Feminist Science:
A Scientific Movement
Simply considered, science is a set of truths. In these truths exist facts, theories, and laws. However in science it is the process of the discovery i.e. the critical examination of experiments and data that merit tribute rather than solely their products. As such, knowledge and understanding of common objects in science reflect distinctly the relation of the knower and the subject matter. For this reason the criticism of scientific innovation persists today. Whether it is the difference between first-person or third-person knowledge or the difference in “emotions, attitudes, interests, or values” of the knower, judgment regarding these differences will surface (2000). However the most common and most scrutinized difference in the realm of science is none of the above, but rather that of sex. As a result, scientific progress contributed and practiced by females has become known as feminist science.
Like the theory of feminism itself, generally defined as the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes, feminist science aims at much the same but in the scientific realm. Feminist science argues that sexual difference and consequences are not just facts to be understood, but that understanding those facts and their implications is crucial to ethical thought and action. To identify with this, one must begin with the most basic argument regarding the difference between male and female.
In the sixteenth century the field of physiology assumed that male and female anatomy was identical, except with respect to reproduction. In addition it was believed that the mind exhibited no sex. Though we now know these statements are false because of medical advancements and observations of skeletal and muscle formation as well as hormone production, their original purpose in comparison still serves. In actuality the largest difference between male and female is not sex, but gender, a product of society....