Threshold Concepts in Women’s and Gender Studies

Book excerpt: Threshold Concepts in Women’s and Gender Studies: Ways of Seeing, Thinking, and Knowing is a textbook designed primarily for introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies courses with the intent of providing both a skills- and concept-based foundation in the field. The text is driven by a single key question: "What are the ways of thinking, seeing, and knowing that characterize women’s and gender studies and are valued by its practitioners?" Rather than taking a topical approach, Threshold Concepts in Women’s and Gender Studies develops the key concepts and ways of thinking that students need in order to develop a deep understanding and to approach material like feminist scholars do, across disciplines. This book illustrates four of the most critical concepts in women’s and gender studies: the social construction of gender; privilege and oppression; intersectionality; and feminist praxis, and grounds these concepts in multiple illustrations.