring of both the style and content of the `pornography' it deplores; its unwavering pursuit of legal remedies which enhance the power of state regulation of sexuality; its threat to subversive expressions of women's sexual agency and repudiation of any possibilities for sexual resignifications.

"Lessons from the Damned challenges the notion that public health theories and official organizations have the greatest impact on the fight against AIDS. Instead, Stoller looks closely at the ways the most disenfranchised - the poor, people of color, drug users, gay men and lesbians, and women - have built social movements to fight the epidemic. Drawing upon extensive ethnographic research and the words of the activists themselves, as well as the literature of social movements and theories of bureaucracy, Stoller offers guidelines for dealing with diversity and conflict and also with both theoretical and practical perspectives on cross-community and international organizing."--BOOK JACKET.

Aujourd'hui encore, on pense que des contraintes naturelles liées aux capacités reproductives des femmes déterminent leur place dans la société et contribuent à justifier la division du travail entre les sexes. A partir de données sociologiques, ethnologiques et historiques Paola Tabet s'attache à décrire la construction sociale des contraintes dites naturelles qui assignent leur place aux femmes.