cover image Inessential Woman: Problems of Exclusion in Feminist Thought

Inessential Woman: Problems of Exclusion in Feminist Thought

Elizabeth V. Spelman. Beacon Press (MA), $0 (221pp) ISBN 978-0-8070-6744-4

Much of mainstream feminism focuses on white, middle-class women. Spelman, in a brilliant, scholarly rethinking of feminist thought, traces the roots of this tendency to Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, Nancy Chodorow, Shulamith Firestone and other feminists who, in her view, ignore the interplay of racial, class, cultural and ethnic differences among oppressed women. This associate professor of philosophy at Smith first unravels the sexist, inegalitarian views of Plato and Aristotle, then goes on to examine how women, in reaction to sexist bias ingrained in our culture, created an artificial concept of an essential ``womanness'' which all females supposedly share. Her closely reasoned, eloquent polemic should stir debate and controversy among feminists, social activists and others concerned with progressive change. (Jan.)