Gender on Planet Earth

A provocative analysis of gender inequality's destructive effects on our society and our planet. In this wide-ranging and powerful new book, the influential author and social scientist Ann Oakley mounts a devastating argument about the state of our humanity. Drawing on examples such as the simple experience of riding a bicycle through London, the way we've become ‘sick to death of women', and the environmental abuse of our planet, she shows how every aspect of our lives is dominated by male/female power structures, and forces us to take a step back and see how and why gender inequality has thrown our society out of balance. In Gender on Planet Earth, Oakley argues that the persistence of traditional gender values prevents us from leading more ethical and humane lives. Governed by "delusional systems" such as psychoanalysis and sociobiology, we assume that the imbalance of the sexes is the inevitable consequence of our genes, psyches and unchangeable economic motives. Drawing from a broad array of literature, Oakley combines personal narrative with social commentary and eye-opening statistics to provide a provocative account of the state we're really in.

Acknowledgements viii 1 The Self and Other Dramas 1 2 On the Problem of Women and Bicycles 13 3 Manslaughter 28 4 Sick to Death of Women 49 5 Angeles in the House 82 6 Family Values 102 7 The Rape of Mother Earth 123 8 Delusional Systems 154 9 World-traveling 194 10 Civic Rituals and Real Futures 5 Notes 230 Index 283