"This collection of essays by some of the most distinguished scholars working on Italian feminist theory today brings to the fore the issue of sexual difference as it has been elaborated over the last several years within the context of feminist thought and practice in Italy. In the Introduction the editors discuss salient topics that condition the debate on equality vs. difference as articulated in the theoretical work of French, American, and Italian feminist thinkers. There follow essays by Carol Lazzaro-Weis, Lucia Re, Luisa Muraro, Adriana Cavarero, Lea Melandri, and Teresa de Lauretis, in which the authors explore the concept of sexual difference, female authority, relational identity, gendered roles, and homosexual desire in its relation to heterosexual normativity. The volume brings Italian feminist theory squarely into the arena of the most important contemporary feminist debates, revealing both its connections to and disjunctions from more dominant French and North American theories and practices."--BOOK JACKET.