Encyclopedia of gender and society /

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Bibliographic Details
Imprint:Los Angeles : SAGE, c2009.
Description:2 v. (xxxii, 976 p.) : ill. ; 29 cm.
Language:English
Subject:Women -- Encyclopedias.
Men -- Encyclopedias.
Social history -- 1970- -- Encyclopedias.
Men.
Social history.
Women.
Encyclopedias.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/7540939
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:O'Brien, Jodi.
ISBN:9781412909167 (cloth)
1412909163 (cloth)
Notes:"A Sage reference publication."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Review by Choice Review

This encyclopedia is a scholarly, entertaining, and highly readable reference work. Editor O'Brien (Seattle Univ.) provides readers with a "gender lens" on society, while emphasizing both individual and global aspects of social life. Entries, written by gender scholars across the US and abroad, are organized in 14 categories: "Arts, Popular Culture, and Sports," "Associations and Organizations," "Biographies," "Body Image, Health and Illness," "Crime and Criminal Justice," "Economics, Environment, and Ecology," "Gender Identities and Roles," "International Development and Human Rights," "Politics, Public Policy, and Social Movements," "Race and Ethnicity," "Relationships, Marriage, and the Family," "Religion, Mythology, and Spirituality," "Science, Research, Education, and Technology," and "Sexuality and Reproduction." Individual entries are as diverse as "Superheroes," "Misogyny," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Sperm Donors," "Feminist Bioethics," "Hip Hop," and "Chastity," and are presented with up-to-date analysis and discussion. Longer, framing essays are incorporated to provide overviews of broader topics and directions for research. The set includes a comprehensive index. This important interdisciplinary work will add value and interest to any reference collection. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers. S. Markgren Purchase College, SUNY

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Sage Reference has capitalized on its popular bimonthly journal Gender & Society to producea reference that provides readers with coverage of the major theories, research, people, and issues in contemporary gender studies. Relevant, timely, and important topics are covered in the journal and so, too, in the reference work, where readers will find entries from a broad array of recognized areas of social research, including the arts, popular culture, economics, race and ethnicity, and more. Signed entries by a distinguished list of contributors succeed in advancing a distinctly social perspective with which to analyze gender. Entries are written in a manner that is thorough and accurate but nontechnical and accessible to readers. Added value is provided by an index and a Reader's Guide, which assists readers in locating entries on related topics. According to the introduction, the focus is on basic aspects of social life from the most individual (self and identity) to the most global (transnational economics and politics). Entries such as All India Women's Conference; Bodybuilding; Courtly love; Family Medical Leave Act; Hysterectomy; Mail order brides; Microlending; Nightingale, Florence; Polygamy; and Transvestite give an idea of the encyclopedia's range. Still, readers seeking a comprehensive compendium of all the scholarship on gender and society may be disappointed. Given both the interdisciplinarity of the field of gender scholarship and the immense significance of gender to both individuals and societies, it is probably impossible to produce such a compendium. The editor, advisory team, and contributors are to be credited for tackling a project of such immense scope. Editor O'Brien's commitment to the possibility of a more-informed discourse on the highly complex and nuanced topic of gender and society promises to benefit a broad readership. Libraries that own the Encyclopedia of Women and Gender: Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender (Academic, 2001) will want to add this work to their collections for several reasons the broader range, the continuing reexamination of gender and society from a variety of scholarly perspectives, the continuing fascination with this and related topics, the eight-year publication difference between the two works, and the rapidly evolving field of gender scholarship. Highly recommended for academic libraries of all size and for large public libraries.--Watstein, Sarah Copyright 2009 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review

Edited by O'Brien (sociology, Seattle Univ.), this work contains contributions from almost 300 international scholars on many aspects of gender as it relates to society and on society as it relates to gender. Including both an A-to-Z list of entries as well as a reader's guide to assist in locating entries on related topics, it is a user-friendly reference guide, as it utilizes subheadings within entries, guide words on both pages, and white space. Covering arts, popular culture, sports, biographies, crime and criminal justice, economics, environment, ecology, politics, public policy, social movements, science, research, education, and technology, the two volumes contain over 450 entries ranging in length from half a page to several pages, discussing such mundane topics as contraception and infertility as well as sensitive issues like compulsory heterosexuality and sadomasochism. BOTTOM LINE All topics in this wide-ranging resource are addressed in an unbiased and unprejudiced manner, and facts are stated clearly and coherently. The coverage of changing topics is kept current. A valuable addition to any library. [Available electronically via Sage eReference as well as Gale Virtual Reference Library.]-Sara Rofofsky Marcus, Queensborough Community Coll. Lib., Bayside, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 10 Up-Successfully providing a "gender lens on society," this set features nearly 500 signed essays on a variety of contemporary issues (dieting, same-sex marriage); people (Eleanor Roosevelt, Matthew Shepard); organizations (Promise Keepers, Arab Feminist Union); and events (International Women's Day, Million Man March). Volume one includes a reader's guide that is divided into categories such as "Associations and Organizations," "Economics, Environment, and Ecology," "International Development and Human Rights," and "Sexuality and Reproduction," and which notes related topics but doesn't include page numbers. The same volume also has a lengthy introduction explaining the field of gender scholarship, the organization and creation of the encyclopedia, and a brief contributor list noting affiliations but not credentials. The study of gender and society is complex, and while many of these essays would be of some interest to high school students, the most likely audience is students of gender studies. That said, the essays are mostly unbiased, use lay language when possible, and employ bibliographies and cross-references. The extensive index highlights main entries.-Betty S. Evans, Missouri State University, Springfield (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review


Review by Booklist Review


Review by Library Journal Review


Review by School Library Journal Review