| The Moral Sex: Woman's Nature in the French Enlightenment Contributor(s): Steinbrügge, Lieselotte (Author), Selwyn, Pamela E. (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 019509493X ISBN-13: 9780195094930 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA OUR PRICE: $82.17 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 1995 Annotation: This book deals with a question that currently has a great deal of resonance among historians, feminists, and literary scholars: How was the nature of women redefined and debated during the French Enlightenment? Instead of treating the Enlightenment in the usual manner, as a challenge to orthodox ideas and social conventions, Lieselotte Steinbrugge interprets it as a deviation from a position staked out in the seventeenth century, namely, "the mind has no sex." In breaking with that view, the philosophes shifted the debate to categories like morality and sensitivity and took up economic issues as well. They inadvertently backed women into the corner of domesticity, where middle-class women remained for some time to come. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Women's Studies - History | Europe - France - History | Modern - 18th Century |
| Dewey: 305.409 |
| LCCN: 94039210 |
| Physical Information: 0.45" H x 5.5" W x 8.17" (0.44 lbs) 168 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 18th Century - Cultural Region - French - Sex & Gender - Feminine |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This book deals with a question that currently has a great deal of resonance among historians, feminists, and literary scholars: How was the nature of women redefined and debated during the French Enlightenment? Instead of treating the Enlightenment in the usual manner, as a challenge to orthodox ideas and social conventions, Lieselotte Steinbrügge interprets it as a deviation from a position staked out in the seventeenth century, namely, the mind has no sex. In breaking with that view, the philosophes shifted the debate to categories like morality and sensitivity and took up economic issues as well. They inadvertently backed women into the corner of domesticity, where middle-class women remained for some time to come. |