Gender on Planet Earth by Ann Oakley

Gender on Planet Earth by Ann Oakley

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.

Ann Oakley is a University of London sociology professor. Gender on Planet Earth and Experiments in Knowledge (both from The New Press), The Men's Room, The Captive Womb, Subject Women, Becoming a Mother, Woman's Work, The Sociology of Housework, and Sex, Gender, and Society are just a few of her earlier works.