Page 4 RAIN January 1981 l CONSERVATION Insulating Window Shade, by.Ray Wolf, 1980, 86 pp., $14.95 from: Rodale PlansRodale Press· 33 East Minor Street Emmaus, PA 18049 At first glance, it appears that Rodale has come up with something that has been • needed for a long time-a clear, detailed set of instructions for a fairly sqphisticated, easily maintained, home-built insulating shade. The basic design is excellent, consisting of a MylarihJet sandwiched between two layers of quilted fabric attached to separate rollers to give an R value between 4 and 8 (depending on what fabric you use), and can be mounted either inside or outside the ~ndow casihg. The plans are geared towards someone who has had mini'mal exposure to energy conservation, carp1ntry, and sewing skills. When a friend of ours who is fairly competent in all three fields actually tried to build one, how.e.ver, she found that while the instructions are meticulously precise on some steps, they are frustratingly obscure on others, such as some of the sewing and pulley construction details. The pulley design in particular appears to be sound in principle, but flimsy in practice and in need of some • further design evolution. The materials section is mediocre at best.....- The designers made no effort to track down sources·of the various quilted fabrics, and failed to consider some of the cheaper and potentially just as effective alternatives to Mylar for the reflective vapor barr.ier. What's more, I suspect that two of the five quilted fabrics they tested will not work as well in real life as they did in the lab. One . material uses cotton batting,'a poor choice in high humidity situations. The other consists o( a thin foam batting sandwiched between two layers of light cotton. Wolf mentions in . passing that the foam may break down or melt in a hot clothes dryer, yet he strongly recommends this material as your best choice. This is disconcerting, because a low- • ered insulating shade behind a closed wi~dow on a sunny qay can easily reach the 150° or so operating temperatures of the average dryer'. Nevertheless, there are some good ideas here, and the plans are worth looking at if you are prepared to make a few modifications of your own. A slightly ~mproved •design could be an important step towards making an effective conservation technique accessible and affordable to almost anyone. That breakthrough, however, will probably not come from Rodale. It is clear that Rodale realizes they are on to a good thing, and they have chosen to take full advantage of it. At $14.95, it's-unlikely that it's going to reach the people who need it most. -KB Peasant Woman Victor De Wilde SCIENCE Women Look at Biology Looking at Women, edited by Ruth Hubbard, Mary Sue Henfin, and Barbara Fried, 1979, 268 pp., $8.95 from: Schenkman Publishing Co. Mt. Auburn Place Cambridge, MA 02138 As we rethink our history, our social roles, and our options it is importan_t that' we be ever wary of the wide areas of congruence between what are obviously ethno~and androcentric assumptions and what we have be·en taugnt are the.scientifically proven facts of our biqlogy. . Feminists have Ion~ been challengers of the myth of scientific o~jectivity in anth'ropology, psychology and the social sciences. Women Looking at Biology Looking at Women continues this critique with an examination of the natural s.ciences. Written with acuity, intelligence and considerable • research, each article in this collection demonstrates.the variety of ways i~ which the object chosen, the language used, and the •mannei;; in which research is done reinforce • the social patterns and preconceptions of the studiers-historically male. • The book is divided into two sections. The first, entitled "What is a Woman," covers theories from Darwinism to the current debate over sexual differences in brain asymmetry (whether the dominant use of onete side of the brain dete~mines personality traits). The authors demonstrate how unstat- ,ed biases are substantiated by selective use of data and by·weighted interpretations. "The circle is easy to construct. One starts with . the Victorian stereotype of the active male and the passive female, then looks at animals, algae, bacteria and people and calls all passive behavior feminine, active or goalori_erlted behavior masculine. And it works ! The Victorian stereotype is biologically determined, even algae behave.that way." The second section of the book, "Gaining Control," covers some of the efforts by which women have struggled for control of their bodies and their biology. "The Quirls of a Woman's Brain" is a fascinating account of the 19th century battles by women to gain equal educational opportunities and entrance into medical schools. Repeatedly, wo'men's physiology was held up as a limit to women's potential. Numerous publications wer,e written espousing the dangers in the strain of education on the delicate biology of womert._ A leading physician of that era, Dr. Horatio Storer, believed that women were monthly cripples, describing menstruation as "periodic infirmity" and "temporary insanity." It was his belief that women were in more need of medical aid themselves than they were capable of dispensing it to others. The concluding article of this section is a first-hand account of one woman's attempt to break into this male-dominated field. While she is often lauded for her perseverance in overcoming the obstacles she faced, the point she makes goes beyond her success. "None of us should have to face this type of offense.The main point is that we must change this mari's world and this m;n's sci- . ence." While most of the information presented here has received attention ir.t other publications', the breadth and quality of this collec- , tion is outstanding. An exhaustive 55-page •bibliography on Women, Science and Health, valuable in and of itself, completes • this book. Women Looking at Biology Looking at Women presents a challenge to us to develop the expertise to define our own options as individuals, as well as working to redefine the meaning of science and technol- l ogy in a manner that is "consonant with our ideas of human dignity, and the dignity.of nature free from exploitation." - LS .
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