Wayward Women

Sexuality and Agency in a New Guinea Society

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, Gender Studies
Cover of the book Wayward Women by Holly Wardlow, University of California Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Holly Wardlow ISBN: 9780520938977
Publisher: University of California Press Publication: May 8, 2006
Imprint: University of California Press Language: English
Author: Holly Wardlow
ISBN: 9780520938977
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication: May 8, 2006
Imprint: University of California Press
Language: English

Written with uncommon grace and clarity, this extremely engaging ethnography analyzes female agency, gendered violence, and transactional sex in contemporary Papua New Guinea. Focusing on Huli "passenger women," (women who accept money for sex) Wayward Women explores the socio-economic factors that push women into the practice of transactional sex, and asks how these transactions might be an expression of resistance, or even revenge. Challenging conventional understandings of "prostitution" and "sex work," Holly Wardlow contextualizes the actions and intentions of passenger women in a rich analysis of kinship, bridewealth, marriage, and exchange, revealing the ways in which these robust social institutions are transformed by an encompassing capitalist economy. Many passenger women assert that they have been treated "olsem maket" (like market goods) by their husbands and natal kin, and they respond by fleeing home and defiantly appropriating their sexuality for their own purposes. Experiences of rape, violence, and the failure of kin to redress such wrongs figure prominently in their own stories about becoming "wayward." Drawing on village court cases, hospital records, and women’s own raw, caustic , and darkly funny narratives, Wayward Women provides a riveting portrait of the way modernity engages with gender to produce new and contested subjectivities.

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

Written with uncommon grace and clarity, this extremely engaging ethnography analyzes female agency, gendered violence, and transactional sex in contemporary Papua New Guinea. Focusing on Huli "passenger women," (women who accept money for sex) Wayward Women explores the socio-economic factors that push women into the practice of transactional sex, and asks how these transactions might be an expression of resistance, or even revenge. Challenging conventional understandings of "prostitution" and "sex work," Holly Wardlow contextualizes the actions and intentions of passenger women in a rich analysis of kinship, bridewealth, marriage, and exchange, revealing the ways in which these robust social institutions are transformed by an encompassing capitalist economy. Many passenger women assert that they have been treated "olsem maket" (like market goods) by their husbands and natal kin, and they respond by fleeing home and defiantly appropriating their sexuality for their own purposes. Experiences of rape, violence, and the failure of kin to redress such wrongs figure prominently in their own stories about becoming "wayward." Drawing on village court cases, hospital records, and women’s own raw, caustic , and darkly funny narratives, Wayward Women provides a riveting portrait of the way modernity engages with gender to produce new and contested subjectivities.

More books from University of California Press

Cover of the book Return to Sender by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book Toxic Injustice by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book The Selected Letters of Robert Creeley by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book Lost Names by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book Gender in the Twenty-First Century by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book The Origins of the Lebanese National Idea by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book Agrarian Dreams by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book Imperial San Francisco, With a New Preface by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book The Last Great Strike by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book Common Spiders of North America by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book The Gothic Enterprise by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book The Politics of Gender in Colonial Korea by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book The Music of Tragedy by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book From Mission to Microchip by Holly Wardlow
Cover of the book Essentials of Applied Econometrics by Holly Wardlow
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