A new edition of a classic work on the history of feminism. Writing about changes in the notion of womanhood, Denise Riley examines, in the manner of Foucault, shifting historical constructions of the category of "women" in relation to other categories central to concepts of personhood: the soul, the mind, the body, nature, the social. Feminist movements, Riley argues, have had no choice but to play out this indeterminacy of women. This is made plain in their oscillations, since the 1790s, between concepts of equality and of difference. To fully recognize the ambiguity of the category of "women" is, she contends, a necessary condition for an effective feminist political philosophy.
- ISBN13 9780816642694
- Publish Date 22 July 2003
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 13 December 2011
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of Minnesota Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 136
- Language English