Jaggar, Alison M. : University of Colorado at Boulder

Alison M. Jaggar is professor of philosophy and women studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Some people believe that feminist ethics is little more than a series of dogmatic positions on issues such as abortion rights, pornography, and affirmative action. This caricature was never true, but Alison Jaggar's Living with Contradictions is the first book to demonstrate just how rich and complex feminist ethics has become. Beginning with the modest assumption that feminism demands an examination of moral issues with a commitment to ending women's subordination, this anthology shows that one can no longer divide social issues into those that are feminist and those that are not.

Living with Contradictions does address many of the traditionally "feminist" issues. But it also includes issues not generally recognized as gendered, such as militarism, environmentalism, and the treatment of animals, demonstrating the value of a feminist perspective in these cases. And, far from reflecting any monolithic orthodoxy, the book shows that there is a rich diversity of views on many moral issues among those who share a feminist commitment.


"Jaggar has compiled an impressive array of essays and excerpts from articles and books, many of which are definitive documents of some of the most divisive debates in feminism.... One of the treasures of this book is the essays that Jaggar has written to introduce each of the books seven sections. They give a thorough historical and philsophical analysis of each of the areas covered. That aspect of the book as well as the outstanding section that examines sexual practices by taking a straightforward look at lesbianism, heterosexuality, and bisexuality are alone, and certainly together, worth more than the price of admission."

-- Ms.

"This is an anthology that professors will want to teach to their ethics, women's studies, political science, or sociology students as soon as possible. What most impresses about Jaggar's collection is how it enables readers not only to understand the diversity that characterizes feminist thought-the serious disagreements feminists have about the ideal family, good sex, meaningful work, and a humane society-but also to appreciate how intricate and tangled the connections are between one's personal morality and one's social ethics."

-- Rosemarie Tong, Davidson College

Introduction : Living with Contradictions by Alison M. Jaggar


Part 1. Equality

Introduction

1. Sexual Difference and Sexual Equality by A. M. Jaggar
2. Reconstructing Sexual Equality by Christine A. Littleton
3. Toward Feminist Jurisprudence by Catharine A. MacKinnon
4. Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex : A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics by Kimberle Crenshaw

2. Women Working

Introduction

A. Affirmative Action and Comparable Worth

1. Reverse Discrimination as Unjustified by Lisa H. Newton
2. Fairness, Meritocracy, and Reverse Discrimination by Hardy Jones
3. The Wage Gap : Myths and Facts by National Committee on Pay Equity
4. An Argument Against Comparable Worth by June O'Neill
5. Some Implications of Comparable Worth by Laurie Schrage

B. Sex Work

1. Prostitution by A. M. Jaggar
2. A Most Useful Tool by Sunny Carter
3. Stripper by Debi Sundahl
4. Confronting the Liberal Lies About Prostitution by Evelina Giobbe
5. What's Wrong with Prostitution? by Carole Pateman
6. International Committee for Prostitutes' Rights World Charter and World Whores' Congress Statements by International Committee for Prostitutes' Rights

Part III. Marketing Femininity

Introduction

A. Representing Women : Pornography, Art, and Popular Culture

1. Why Pornography Matters to Feminists by Andrea Dworkin
2. Pornography, Oppression, and Freedom : A Closer Look by Helen E. Longino
3. Feminism, Moralism, and Pornography by Ellen Willis
4. False Promises : Feminist Antipornography Legislation by Lisa Duggan, Nan D. Hunter, and Carole S. Vance
5. Racism in Pornography and the Women's Movement by Tracey A. Gardner
6. Confessions of a Feminist Porno Star by Nina Hartley
7. The Cum Shot : Takes on Lesbian and Gay Sexuality by Cindy Patton
8. Mass Market Romance : Pornography for Women Is Different by Ann Barr Snitow
9. Ways of Seeing by John Berger

B. Presenting Women : Fashion and Beauty

1. What's Wrong with Being a Sex Object? by Linda Lemoncheck
2. Bibo by Wendy Chapkis
3. The Unadorned Feminist by Janet Radcliffe Richards
4. Gynocide : Chinese Footbinding by A. Dworkin
5. "Do Something About Your Weight" by Carol Schmidt
6. Hunger by Naomi Wolf
7. Skin Deep by W. Chapkis
8. Marieme by W. Chapkis
9. The Myth of the Perfect Body by Roberta Galler
10. Women and the Knife : Cosmetic Surgery and the Colonization of Women's Bodies by Kathryn Pauly Morgan
11. Beauty : When the Other Dancer Is the Self by Alice Walker

Part IV. Women's Fertility-Individual Choices and Social Constraints

Introduction

A. Abortion

1. Deregulating Abortion by Ninia Baehr
2. Women and Children First? by Anne M. Maloney
3. Abortion : On Public and Private by C. A. MacKinnon
4. Abortion and a Woman's Right to Decide by A. M. Jaggar
5. Parental Consent Laws : Are They a "Reasonable Compromise"? by Mike Males
6. Choosing Ourselves : Black Women and Abortion by Beverly Smith
7. A Reproductive Rights Agenda for the 1990s by Kathryn Kolbert
8. The Global Politics of Abortion by Jodi L. Jacobson
9. Prenatal and Preconception Sex Choice Technologies : A Path to Femicide? by Helen B. Holmes and Betty B. Hoskins
10. Disability Rights Perspectives on Reproductive Technologies and Public Policy by Deborah Kaplan
11. Abortion Through a Feminist Ethics Lens by Susan Sherwin

B. Procreative Technology and Procreative Freedom

1. The Meanings of Choice in Reproductive Technology by Barbara Katz Rothman
2. Reproductive Rights and Wrongs by Betsy Hartmann
3. Subtle Forms of Sterilization Abuse : A Reproductive Rights Analysis by Adele Clarke
4. "Informed Consent" : The Myth of Voluntarism by Gena Corea
5. Babies, Heroic Experts, and a Poisoned Earth by Irene Diamond
6. Access to In Vitro Fertilization : Costs, Care, and Consent by Christine Overall

Part V. Family Values

Introduction

A. Contract Child Production

1. Inside the Surrogate Industry by Susan Ince
2. Reproductive Freedom and Women's Freedom : Surrogacy and Autonomy by Christine T. Sistare
3. Contract Motherhood : Social Practice in Social Context by Mary Gibson
4. Children by Donor Insemination : A New Choice for Lesbians by Francie Hornstein
5. The Facts of Fatherhood by Thomas W. Laqueur

B. Valuing Alternative Families

1. The Politics of Childlessness by Karen Lindsey
2. When Women and Men Mother by Diane Ehrensaft
3. The Radical Potential in Lesbian Mothering of Daughters by Baba Copper
4. A Lesbian Family by Lindsy Van Gelder
5. Black Women and Motherhood by Patricia Hill Collins
6. The Che-Lumumba School : Creating a Revolutionary Family Community by Ann Ferguson
7. Friends as Family : No One Said It Would Be Easy by K. Lindsey

Part VI. The Personal as Political

Introduction

A. Sexual Practice

1. The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm by Anne Koedt
2. Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence by Adrienne Rich
3. Scratching the Surface : Some Notes on Barriers to Women and Loving by Audre Lorde
4. Virgin Women by Marilyn Frye
5. Heterosexuality and Choice by C. Overall
6. Bisexual Feminist Politics : Because Bisexuality Is Not Enough by Karin Baker
7. Beyond Bisexual by Annie Sprinkle
8. Sex Resistance in Heterosexual Arrangements by A Southern Women's Writing Collective
9. Feminine Masochism and the Politics of Personal Transformation by Sandra Lee Bartky
10. Feminist Ejaculations by Shannon Bell

B. Consuming Animals

1. Dismantling Oppression : An Analysis of the Connection Between Women and Animals by Lori Gruen
2. The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams
3. Feminism and Vegetarianism by Lisa Martin
4. Hunting : A Woman's Perspective by Gretchen Legler
5. Shots in the Dark by Andrée Collard with Joyce Contrucci
6. Some Doubts About Fur Coats by Slavenka Drakulic

Part VII. Feminists Changing the World

Introduction

A. Militarism

1. The Protected, the Protector, the Defender by Judith Hicks Stiehm
2. The Army Will Make a "Man" Out of You by Helen Michalowski
3. "Some of the Best Soldiers Wear Lipstick" by Cynthia Enloe

   Surprise! Rape in the Army

4. Our Greenham Common : Feminism and Nonviolence by Gwyn Kirk
5. Greenham Common and All That... A Radical Feminist View by Lynn Alderson
6. Notes Toward a Feminist Maternal Peace Politics by Sara Ruddick
7. "They Won't Take Me Alive" by Eugenia
8. We Speak for the Planet by Barbara Omolade

B. Environmentalism

1. Taking Empirical Data Seriously : An Ecofeminist Philosophical Perspective by Karen J. Warren
2. From Healing Herbs to Deadly Drugs : Western Medicine's War Against the Natural World by Marti Kheel
3. Development, Ecology, and Women by Vandana Shiva
4. Conversations with Gaia by Val Plumwood
5. Searching for Common Ground : Ecofeminism and Bioregionalism by Judith Plant
6. Women, Home, and Community : The Struggle in an Urban Environment by Cynthia Hamilton
7. Questioning Sour Grapes : Ecofeminism and the United Farm Workers Grape Boycott by Ellen O'Loughlin by Jo Whitehorse Cochran
8. Reproductive Choices : The Ecological Dimension by Ronnie Zoe Hawkins
9. Women, Population, and the Environment : Call for a New Approach by The Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment