Charting over 45 years of feminist debate on the significance of gender in the making and understanding of art, this archival anthology gathers together 88 indicative texts from North America, Europe and Australasia.
The volume embraces a broad range of threads and perspectives, from diverse national and global approaches, lesbian and queer theory, and postmodernism to education and aesthetics. The writings of artists and activists are juxtaposed with those of academics, creating an entertaining and provocative web of ideas. Some of the texts are now regarded as classic, but the anthology is particularly notable for its inclusion of rare and significant material not reprinted elsewhere.
The scale and structure of the volume make it a uniquely flexible resource for study and research. Each of the seven sections focuses on a specific area of debate and is introduced by a descriptive summary. The texts within each chapter are then presented in chronological order, indexing differing positions as they developed over time. The second edition is completely revised, retaining only one-third of the texts of the earlier edition, with all other material being new inclusions.