Female Sexualization: A Collective Work of Memory

by Frigga Haug

Book Overview

Foregrounding the body, this remarkable collective work explores the sexualization of women's bodies, charting the complex interplay of social, political and cultural forces which produce a normative "femininity." A series of projects which focus on concrete instances of sexualization (hair, legs, the slavegirl stereotype, women's gymnastics) lead to a broader examination of the relationship between power and sexuality, the social and the psychological. Placing themselves at the crossroad where feminism and socialism meet, the contributors move seamlessly between the autobiographical and the analytical, questioning the diversion between personal and political, mapping the knot of memory and desire at the heart of the gendered body. Vitally, these accounts do not present sexualization as a passive inculcation of social norms: the individual is presented as taking an active role in the construction of gendered identities.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1859842070
• ISBN13: 9781859842072
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Verso
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Frigga'n Good Read!

This coming of age book is one that all women (and men) should discover and read. I must admit. When I first saw this title on my wife's book, I was a bit disgusted. I had read many of her Cosmopolitan magazines, but none prepared me for this! But i have changed since then. Let me tell you men, if your thinking about a "romantic" night out with a loved one, use this as a primer. Trust me, you'll thank me later. It was thrilling to read this sensuous book, especially the twenty-fifth chapter. Heck! I'd buy it just for that! Vivid word pictures and excessive use of connotation lace this glorious book together to make it one outstanding read!