Selfish Women

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Feminism & Feminist Theory
Cover of the book Selfish Women by Lisa Downing, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Lisa Downing ISBN: 9781000020618
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: May 24, 2019
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Lisa Downing
ISBN: 9781000020618
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: May 24, 2019
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

This book proceeds from a single and very simple observation: throughout history, and up to the present, women have received a clear message that we are not supposed to prioritize ourselves. Indeed, the whole question of "self" is a problem for women – and a problem that issues from a wide range of locations, including, in some cases, feminism itself. When women espouse discourses of self-interest, self-regard, and selfishness, they become illegible. This is complicated by the commodification of the self in the recent Western mode of economic and political organization known as "neoliberalism," which encourages a focus on self-fashioning that may not be identical with self-regard or self-interest.

Drawing on figures from French, US, and UK contexts, including Rachilde, Ayn Rand, Margaret Thatcher, and Lionel Shriver, and examining discourses from psychiatry, media, and feminism with the aim of reading against the grain of multiple orthodoxies, this book asks how revisiting the words and works of selfish women of modernity can assist us in understanding our fraught individual and collective identities as women in contemporary culture. And can women with politics that are contrary to the interests of the collective teach us anything about the value of rethinking the role of the individual?

This book is an essential read for those with interests in cultural theory, feminist theory, and gender politics.

 

 

 

 

 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This book proceeds from a single and very simple observation: throughout history, and up to the present, women have received a clear message that we are not supposed to prioritize ourselves. Indeed, the whole question of "self" is a problem for women – and a problem that issues from a wide range of locations, including, in some cases, feminism itself. When women espouse discourses of self-interest, self-regard, and selfishness, they become illegible. This is complicated by the commodification of the self in the recent Western mode of economic and political organization known as "neoliberalism," which encourages a focus on self-fashioning that may not be identical with self-regard or self-interest.

Drawing on figures from French, US, and UK contexts, including Rachilde, Ayn Rand, Margaret Thatcher, and Lionel Shriver, and examining discourses from psychiatry, media, and feminism with the aim of reading against the grain of multiple orthodoxies, this book asks how revisiting the words and works of selfish women of modernity can assist us in understanding our fraught individual and collective identities as women in contemporary culture. And can women with politics that are contrary to the interests of the collective teach us anything about the value of rethinking the role of the individual?

This book is an essential read for those with interests in cultural theory, feminist theory, and gender politics.

 

 

 

 

 

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book The Professions in Early Modern England, 1450-1800 by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Title IX by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book A Theory of Full Employment by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Acoustic Blues Guitar Styles by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Target Markets by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book The Routledge Handbook of Linguistics by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Divorce and the Next Generation by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Leadership by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Mobilizing Religion and Gender in India by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Issues in Deaf Education by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Revisiting Classical Economics by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book The Economy of East Central Europe, 1815-1989 by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Travel and Travellers of the Middle Ages by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book The Social Work Business by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book International Perspectives on Teaching with Disability by Lisa Downing
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy