Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I: Justice
1: Women and Cultural Universals
2: The Feminist Critique of Liberalism
3: Religion and Women's Human Rights
4: Judging Other Cultures: The Case of Genital Mutilation
5: American Women: Preferences, Feminism, Democracy
6: Equity and Mercy
7: A Defence of Lesbian and Gay Rights
Part II: Sex
8: Objectification
9: Rage and Reason
10: Construction Love, Desire, and Care
11: "Whether from Reason or Prejudice": Taking Money for Bodily Services"
12: Platonic Love and Colorado Law
13: Sex, Truth, and Solitude
14: Sex, Liberty, and Economics
15: The Window: Knowledge of Other Minds in Virginia Woolfs's 'To The Lighthouse'

About the Author

Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. Among her many publications is Love's Knowledge: Essays on Philosophy and Literature (OUP 1990).

Reviews

Hard-hitting, in Nussbaum's characteristic take-no-prisoners style, setting out a clear case that women endure ignominious oppression in the name of culture and religion, and that feminists and liberals alike should tolerate it no longer ... well written and an easy read ... this is a good book for those who want an introduction to, or survey of, Nussbaum's recent thinking on popular issues. American Political Science Review Sex and Social Justice is highly readable, and very engaging. It is elegantly written and carefully argued. Alan Ryan, The New York Times Book Review

Hard-hitting, in Nussbaum's characteristic take-no-prisoners style, setting out a clear case that women endure ignominious oppression in the name of culture and religion, and that feminists and liberals alike should tolerate it no longer ... well written and an easy read ... this is a good book for those who want an introduction to, or survey of, Nussbaum's recent thinking on popular issues. American Political Science Review Sex and Social Justice is highly readable, and very engaging. It is elegantly written and carefully argued. Alan Ryan, The New York Times Book Review

In these essays, Nussbaum (Ernst Freund Professor of Law and Ethics, Univ. of Chicago) conceptualizes a "feminism that is internationalist, humanist, liberal, concerned with the social shaping of preference and desire, and concerned with sympathetic understanding." Drawing on extensive fieldwork with an international agency affiliated with the United Nations, she offers compelling examples to illustrate her philosophical arguments about issues such as international women's human rights and cultural universalism. Each of the 15 essays is rigorously argued and challenges existing mindsets. For example, in "Taking Money for Bodily Services," Nussbaum observes that "we all do things with parts of our bodies, for which we receive a wage in return" and suggests that the stigmatization of prostitution is based more on class prejudice and gender stereotypes than on rational defenses. Nussbaum has authored numerous journal articles and books, most recently Sex, Preferences, and Family (Oxford Univ., 1996). Essential for women's studies collections.‘Linda V. Carlisle, Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville