Greetings from Amazon.com Delivers Women's Studies
Two generations of feminists reach out to each other, a
Harvard psychologist argues that beauty really is one of
women's most powerful weapons, and two biographers trace the
origins of one of the 20th century's most powerful women
writers. And more..
"Letters of Intent"
edited by Anna Bondoc and Meg Daly
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684856247/ref=ad_wm1
"Letters of Intent" pairs young feminists with their more
seasoned counterparts in a series of epistolary Q&As
designed to remind readers that despite the occasional
internal struggles within the women's movement, there is a
continuity between old and new. The older women include
Gloria Steinem on abortion rights, Susan Faludi on the
tradition of feminist writing, Angela Davis on the African
American struggle, Dr. Phyllis Chesler on workplace
relations, and Judy Blume on being a mother. But the basic
misjudgment of the book is captured early on by Katha
Pollitt: "This whole notion that writing is all about
mentoring and networking and each generation smoothing the
way for the next like party hacks down at the clubhouse is
the wrong idea. Writing is about writing."
While a few of the dialogues do take off--most notably the
lyrical, poetic exchange between young actress Eisa Dais and
playwright Ntozake Shange--for the most part the pieces in
"Letters of Intent" never exceed escape velocity. Part of
the problem is structural: written letters, in this age of
instantaneous e-mail, telephones, and frequent-flier miles,
are highly personal declarations, and we read them with the
expectation of eavesdropping on a developing relationship;
but the missives here betray little sense of their writers'
personalities. There's something contrived about bringing
these authors together in this way that is at odds with the
honesty of the women's movement. Still, the book is a useful
compendium of feminist voices old and new that might not
otherwise have been collected in the same volume.
"When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost"
by Joan Morgan
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684822628/ref=ad_wm1
For a smart young black woman from the South Bronx carving a
niche for herself as a writer, the f-word was "feminism."
Joan Morgan's book debut, "When Chickenheads Come Home To
Roost," is a passionate, funny--and occasionally self-
indulgent--look at the contradictions inherent in being both
a strong woman and an African American sister attempting to
process the machismo of the hip-hop world through the
perceptions of her own strongly feminine soul. "As post-
Civil Rights, post-feminist, post-soul children of hip-hop,"
Morgan writes, "we have a dire need for the truth." Her book
chronicles the quest to fulfill that need through a series
of essays ranging from social issues like the blatant
misogyny of rap music ("From Fly-girls to Bitches and Hos"),
the mythic stereotype of the strong black woman
("Strongblackwomen") and the epidemic of single motherhood
in the black community ("Babymother") to wickedly witty
takes on her own life ("Lovenotes," "Chickenhead Envy").
Morgan is gifted with that rarest of all talents: her own
voice. Her language is vivid and imagistic, its rhythms
dipping effortlessly between the beat of the street and the
meter of pure poetry. In this look at hood versus womanhood,
Morgan serves up many of the same conclusions that
sociologists have offered in drier, more academic form--but
brings them to life with the freshness of her literary
talent.
"Survival of the Prettiest"
by Nancy Etcoff
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385478542/ref=ad_wm1
In the latter part of the 20th century, the adage "Beauty is
in the eye of the beholder" has evolved far beyond its
original intent as an admonition against false vanity to
become a cultural manifesto used to explain phenomena as
diverse as the art of Andy Warhol and the rise of a multi-
billion-dollar cosmetics industry. But is there something
more to human reaction to beauty than a conditioned response
to social cues? Yes, says Harvard Medical School
psychologist Nancy Etcoff. "Survival of the Prettiest"
argues persuasively that looking good has survival value,
and that sensitivity to beauty is a biological adaptation
governed by brain circuits shaped by natural selection.
Etcoff synthesizes a fascinating array of scientific
research and cultural analysis in support of her thesis.
Psychologists find that babies stare significantly longer at
the faces adults find appealing, while the mothers of
"attractive" babies display more intense bonding behaviors.
The symmetrical face of average proportions may have become
the optimal design because of evolutionary pressures
operating against population extremes. Gentlemen may prefer
blondes not so much for their hair color as for the fairness
of their skin--which makes it easier to detect the flush of
sexual excitement. And high heels accentuate a woman's
breasts and buttocks, signaling fertility. Is beauty
programmed into our brain circuits as a proxy for health and
youth? In marked contrast to other writers like Naomi Wolf
("The Beauty Myth"), Etcoff argues that it is, noting,
"Rather than denigrate one source of women's power, it would
seem far more useful for feminists to attempt to elevate all
sources of women's power."
"Just Like a Woman"
by Dianne Hales
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553102281/ref=ad_wm1
The entry of more and more women into science, writes Dianne
Hales, has started a quiet revolution, a reassessment of
accepted notions of what it is to be a woman. "Women are not
the second sex but a separate sex, female to the bone and to
the very cells that make up those bones.. In affirming our
femaleness, we are not diminishing or discrediting our
mental ability or essential equality. Rather, we are
recognizing a fundamental source of strength and
sustenance."
This "equal but different" stance is crucial to modern
gender studies--heretofore, Hales says, most if not all
medical and psychological research was done on men, and the
conclusions recklessly applied to women. Now, science is
finding out that females have their own unique strengths
that equip them both for the biological roles they may
choose to embrace as well as the societal roles they have
often been denied. Hales explodes stereotypical notions of
physiology and psychology in this well-researched and
liberating book.
"Creating Colette"
by Claude Francis and Fernande Gontier
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1883642914/ref=ad_wm1
Colette is one of the most prominent of the 20th-century
French novelists, famous for turning the raw materials of
her life into the captivating--and daringly frank--fiction
of the Claudine novels. Literary critics and biographers
have made many bold claims on her behalf (and justifiably
so); Claude Francis and Fernande Gontier are no exception.
"Like Proust, her contemporary," they write in their
introduction, "she swept through the psychological
liberation of homosexuality and bisexuality. But she did so
more daringly than Proust, who treated homosexuality in his
works but denied his actual sexual preference.. Colette
not only wrote but openly lived according to her beliefs."
When she left her first husband for a woman known as
"France's most notorious cross-dresser," tongues wagged, but
Colette brazenly insisted on the right to live "in the most
normal manner I know, which is according to [my] pleasure."
"Creating Colette" examines the first 40 years of the
author's life, from her childhood in the rural village of
Saint-Saveur to her rise to stardom among "Tout-Paris" (the
"smart set," as it were) as a writer-actress. Along the way,
the two biographers shatter the myths surrounding her
marriage to Henri Gauthier-Villars (a.k.a. Willy),
rediscovering him as critical mentor rather than insensitive
exploiter. They also reveal that her libertine sexuality was
primarily shaped not by Willy but by her mother, Sido, whose
views on child rearing stemmed from the social-utopia ideals
of philosopher Charles Fourier. "Creating Colette" is a
charming biography that offers tantalizing glimpses into
turn-of-the-century Paris society, sure to appeal to
readers, regardless of their previous familiarity with her
work.
Have you read the Claudine novels?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140183221/ref=ad_wm1
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