Women in Context – serie

Now, 25 years into our country's most recent "women's movement" for equality, it is appropriate to reexamine the social and cultural experiences of women. Thanks to the media, researchers, clinicians, and the general public, all are aware that women have been unable to realize many of their goals. At times, distress rather than satisfaction and rejection and disap­ pointment rather than contentment have been the result of the ongoing struggle of women to achieve change-the change in attitudes, behavior, and values necessary to broaden the personal choices and work options open to women. Nationally recognized authorities on several of the sociocultural issues addressed in this volume, the editors invited noted scholars and clinicians to study some of those issues particularly relevant to women. These include frequently neglected topics, such as the multiplicity of responsibilities of single women and the spectrum of mothering roles, and those more commonly discussed, such as the various roles and patterns in the family, work options and burdens, and interpersonal relationships. The volume provides insightful detail on two prominent and poignant problems of the 1980s-the causes and repercussions of homelessness and sexual life-styles. Such material may facilitate under­ standing and serve as a catalyst for positive action.

Volume One in a new series, this book covers Norwegian women's writing over the last 150 years, setting literary developments against the background of the emergence and growth of the women's movement in Norway. The work is divided chronologically into three sections: the period up to 1913, when the universal suffrage was granted; the period from 1913 to 1960, a time of stagnation in the women's movement, with little involvement in contemporary political, social and economic debates; and the period from 1960 to the present day, which has seen an increasing participation of women in public life. Chapters on individual authors concentrate on the images of the women portrayed and investigate the conflicts behind the text - the tensions between the authors and their work, and the ambivalent feelings of women authors towards the act of writing. The book should be of interest to all those concerned with women's writing and with Scandanavian literature and culture. Janet Garton's other publications include "Writers and Politics in Modern Scandanavia" (1978) and "Jens Bjorneboe: Prophet without Honor" (1985).The series provides a survey, country by country of women's writing from the beginnings of the major struggle for emancipation up to the present day. While the main emphasis is on literature, the social, political and cultural development of each country provides a context for understanding the position and preoccupations of women writers. Modern critical currents are also taken into account in relating feminist criticism to recent critical theory. Forthcoming volumes in this series include "Women's Writing in Italy 1870-1990" and "Swedish Women's Writing 1850-1990".

This book is a compilation and update of a group of provocative papers presented at the Radcliffe College invitational conference, "Perspectives on the Patterns of an Era: Family, Work, and Education." A scholarly event saluting Radcliffe's centenary, the conference examined a range of indicators of social change, particularly as they relate to women in America in the last two decades. The program was interdisciplinary, bringing together scholars from economics, history, psychology, sociol­ ogy, and psychiatry. Each conference participant was asked to explore, theoretically and empirically, the lessons of our social history and, as much as possible, to separate myth from reality with regard to recent changes in patterns of family life, work, and education. Particular emphasis was given to the examination of the rapid changes-or what have been assumed to be the rapid changes-of the last two decades. In addition, participants ana­ lyzed the perceived and actual costs and benefits associated with chang­ ing lifestyles, for women and men as individuals and for society as a whole. Finally, they considered the implications of their findings for the future and identified areas for further research.

This volume presents the knowledge, views, and experiences of ex­ perts in the fields of health care that are particularly important to women. Not all of the authors agree on all of the issues, but all share the same concerns about women's health and recognize the impor­ tance of providing information to enable women to become active par­ ticipants in the health care partnership. The idea for the book evolved from our own work in the field of women's health care. The positive responses we received to several papers and presentations based on our experiences and addressed to patients, physicians, and other health care professionals indicated that there is a growing need for open discussion of women's health care issues as well as a need for developing and implementing new and better ways of dealing with these issues. We were further motivated by the repeated failure of the health care community to integrate new insights and information (that frequently contradict older, established beliefs and practices) into current health planning, education, and practice.

In Volumes 2 and 3, we have chosen a focus that places in context aspects of mental health and the complex psychosocial factors thataf­ fect our perceptions of how health and illness are defined and experi­ enced. Weare aware that some may take exceptions to the topics chosen or to the way in which some authors have developed their ideas and presented their information. While we cannot expect to agree with each other all of the time, we can provide a framework and a perspective from which ideas can take form and evolve. The first section of Volume 2 provides an overview of some of the theoretical issues involved in understanding the psychology of women. These issues include changes in psychoanalytic views, particularly in relation to femininity and feminine development. The particular de­ velopmental experiences of black women are also clearly delineated. The second section deals with specific points in the life cycle that raise unique issues for women, especially as they pertain to the many roles of women in contemporary society and the impact that these roles have on their careers and on their families. The impact of having a working mother on the early interaction with children, the concerns of midlife, especially marital interactions, and the ambiguities of aging are dis­ cussed. We intend to provide information and to raise questions that we hope will be part of an ongoing dialogue, as well as a stimulus to more intensive study and understanding.

Every woman ought to be filled with shame at the thought that she is woman. -Clement of Alexandria, c. 150-215 The five worst infirmities that afflict the female are indocility, discontent, slan­ der, jealousy, and silliness .... Such is the stupidity of woman's character, that it is incumbent upon her in every particular, to distrust herself and to obey her husband. -Confucian Marriage Manual Nature intended women to be our slaves. They are our property; we are not theirs. They belong to us, just as a tree that bears fruit belongs to a gardener. What a mad idea to demand equality for women.. . Women are nothing but machines for producing children. -Napoleon Bonaparte The fact of the matter is that the prime responsibility of a woman probably is to be on earth long enough to find the best mate possible for herself, and con­ ceive children who will improve the species. -Norman Mailer Read these quotes and wonder!! Wonder at the strength, tenacity, and grace of females who have endured outrageous slings and arrows without becoming violent, uncaring, or incapacitated. Sturdy stuff is contained in our double X, preserved and nurtured for other, less dis­ torted times. The Women in Context series is a reflection of the dawn­ ing light slowly illuminating woman as unique in some ways, but nei­ ther less than nor more than man. Surely, our imperfect world can well use all the talents and capabilities that men and women possess.

This is not a textbook nor an encyclopedia; rather, it is a collection of papers representing a variety of points of view on contemporary is­ sues, controversies, and questions about female sexual development. The editor has a point of view, not a point of view as to which of the various authors' positions presented in this book is correct, or even the most useful, but a point of view about the format of such a book; namely, that the definitive answers, and the experts who will provide them, are not yet identified. Therefore, many voices should be heard from different areas of expertise, training, experience, and back­ ground. Inevitably there are contradictions and disagreements. There should be. Several authors who were asked to provide short discus­ sions for papers found themselves unable to answer in less than an ad­ ditional paper. The editor welcomed this response. This is an area full of ancient myths, new discoveries, and alternate perspectives. It is hoped that the book reflects these ambiguities and controversies and that it will stimulate as many questions as it provides answers. You will find represented in this volume, and its forthcoming companion volume on women's sexual experience, authors not gener­ ally found together between the covers. When useful and where pos­ sible, a discussion or an addendum to a paper has been included by an author who approaches the subject from a different base of infor­ mation or experience.

This book, like its companion volume, Women's Sexual Development, is a potpourri of ideas, not campaign literature to promote a particular point of view. The editor agrees with some of her authors and strongly disagrees with others. The "facts" are few, the questions many. The intent of both books is to evoke questions, delay convictions, invite controversy, and plead for opening minds. The examination and ex­ planation of women's sexual experience has long been the province of men. The "is" and the "oughts" have been hopelessly confused by the investigators' (or exhorters') biases and limited experience, as well as by the use of the male sexual experience as the model for all human sexual experience. Women, at long last, are talking not only to each other, in personal journals and letters, but also in the more formal worlds of academic and scientific publications. The papers in this book come from many sources. Some are aca­ demic; some are experiential, journalistic, or personal. Several empha­ size the lack of adequate research and data but address an issue that is just appearing on the surface of contemporary controversy and con­ cern. Many topics and sources of information are missing.

This volume continues some of the issues raised in Volume 2 and fo­ cuses more closely on therapeutic intervention. The theoretical discus­ sion of aggression provides a background for the presentation of pat­ terns of aggression and violence affecting women, as well as possible connections between physical and emotional symptoms and indirect expressions of aggression. The section on aggression against and by women is an extension of some of the content of The Woman Patient, Volume 1 (e. g. , the chapter on rape). Theoretical and clinical views that are not often linked in this fashion are included here because we are interested in understanding the development of a self-concept that incorporates the constructive aspects of "aggression" as well as an un­ derstanding of violence. In this context, loss, abandonment, delin­ quency, and child and adolescent suicide are also extensions of these issues. The chapters that follow address aspects of symptom formation and concepts of illness. There is, as yet, no definitive explanation for why women experience certain illness patterns more or less than men. Current considerations have been reviewed, but these do not answer. They are a beginning on which we must build. It is apparent that any discussion of these subjects better elucidates the complexity if it in­ cludes an intermingling of general problems with concrete symptoms. Those specific problems that are usually thought of as psychological such as depression, and behaviors (such as substance abuse) provide a focus for understanding wider issues.

The Study of Women In Midlife GRACE K. BARUCH AND JEANNE BROOKS-GUNN To describe the middle years-that relatively long span when one is neither young nor old-as a neglected period may no longer be accurate, given current scientific and popular interest in adult development and aging. But midlife is still too often seen merely as a kind of staging area on the way to old age, when one gathers one's forces and tries to stock up on assets-health, money, relationships-that will be needed for the rigors of the last phase of life. The middle years have been characterized more as a transition period than as a time of growth, satisfaction, and creativity. As this volume will show, although midlife is not without its difficulties, it is, for many women, a time of unexpected pleasure, even power. MAJOR THEMES A central theme of this volume is the impact of social change. The influence of economic conditions, of ideology, of the normative timing of such life events as age of marriage and childbearing, are addressed in many chapters from hlany different perspectives. Social changes are shown to have both negative and positive consequences. On the nega­ tive side, for example, the sex differential in life expectancy is a biosocial phenomenon that greatly restricts the availability of sexual partners-or, more precisely, heterosexual partners-for older women.