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 Palestine in EU and Russian Foreign Policy by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Metaphors We Lead By by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Intelligence, Sustainability, and Strategic Issues in Management by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book A Mirror to Kathleen's Face by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Primary Religious Education - A New Approach by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Understanding Greek Tragic Theatre by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Surveillance and Democracy in Europe by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Globalization and Emerging Trends in African States' Foreign Policy-Making Process by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book The Cultural Identity of Seventeenth-Century Woman by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Learning Disability by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Whole Earth Thinking and Planetary Coexistence by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book An Enlarged Europe by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Business Cycles by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Tourism in South and Southeast Asia by Lisa Downing
Cover of the book Sociology as an Art Form 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