title: Am I A Woman: A Skeptic's Guide to Gender
author:  Cynthia Eller 
description: After 121 pages of Eller mining her life for examples of how she is or isn't a "real" woman, she finally concludes, "It doesn't matter. Because whether gender is biological or socially constructed, absolutely determinative or a barely self-consistent fiction, it's reasonable to both want and expect social change where sex inequality is concerned." What begins as a self-focused, slightly academic look at the truth about gender eventually evolves into one more book by a feminist scholar trying to prove that we still have work to do. Boiled down, Eller argues that human sexual dimorphism (the belief that anatomy defines women and men) is law, but that all the nasty little rules that go along with the labels "man" and "woman" are limiting. Women may have the right to cast a vote and grow old and disgruntled in a boardroom, but they still suffer disproportionately from sexual abuse, violent attack and unrealistic social expectations, says Eller. Although the message isn't particularly fresh, it is told, as are Eller's other books, including The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory, in a bright, conversational way. Eller is a self-described "veritable stereotype of normative femaleness," with a husband, a suburban home and even a carpool. So hearing her go on about the daily manifestations of gender construction-e.g., her zealous sex drive and constant fashion failures-feels a little less stale than the overexposed transgender perspective.<br />Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  A Clean Sweep
  
  
  by
  
  
  Sara Bourgeois
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  Chapter One
  
  
  
  
  
  “You have got to be kidding me,” Annika said as I drained another margarita.
  “Please tell me you’re joking.”
  
  
  Remy and Brody were at the archives doing whatever they did there while Annika
  and I had a girls’ night. Remy had looked like he hadn’t wanted to leave me in
  the state I was in, but Annika assured him she could handle it and pushed them
  out the door.
  
  
  Thorn had left the night before to go see his ex-wife with promises to call me
  as soon as he could. I hadn’t heard from him much. He wasn’t sure what was
  going on, but he’d said he’d get to the bottom of it and make things right.
  Whatever that meant.
  
  
  “I’m not joking. Apparently, she showed back up in town with a kid that looks
  just like Thorn.”
  
  
  “I mean, that doesn’t mean it’s his,” Annika offered.
  
  
  “Given that he could just get a DNA test, I don’t see why she would lie,” I
  said.
  
  
  “Because some women are able to convince