Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives

by Cynthia Enloe

Book Overview

Maneuvers takes readers on a global tour of the sprawling process called "militarization." With her incisive verve and moxie, eminent feminist Cynthia Enloe shows that the people who become militarized are not just the obvious ones--executives and factory floor workers who make fighter planes, land mines, and intercontinental missiles. They are also the employees of food companies, toy companies, clothing companies, film studios, stock brokerages,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520220714
• ISBN13: 9780520220713
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 437 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Important feminist study on militarisation

Cynthia Enloe adds to her series of writings looking at the effects of militarisation on women's lives - from the laundresses, camp followers, comfort women and sex workers to feminist military personnel and those who fight the home front.Like Jan Jindy Pettman's "Worlding Women - a feminist international politics", Enloe's latest book seeks to look at international relations from a gendered perspective - and succeeds admirably.The author relies a lot on secondary sources (citing a lot of newspaper stories), but weaves together the strands of militarisation on women's lives in a compelling and readable style. The book is full of fascinating anecdotes that illustrate the broader themes of the multifacted impact of contemporary militarisation (I particularly enjoyed the discussion on why British military officers from all services and US Air Force and Navy officers are allowed to carry umbrellas, but they are fobidden as too girlie for the US Marines and US Army! )