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The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy, by Allan G. Johnson. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997. 253 pp. $59.95 cloth. ISBN: 1-56639-518-6. $19.95 paper. ISBN: 1-56639-519-4.
The best of feminist theory is linked with practice, and Johnson's book follows this tradition by connecting patriarchy's macrostructure to its microstructure and by encouraging the reader to envision taking the necessary steps to dismantle the system. Brick by brick, Johnson identifies the components of the foundation of the house of patriarchy, with the "core value of control and domination" (p. 85) as the mortar that holds the bricks together. He methodically provides us with the plans for the bulldozer needed to bring the house down; yet when the architect of this house is not identified, we are left with some unanswered questions: What will replace this house of patriarchy? How can we ensure that the house we create is not just a postindustrial version of the same?
In his quest to identify the "architect" or cause of patriarchy, Johnson...