The Mismeasure of Woman

by Carol Tavris

Paperback, 1993

Status

Available

Publication

Touchstone (1993), Edition: Reprint, 400 pages

Description

When "man is the measure of all things," woman is forever trying to measure up. In this enlightening book, Carol Tavris unmasks the widespread but invisible custom -- pervasive in the social sciences, medicine, law, and history -- of treating men as the normal standard, women as abnormal. Tavris expands our vision of normalcy by illuminating the similarities between women and men and showing that the real differences lie not in gender, but in power, resources, and life experiences. Winner of the American Association for Applied and Preventive Psychology's Distinguished Media Contribution Award

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Rating

(39 ratings; 4.1)

User reviews

LibraryThing member heinous-eli
One of the most common-sense, straightforward, and unpretentious texts I have ever read, it makes a single, coherent, and sensible argument: that women are people, too.
LibraryThing member Devil_llama
A decent look at what is wrong with the discussion around women and women's issues in the modern world. The author dissects feminism without rancor, because she herself wants to see feminism succeed in their best goals. She presents a much more balanced picture than is often the case; the book
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avoids polemics.
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LibraryThing member LyndaInOregon
Though somewhat dated, this 1992 study of social, legal, and medical perception of the differences between men and women, is informative and thought-provoking.

Tavris sets out the thesis clearly in the introduction: "My concern is with a growing tendency to turn the tables from us-them thinking
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(with women as the problem) to them-us thinking (with men as the problem). Framing the question in terms of polarities, regardless of which pole is the valued one, immediately sets up false choices for women and men. It continues to divide the world into 'men' and 'women' as if these categories were unified opposites."

Still worth reading today.
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

8.44 inches

ISBN

0671797492 / 9780671797492
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