What can and should a woman be? This is the essential philosophical question at the heart of this book.
Feminist literature dealing with women in modern society focuses for the most part on that which disturbs and rankles; it discusses the trees without relating to the forest. This book attempts to fill that gap; it cuts through to the first principles, laying conceptual foundations for the demand to eliminate the traditional division of roles between the sexes, freeing women from the onus of absolute altruistic morality, which may result in emptiness, boredom, frustration, and even emotional collapse.
However, this book is directed at a male audience no less than at females, raising questions which necessitate male consideration as well as a willingness to change fundamental perceptions. Men may also profit from the past experiences of women; the fate of women throughout history has lessons for men as well — hence the title of this book, with its implicit admonition: We’ve Already Been There.
Dr. Gizi Rapaport taught philosophy of the social sciences and political philosophy at Tel Aviv University. Her Hebrew publications include: Freedom or Equality? (1992; published in English in 2012), On Feminism and its Opponents (1993), Beyond Limits: Women vs. Women (1999); For a Particular Secular Option: From Monotheism to Rationality (2005); and The Best of All Possible Worlds: Confronting the Challenges of Relativism (2011).
