Excerpt from the introduction:
"Is anatomy destiny? We are a very long time away from answering this question. All the data currently available reflect the differences between women and men imposed upon us by the patriarchal society in which we live. As long as the divisions between women and men are so rigidly defined and enforced, it is impossible to know whether any differences occur naturally, and if they do, whether they bear any relation to the traditional stereotypes. Both women and men agree that differences exist; it is the nature of those differences and their origins that remain in dispute.

Many women have begun to question the relationship between their sex and their art. Are certain sensibilities uniquely feminine? Can these be deciphered in a particular individual’s art? Can and should art be distinguished as women’s art or men’s art? Can a woman’s art be received fairly in an art world dominated by men? Most of the discussion of these questions has been concerned with literature and visual arts other than photography. It is the purpose of this book to consider photographs made by women—and by doing so to re-evaluate some of the ways women are portrayed by men