Feminizing Theory

The term "femme" originates from 1940s Western working-class lesbian bar culture, wherein femme referred to a feminine lesbian who was typically in a relationship with a butch lesbian. Expanding from this original meaning, femme has since emerged as a form of femininity reclaimed by queer and culturally marginalized folks. Importantly, femme has also evolved into a theoretical framework. Femme theory argues that "femme" constitutes a missing piece in queer and feminist discourses of femininity. Attending to this gap, femme theory centres queer femininities as a means of pushing against the deeply embedded masculinist orientation of queer and gender theory. Thus, femme theory offers tools to shift the way researchers and readers understand femininity as well as systems of gender and power more broadly. This book is an introduction to femme theory, showcasing how femme can be used as a theoretical framework across a variety of contexts and disciplines, such as Film & Media Studies, Psychology, Sociology, or Critical Disability Studies; from countries, including Canada, China, Guyana and the USA. Femme theory asks readers to reconsider how femininity is conceptualized, revealing some of the many taken for granted assumptions that are embedded within cultural discourses of gender, sexuality, and power. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Lesbian Studies.

The term "femme" originates from 1940s Western working-class lesbian bar culture, wherein femme referred to a feminine lesbian who was typically in a relationship with a butch lesbian. Expanding from this original meaning, femme has since emerged as a form of femininity reclaimed by queer and culturally marginalized folks. Importantly, femme has also evolved into a theoretical framework. Femme theory argues that "femme" constitutes a missing piece in queer and feminist discourses of femininity. Attending to this gap, femme theory centres queer femininities as a means of pushing against the deeply embedded masculinist orientation of queer and gender theory. Thus, femme theory offers tools to shift the way researchers and readers understand femininity as well as systems of gender and power more broadly. This book is an introduction to femme theory, showcasing how femme can be used as a theoretical framework across a variety of contexts and disciplines, such as Film & Media Studies, Psychology, Sociology, or Critical Disability Studies; from countries, including Canada, China, Guyana and the USA. Femme theory asks readers to reconsider how femininity is conceptualized, revealing some of the many taken for granted assumptions that are embedded within cultural discourses of gender, sexuality, and power. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Lesbian Studies.

Shoes, gloves, umbrellas, cigars that are not just objects—the topic of fetishism seems both bizarre and inevitable. In this venturesome and provocative book, Emily Apter offers a fresh account of the complex relationship between representation and sexual obsession in turn-of-the-century French culture. Analyzing works by authors in the naturalist and realist traditions as well as making use of documents from a contemporary medical archive, she considers fetishism as a cultural artifact and as a subgenre of realist fiction. Apter traces the web of connections among fin-de-siècle representations of perversion, the fiction of pathology, and the literary case history. She explores in particular the theme of "female fetishism" in the context of the feminine culture of mourning, collecting, and dressing.

Eros of International Relations: Self-Feminizing and the Claiming of Postcolonial Chineseness is a distinctive work that explores the much-neglected Chinese perspective in broader international relations theory. Using the concept of “self-feminizing”—adoption of a feminine identity to oblige and achieve mutual caring as a relational strategy—this book argues that postcolonial actors have employed gendered identities in order to survive the squeezing pressure of globalization and nationalism in their own ways. Sovereign actors who have historically claimed to act on behalf of Chineseness have taken advantage of the images of femininity thrust upon them by transnational capitalism, the media, or intellectual thought. Shih illustrates the feminist potential for emancipation through a range of empirical examples, showing that women of various Chinese characteristics, acting on behalf of their nation, city, and corporations, reject the masculinization of their groups of belonging as remedy for inferiority or threat. Carried out effectively, Shih argues, actors who self-feminize have the potential to deconstruct the binaries of masculine competition and seek alternative strategies under the postcolonial global order. Eros of International Relations is a welcome contribution that ties together revisionist yet friendly reflections on the current studies of postcolonialism, international relations, relational theory, China studies, cultural studies, and feminism. “Chih-yu Shih is one of the pioneers doing gender and international relations in China. His critical renovation of postcolonial feminism demonstrates that self-romanticization, non-solution, and inconsistency are plausible strategies that help us transcend the boundaries internalized by hegemonic discourse.” —Yingtao Li, Beijing Foreign Studies University, China “Eros of International Relations develops the potent idea of self-feminizing as a relational, caring, and emancipatory strategy employed by postcolonial actors in a globalized world. This book is a fascinating reflection on feminist, postcolonial, and non-Western international relations scholarship.” —Arlene B. Tickner, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia “Drawing on postcolonial feminism, Shih explores the power of self-feminizing as a strategy in world politics, which he illustrates with case studies from Chinese history. A must-read for students of international relations and China alike.” —Pinar Bilgin, Bilkent University, Turkey

Despite the massive influx of women into the labor force as a result of globalization, the gender inqualities at work have remained largely unchanged. This book addresses two related questions: What has prompted the feminization of manufacturing work in developing countries, and why has it failed to significantly erode gender inequalities at work? Teri L. Caraway offers case studies and in-depth analysis of employment changes in Indonesia combined with cross-national data to show that the feminization of the workplace produced by industrialization policies has reconfigured and reproduced, rather than overturned, gender divisions of labor at work. Caraway challenges the conventional wisdom that export-oriented industrialization and women's cheap labor are the driving forces behind feminization. Instead, she argues, the answers can be found in weak unions and current social practice. Caraway employs information about a wide range of industries--capital-intensive, male-dominated, non-export firms as well as female-dominated, labor-intensive, export-oriented industries--in arriving at her conclusions. Her findings will prove discouraging to anyone who hopes that globalization has become a positive force in improving the lives of women workers.Caraway's multilevel methodology for analyzing changes in gendered patterns of employment and her introduction of "gendered discourses of work" as a major explanatory variable will make Assembling Women a valuable resource for women's studies scholars, development economists, political scientists, and sociologists as well as all with an interest in Southeast Asian Studies and labor and industrial relations.

This text offers an analysis of the changes in the political representation of women since the 1960s, and draws on a wide range of material, including interviews with women politicians, policy advocates and academics.

Transgender studies, broadly defined, has become increasingly prominent as a field of study over the past several decades, particularly in the last ten years. The experiences and rights of trans people have also increasingly become the subject of news coverage, such as the ability of trans people to access restrooms, their participation in the military, the issuing of driver’s licenses that allow a third gender option, the growing visibility of nonbinary trans teens, the denial of gender-affirming health care to trans youth, and the media’s misgendering of trans actors. With more and more trans people being open about their gender identities, doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, counselors, educators, higher education administrators, student affairs personnel, and others are increasingly working with trans individuals who are out. But many professionals have little formal training or awareness of the life experiences and needs of the trans population. This can seriously interfere with open communications between trans people and service providers and can negatively impact trans people’s health outcomes and well-being, as well as interfere with their educational and career success and advancement. Having an authoritative, academic resource like The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies can go a long way toward correcting misconceptions and providing information that is otherwise not readily available. This encyclopedia, featuring more than 300 well-researched articles, takes an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach to trans studies. Entries address a wide range of topics, from broad concepts (e.g., the criminal justice system, activism, mental health), to specific subjects (e.g., the trans pride flag, the Informed Consent Model, voice therapy), to key historical figures, events, and organizations (e.g., Lili Elbe, the Stonewall Riots, Black Lives Matter). Entries focus on diverse lives, identities, and contexts, including the experiences of trans people in different racial, religious, and sexual communities in the United States and the variety of ways that gender is expressed in other countries. Among the fields of studies covered are psychology, sociology, history, family studies, K-12 and higher education, law/political science, medicine, economics, literature, popular culture, the media, and sports.

Women fans have entered the traditionally male domain of the sports stadium in growing numbers in recent years. Watching professional sport is important for women for so many reasons, but their expectations and experiences have been largely ignored by academics. This book tackles these shortcomings in the literature and sheds new light on the many ways in which women become sports fans. This groundbreaking study is the first to focus on the phenomenon of the feminization of sports fandom. Including original research on football and rugby union in the UK, it looks at the increasing opportunities for women to become sports fans in contemporary society and critically examines the way this form of leisure is valued by women. Drawing upon feminist thinking and intersectionality, it shows how women from different social classes and age groups consume the spectacle of sport. This book is fascinating reading for any student or scholar interested in sport and leisure studies, sociology and gender or women’s studies.