Feminist social theory and female body experience are the twin themes of Iris Marion Young's twelve outstanding essays written over the past decade and brought together here. Her contributions to social theory raise critical questions about women and citizenship, the relations of capitalism and women's oppression, and the differences between a feminist theory that emphasizes women's difference and one that assumes a gender-neutral humanity. Loosely following a phenomenological method of description, Young's essays on female embodiment discuss female movement, pregnancy, clothing, (...) and the breasted body. In an introduction that situates her work in the context of shifts in feminist theory and politics over the past decade, Young emphasizes the rootedness of her theorizing in a dedicated and seasoned political activism. (shrink)

The first issues of the journal Hypatia, published from 1983 through 1985, truly heralded the rebirth of a feminist philosophy. Women in philosophy had been silenced since the days of the fourth-century Alexandrian woman philosopher and mathematician, Hypatia. With the establishment of the journal by the Society for Women in Philosophy, feminist issues and philosophy were legitimized. The first three issues of the journal were actually published as special issues of Women's Studies International Forum. From this unique incubational arrangement, the (...) journal has grown to be a successful independent voice for feminist philosophical concerns. In response to demand, essays from those early, now out-of-print issues are being published in book form as a testament to the rebirth of feminist philosophy. (shrink)

The authors of these essays--including Judith Butler, Elizabeth Weed, and Rosi Braidotti--shed new light on the relationship of Irigaray to many of the philosophers she has "romanced," from Aristotle to Deleuze.