Joke J. Hermsen is a Dutch writer and philosopher, who studied art & philosophy in Paris and now lives and works in Amsterdam. She has a particular interest in time, memory and art, and has written extensively about the philosophy of Hannah Arendt, Ernst Bloch and Lou Andreas Salomé.Alkeline van Lenning retired as Dean of the Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) bachelor’s program at Tilburg University. She has combined teaching, in the Netherlands and abroad, with management positions, the latter always being concerned with academic education.

• Introduction: Dutch treats and other strangersReading Dutch feminism Part 1: The equality-difference debate in the Netherlands Introduction 1. Just the same or just different?A feminist debate 2. Which difference makes the difference?On the conceptualization of sexual difference 3. The construction of dilemmas in feminism Part 2: New perspectives in historical research Introduction 4. Gualberta Alaide Beccari and the tempting perspective of the moral regeneration of humanity (1868–1906) 5. Productions of sexual differences in Catholic ‘Life Schools’, 1947–1968On firm convictions and doubts 6. The young, intelligent woman Part 3: The body Introduction 7. ‘Let the body talk’, or can children learn to protect themselves against incest? 8. Wombs, pigmentation and pyramidsShould anti-racists and feminists try to confine ‘biology’ to its proper place? 9… and lust for all!The end of the sexuality debate in the women’s movement? Part 4: French thought and psychoanalysis Introduction 10. Baubo or Bacchante? Sarah Kofman and Nietzsche’s ‘affirmative’ woman 11. Coming to your senses… On the scopic order and woman’s disorder 12. The vanished woman and styles of feminine subjectivity Feminism – deconstruction and construction