Reinventing The Sexes

Examines the influence of traditional views of femininity and masculinity on brain research.

"The book is accessible and well written, and the issues are thoughtfully analyzed." -- Choice An insightful examination of how traditional views of femininity and masculinity have influenced scientific research about sexual differences in the brain. The book chronicles the phallocentric underpinnings of research in the field and the subsequent contribution of feminist intellectual thought to the modification of scientific practice.

Carolyn Heilbrun's important investigation into issues of identity for twentieth-century American women: the problem with past role models, ways to construct new ones.

The concept of obscenity is an ancient one. But as Joan DeJean suggests, its modern form, the same version that today's politicians decry and savvy artists exploit, was invented in seventeenth-century France. The Reinvention of Obscenity casts a fresh light on the mythical link between sexual impropriety and things French. Exploring the complicity between censorship, print culture, and obscenity, DeJean argues that mass market printing and the first modern censorial machinery came into being at the very moment that obscenity was being reinvented—that is, transformed from a minor literary phenomenon into a threat to society. DeJean's principal case in this study is the career of Moliére, who cannily exploited the new link between indecency and female genitalia to found his career as a print author; the enormous scandal which followed his play L'école des femmes made him the first modern writer to have his sex life dissected in the press. Keenly alert to parallels with the currency of obscenity in contemporary America, The Reinvention of Obscenity will concern not only scholars of French history, but anyone interested in the intertwined histories of sex, publishing, and censorship.

“I learned about the mechanics of female sexual pleasure in my sex ed class.” “I am able to have a difficult conversation with my partner about our relationship.” “I can boldly and openly carry a tampon to the restroom in public.” “I am totally comfortable being naked in front of a new partner.” If you disagree with any of these statements (or all of them), you are not alone. You are one of many, many women who are feeling the effects of “sexual madness.” According to Jennifer Gunsaullus, PhD, sociologist and sex coach, it is time for women to break free from the labyrinth of societal baggage in relation to sexual education, expectations, and fulfillment. From Madness to Mindfulness sets out to help women empower themselves, and future generations of young women, to transition out of a state of sexual madness and into a state of sexual mindfulness. A state in which women can give themselves permission to feel more worthy of love and great sex (and then have it!). Dr. Jenn will guide you through the process of assessing levels of “mis-education” in regard to relationships, communication, sex, passion, desire, and body image and integrating mindfulness practices to overcome your own personal “madness.” Replete with personal stories and a wide array of client accounts, along with guided questions, action items, and tips to create a personal Reinventing Sex plan, Dr. Jenn will help guide you to become a thriving sexual being . . . on your own terms.

Home to established African American institutions and communities, Washington, D.C., offered women in the New Negro movement a unique setting for the fight against racial and gender oppression. Colored No More traces how African American women of the late-nineteenth and early twentieth century made significant strides toward making the nation's capital a more equal and dynamic urban center. Treva B. Lindsey presents New Negro womanhood as a multidimensional space that included race women, blues women, mothers, white collar professionals, beauticians, fortune tellers, sex workers, same-gender couples, artists, activists, and innovators. Drawing from these differing but interconnected African American women's spaces, Lindsey excavates a multifaceted urban and cultural history of struggle toward a vision of equality that could emerge and sustain itself. Upward mobility to equal citizenship for African American women encompassed challenging racial, gender, class, and sexuality status quos. Lindsey maps the intersection of these challenges and their place at the core of New Negro womanhood.

Reinventing Licentiousness navigates an overlooked history of representation during the transition from the Qing Empire to the Chinese Republic—a time when older, hierarchical notions of licentiousness were overlaid by a new, pornographic regime. Y. Yvon Wang draws on previously untapped archives—ranging from police archives and surveys to ephemeral texts and pictures—to argue that pornography in China represents a unique configuration of power and desire that both reflects and shapes historical processes. On the one hand, since the late imperial period, pornography has democratized pleasure in China and opened up new possibilities of imagining desire. On the other, ongoing controversies over its definition and control show how the regulatory ideas of premodern cultural politics and the popular products of early modern cultural markets have contoured the globalized world. Reinventing Licentiousness emphasizes the material factors, particularly at the grassroots level of consumption and trade, that governed "proper" sexual desire and led to ideological shifts around the definition of pornography. By linking the past to the present and beyond, Wang's social and intellectual history showcases circulated pornographic material as a motor for cultural change. The result is an astonishing foray into what historicizing pornography can mean for our understandings of desire, legitimacy, capitalism, and culture.

Talk is crucial to the way our identities are constructed, altered, and defended. Feminist scholars in particular have only begun to investigate how deeply language reflects and shapes who we think we are. This volume of previously unpublished essays, the first in the new series Studies in Language and Gender, advances that effort by bringing together leading feminist scholars in the area of language and gender, including Deborah Tannen, Jennifer Coates, and Marcyliena Morgan, as well as rising younger scholars. Topics explored include African-American drag queens, gender and class on the shopping channel, and talk in the workplace.

While most people say they believe in equal rights, the word feminism—America's new F-word—makes people uncomfortable. Explore the history of US feminism through pioneers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, and Gloria Steinem. Meet modern leaders such as Rebecca Walker and Julie Zeilinger, who are striving to empower women at work, in government, at home—and in cultural and personal arenas. Learn from interviews with movement leaders, scholars, pop stars, and average women, what it means to be a feminist—or to reject it altogether. After reading this book, readers will be able to respond to "Am I a feminist?" with a confident, informed voice.