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 Total Operations Solutions by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Human Adaptability, Student Economy Edition by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Edmund Burke by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Re-mapping the Americas by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Political Communication in a New Era by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book The Notebook of a New Clinical Neuropsychologist by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Development Management by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Responding to Family Violence by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Museum Security and Protection by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Foreign Accent Syndromes by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Indian Wars of Canada, Mexico and the United States, 1812-1900 by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Work Pressures by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Acoustics and Psychoacoustics by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Geography of Production and Economic Integration by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Sexuality and the Law 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