This volume brings together exciting and provocative new feminist readings of famous classic and contemporary texts from Plato to Habermas.

This article discusses three main orientations in recent works of legal and political theory about the family-contract-based, community-based, and rights-based-and argues that none of these takes adequate account of two paradoxical features of family life and of the family's relationship to the state. A coherent political and legal theory of the family in the contemporary United States requires recognition of the relational rights and responsibilities intrinsic to family life.

This article examines arguments concerning the right of an unwed biological father to consent to the adoption of his offspring, and to take custody of the child even against the mother's wishes. The understanding of gender-neutrality that supposedly supports many such arguments is false, and risks diminishing women's decision-making authority under the guise of sex equality. Laws governing unwed parent's rights must emphasize the centrality of parental responsibility in establishing parental rights.

This volume brings together exciting and provocative new feminist readings of famous classic and contemporary texts from Plato to Habermas. The collection also includes examinations of the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvoir that are usually excluded from the works conventionally held to comprise "Western political thought." The essays raise fundamentally important questions about the significance of sexual difference in the great works of political theory and draw attention to neglected arguments and silences in the texts. No single (...) feminist view of either the texts or the theoretical way forward informs these essays. A wide diversity of feminist approaches and theoretical frameworks are represented, forming a rich variety of interpretations and argument about such questions as the patriarchal construction of central political categories, the relation between public and private life, and the problem of equality and difference, including differences among women. This refreshing and stimulating collection will be indispensable for students of political thought and offers all those interested in the connection between the classic writings and current political discussions as accessible introduction to feminist argument. (shrink)

In this volume, a companion to Feminist Interpretations and Political Theory (Penn State, 1991) edited by Mary Lyndon Shanley and Carole Pateman, leading feminist theorists rethink the traditional concepts of political theory and expand the ...

"A collection of essays that discuss the writings of Carole Pateman, with emphasis on her theories of democracy and feminism"--Provided by publisher.

The articles collected in this critical edition represent a variety of interpretations both of the kind of feminism Mill represents and of the specific arguments he offers in The Subjection of Women including their lexical ordering and relative merit. Each selection is preceded by a brief and useful summary of the author's position intended to assist introductory students.

La práctica de comprar y vender gametos humanos afecta de manera importante la relación que tenemos con nuestro material genético, la medida en que los lazos familiares son creados por la naturaleza y la voluntad humana y el papel que debería desempeñar el mercado en la formación de familias. El presente artículo se centra en dos pre-guntas éticas y de política que surgen cuando la gente forma familias con gametos proporcionados por otras personas. Primero, las personas creadas con gametos donados, (...) ¿deberían poder conocer la identidad de el o los donantes? Segundo, la venta de óvulos y esperma, ¿debería prohibirse, regularse, o dejarse al mercado libre? La autora sostiene que la sociedad debería prohibir tanto el anonimato como el mercado libre de gametos humanos, pues ambos se han desarrollado de modos que no toman en consideración de manera adecuada los intereses del niño o de la sociedad. (shrink)

Book reviewed in this article: Abortion and Woman's Choice: The State, Sexuality, and Reproductive Freedom. By Rosalind P. Petchesky. Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. By Kristin Luker.