Background
Cavin, Susan Elizabeth was born on March 18, 1948 in Trion, Georgia, United States. Daughter of John Charles and Mary (Risk) Cavin.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
book
Big Apple Dyke News (B.A.D. News), 1981, Vol 1 Nos. 1 and 2.
(First two issues of this lesbian newspaper from New York ...)
First two issues of this lesbian newspaper from New York City. Includes interview with Kate Millett.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BB4XGPY/?tag=2022091-20
Lesbian Origins
(Lesbian feminism has often been scorned as a marginal pol...)
Lesbian feminism has often been scorned as a marginal political dogma. Susan Cavin, a lesbian feminist sociologist, advances a new theory of women's oppression and women's liberation, based on cross-cultural data. She holds that original human societies were woman-centered, with females greatly outnumbering males; men occupied a marginal position. When armed men overthrew women's societies they integrated themselves into society, breaking women's power. Examining the sex ratio of societies across the globe, Cavin challenges conventional wisdom about the "natural" numerical balance between the sexes. She finds a frequent occurrence of societies with a high-female sex ratio (54% or more female) among Africans, Pacific islanders and Native Americans (in both North and South America). Moreover, she finds that these cultures tend to subsist by hunting and gathering, with extended-family households centered around mothers' kin-groups, and a lack of sharp social stratification in the culture. She thus hypothesizes that original human society had a high-female sex ratio. Cavin also finds that lesbian relations have existed in pre-industrial societies at every level of economy and subsistence pattern, with woman-to woman marriage practiced in several African and Native American cultures. Her investigation provides a sociological basis for lesbian feminism. Cavin disputes the liberal notion that sex separation invariably places women in a subordinate role. "The entrance of the mass of males into everyday residential contact with female society brings dominance hierarchies into society," she asserts. "These male dominance hierarchies economically, socially, and politically segregate the mass of women from positions of power in society." She also challenges standard feminist views of women's liberation, arguing that women will not win their freedom by integrating into male-dominated power structures.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0910383154/?tag=2022091-20
Lesbian Origins by Susan Cavin (1985-12-03)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F9G8AI8/?tag=2022091-20
Susan Elizabeth Cavin
Edit ProfileEducation
Bachelor, Vanderbilt University, 1970; Master of Arts, Rutgers University, 1973; Doctor of Philosophy, Rutgers University, 1978.
Career
Teaching assistant sociology, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, 1970-1975;
typesetter, SoHo News, New York City, 1976;
assistant professor sociology, Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vermont, 1979-1983;
lecturer women's studies, Rutger's U., New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1984-1991;
assistant director women's studies, Rutger's U., New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1988-1991;
project director women in engineering science technical program, 1991-1997;
associate professor sociology, New York University, since 1998. Consultant Governor's Study Commision on Discrimination, Trenton, New Jersey, 1992. Adjunct assistant professor sociology New York University, 1990-1997.
Director evaluation, asthma initiative New York City Department Health, since 1999. President faculty senate, chair faculty Green Mountain College, 1982.
Achievements
Works
book
-
Lesbian Origins
(Lesbian feminism has often been scorned as a marginal pol...)
-
Big Apple Dyke News (B.A.D. News), 1981, Vol 1 Nos. 1 and 2.
(First two issues of this lesbian newspaper from New York ...)
- Lesbian Origins by Susan Cavin (1985-12-03)
-
Lesbian Origins
Membership
Member National Writers Union, American Sociological Association, National Women's Studies assosiation, New York Academy Sciences.
Connections
1 child, Julian Samuel Cavin-Zeidenstein.
