Breaking the Bowls

by Judith Lorber

"Breaking the Bowls outlines a new way of thinking about gender and argues for a degendering movement that dismantles the consideration of gender as a social status." "Judith Lorber frames her book on a broad scale. Breaking the Bowls considers the research advantages of using multiple gender categories rather than just two. It examines how we can degender the family, which, Lorber maintains, must happen for degendering to take place across society. Showing how egalitarian parenting depends on the degendering of the workplace, Lorber argues that work and family must be considered together and that assumptions about work and caretaking need to be reassessed. In addition to considering the social foundations of gender, Lorber discusses the cultural changes surrounding gender in the aftermath of 9/11 and the representation of gender in the media. She then examines the politics of undoing gender through international feminist networks and grassroots activism. Lorber argues that imagining a