A Feminist Critique

by Langer, Cassandra L.

• ISBN13: 9780064350259
• ISBN10: 0064350258
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-08-01
• Publisher: Harpercollins

Summary

Beginning in the 1940s with Hollywood's image of the American woman, this book goes on to discuss images of home, family, and domesticity in the 1950s and the impact of Betty Friedan's The Feminist Mystique on the 1960s generation. Next, it examines the 1970s, the so-called golden age of American feminism, including sexual politics and reactionary rhetoric about lesbians and women who didn't follow the party line. Antifeminist cultural discourses on women's rights, including Susan Faludi's Backlash, are discussed in relation to abortion, equal pay for equal work, and other political, social, and cultural issues. The book assesses the highly charged sexual politics of the 1990s using the writings of Camilla Paglia, Naomi Wolf, and Katie Roiphe to analyze different levels of postfeminism. With examples from the mass media, film, literature, popular culture, art, and art criticism, this book surveys the impact of the American feminist movement, how it originated, why certain ideas and images had to change and how this movement shaped our notions of feminine and masculine over the last fifty years. A Feminist Critique is a fair and much-needed overview of the accomplishments, issues, and goals of the feminist movement and its future course.

Author Biography

Cassandra L. Langer has taught art history and criticism at the School of Visual Arts, Hunter and Queens colleges of the City University of New York and the University of South Carolina.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction The Times They Are A-Changin'	p. xiii
What is Feminism?	p. 3
Notes	p. 23
The Players and Their Positions	p. 25
Notes	p. 50
The Origins of Sexism	p. 53
Notes	p. 71
Media-friend or Foe?	p. 75
Notes	p. 87
The Facts of Life	p. 89
Notes	p. 118
Sexist Role-Playing	p. 121
Notes	p. 140
Second-Wave Feminism	p. 143
Notes	p. 162
Repercussions	p. 165
Notes	p. 180
Goals and Conflicts	p. 183
Notes	p. 212
Understanding Feminism's Concerns	p. 215
Notes	p. 242
Conclusions	p. 245
Notes	p. 261
Proposed Los Angeles County Anti-Pornography Civil Rights Law	p. 263
The Amsterdam Policy on Prostitution	p. 268
Selected List of Works Consulted	p. 274
Index	p. 283
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