Abstract

This study uses a fourfold conception of the "natural" and sets up a dialectic between positive and critical gender thinking to develop answers to these questions: What sort of thing do we take femininity and masculinity to be? How is gender related to humanity? What does gender imply about embodiment? How does gender inflect ideals of personal worth? How does gender dichotomizing align genders with other dichotomized qualities? What does gender thinking assume or imply about procreation? What are noteworthy analogies between gender and race, class, culture, age, and sexual orientation?