Thursday, August 19, 2010

"The Myth of Mars and Venus" by Deborah Cameron

I know we're actually supposed to read this for class, there's an excerpt, and the book has been set aside for reference, but since I found two extracts online, I decided to add them anyway. I mean, more information means a better ability to figure out where Cameron is coming from, and what her arguments are, no?


Extract 1:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/01/gender.books


and


Extract 2:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/oct/02/gender.familyandrelationships


I'd find myself sitting on the Cameron side for this debate though, if only because I do feel (although ironic), that her argument about selection bias has merit - epistemologists were a bit ahead of her psychologists in pointing that bit out. That, and the fact that I tend to see the terms men and women as something used to label biological difference. "See that? It's called a penis. If the subject has it, then the subject is a he, a male. See that? If the subject doesn't have it, the subject is a she, a female." I don't see any difference beyond the biological, and that beneath that, we're all human beings, playing different roles.


All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.

1 comment:

  1. thanks for posting the additional extracts. We will be reading a bit more of Cameron later.

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