(Author's description)This book offers a critique of the views and research that men and women possess essentially different emotional and cognitive traits. In a critical review of scholarship from the social sciences, history and philosophy, the book shows how scientific and everyday practices emphasize differences between the sexes and neglect reports of similarities.The book investigates the domains of work, leisure, education, politics and religion, as well as the microdynamics of interpersonal behavior--speaking, touching, and the use of personal space.It suggests that the belief and practice in difference supports the existing power structure.

While women have gone through SOME changes since this book was published in the early '70s, they (unfortunately) still wrestle with the conflicting expectations that this author describes clearly, insightfully, and succinctly. Every young woman should be made aware of the information in this book at an early age--whether through their own reading or through the caring explanations of parents and teachers.