Woman : an intimate geography / Natalie Angier.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Angier, Natalie.

Contributor:

EBSCOhost.

Class of 1891 Department of Arts Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Physiology.

Women.

Women--Psychology.

Sex differences.

Women--physiology.

Women--psychology.

Sex Characteristics.

Medical Subjects:

Women--physiology.

Women--psychology.

Sex Characteristics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xx, 438 pages.)

Edition:

First Anchor Books edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Anchor Books, 2000.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

With the clarity, insight, and sheer exuberance of language that make her one of The New York Times's premier stylists, Pulitzer Prize-winner Natalie Angier lifts the veil of secrecy from that most enigmatic of evolutionary masterpieces, the female body. Angier takes readers on a mesmerizing tour of female anatomy and physiology that explores everything from organs to orgasm, and delves into topics such as exercise, menopause, and the mysterious properties of breast milk.

A self-proclaimed "scientific fantasia of womanhood," Woman ultimately challenges widely accepted Darwinian-based gender stereotypes. Angier shows how cultural biases have influenced research in evolutionary psychology (the study of the biological bases of behavior) and consequently lead to dubious conclusions about "female nature," such as the idea that women are innately monogamous while men are natural philanderers.

But Angier doesn't just point fingers; she offers optimistic alternatives and transcends feminist polemics with an enlightened subversiveness that makes for a joyful, fresh vision of womanhood.

Contents:

Introduction: Into the light

Unscrambling the egg: It begins with one perfect solar cell

Mosaic imagination: Understanding the "female" chromosome

Default line: Is the female body a passive construct?

Well-tempered clavier: On the evolution of the clitoris

Suckers and horns: Prodigal uterus

Mass hysteria: Losing the uterus

Circular reasonings: Story of the breast

Holy water: Breast milk

Gray and yellow basket: Bounteous ovary

Greasing the wheels: Brief history of hormones

Venus in furs: Estrogen and desire

Mindful menopause: Can we live without estrogen?

There's no place like notoriety: Mothers, grandmothers, and other great dames

Wolf whistles and hyena smiles: Testosterone and women

Spiking the punch: In defense of female aggression

Cheap meat: Learning to make a muscle

Labor of love: Chemistry of human bondage

Of hoggamus and hogwash: Putting evolutionary psychology on the couch

Skeptic in paradise: Call for revolutionary psychology.

Notes:

Originally published: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1999.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 403-419) and index.

Electronic reproduction. Ipswich, MA Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on print version record.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1891 Department of Arts Fund.

ISBN:

9780547344997

0547344996

Publisher Number:

99981278011

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.