<strong>When Sex Became Gender</strong> is a study of postWorld War II feminist theory fromthe viewpoint of intellectual history. The key theme is that ideas ab... » 

When Sex Became Gender is a study of postWorld War II feminist theory fromthe viewpoint of intellectual history. The key theme is that ideas about thesocial construction of gender have its origins in the feminist theorists of thepostwar period and that these early ideas about gender became a keyfoundational paradigm for both second and third wave feminist thought. Theseconceptual foundations were created by a cohort of extraordinarily imaginativeand bold academic women. While discussing the famous feminist scholarsSimonede Beauvoir Margaret Meadthe book also hinges on the work of scholars who arelesser known to American audiencesMirra Komarovsky Viola Klein and RuthHerschberger The postwar years have been an overlooked period in thedevelopment of feminist theory and philosophy and Tarrant makes a compellingcase for this era being the turning point in the study of gender. «