Women & Gender Studies

"Using both scientific and feminist approaches in its analysis, Sex and Gender: A Biopsychological Approach provides a current and comprehensive understanding of its titular topics, making it an invaluable textbook for instructors and students. Sex and Gender can only be properly understood when examined in the contexts of biological, psychological, and social processes and the interactions between those processes. The structure of this book facilitates this necessary exhaustive discussion: First section: a biological analysis discussing evolutionary, cellular, and genetic processes, and their effects on physical and behavioral development Second section: a psychological and sociological analysis discussing stereotypes, sexism, and theories of gender Final section: a discussion of the current global challenges surrounding sex and gender, such as discrimination and religious and social oppression of various groups. Across chapters: bonus features that can be used as discussion topics, student essay topics, or special topics for instructors to expand the book's discussion into the classroom This textbook is essential for instructors hoping to offer a thorough and complex analysis of sex and gender studies to their classrooms. The focus on biological, psychological, and social processes-as separate entities and interacting processes-make Sex and Gender particularly crucial for a comprehensive and evolved understanding of the subject. The bonus features intended to transfer the information to classroom discussion and practice will be especially valuable to students and teachers alike"--

Description: "Evolutionary politics -- Left, right, and mother nature -- Is conservatism an extreme form of the male brain? -- Equality versus hierarchy -- On big apes and presidents -- The politics of sexual control -- Women, sex, and politics -- On blind tribes and becoming sighted.
Through the lens of evolutionary science, this book offers a novel perspective on why we hold our political ideas, and why they are so often in conflict. Drawing on examples from across the animal kingdom, clinical psychologist Hector A. Garcia reveals how even the most complex political processes can be influenced by our basic drives to survive and reproduce -- including the policies we back, whether we are liberal or conservative, and whether we are inspired or repelled by the words of a president. The author demonstrates how our political orientations derive from an ancestral history of violent male competition, surprisingly influencing how we respond to issues as wide-ranging as affirmative action, women's rights, social welfare, abortion, foreign policy, and even global warming. Critically, the author shows us how our instinctive political tribalism can keep us from achieving stable, functioning societies, and offers solutions for rising above our ancestral past."

"Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has served as a major platform for political performance, social justice activism, and large-scale public debates over race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and nationality. It has empowered minoritarian groups to organize protests, articulate often-underrepresented perspectives, and form community. It has also spread hashtags that have been used to bully and silence women, people of color, and LGBTQ people. #identity is among the first scholarly books to address the positive and negative effects of Twitter on our contemporary world. Hailing from diverse scholarly fields, all contributors are affiliated with The Color of New Media, a scholarly collective based at the University of California, Berkeley. The Color of New Media explores the intersections of new media studies, critical race theory, gender and women's studies, and postcolonial studies. The essays in #identity consider topics such as the social justice movements organized through #BlackLivesMatter, #Ferguson, and #SayHerName; the controversies around #WhyIStayed and #CancelColbert; Twitter use in India and Africa; the integration of hashtags such as #nohomo and #onfleek that have become part of everyday online vernacular; and other ways in which Twitter has been used by, for, and against women, people of color, LGBTQ, and Global South communities. Collectively, the essays in this volume offer a critically interdisciplinary view of how and why social media has been at the heart of U.S. and global political discourse for over a decade."