Ms And The Material Girls

Examines the symbols that defined perceptions of women during the 1970s through the 1990s and how they brought about major changes for women.

This wide-ranging volume explores how gender and language are used and transformed to discuss, enact, and project social differences in light of global economic and political changes in the late nineteenth, twentieth, and early twenty-first centuries. It presents analyses of language and gender from a broad spectrum of national contexts: Catalonia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Nigeria, Vietnam, Philippines, Tonga, and the United States. Cases studies consider language and gender in changing workplaces, schools and immigrant integration workshops, as well as in new and emerging sites for consumption and the production of identity. They also analyze the changing meanings of multilingualism, and the construction of ideologies about gender and language in colonial and postcolonial/national ideologies. The papers engage with and contribute to theoretical conceptualizations of globalization, cosmopolitanism, (post)colonialism, (trans)nationalism, and public spheres by drawing on a variety of sociolinguistic analytic strategies (variation analysis, media analysis, interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography of speaking, sociology of language, colonial discourse analysis).

Examines the symbols that defined perceptions of women during the 1950s and 1960s and how they changed women's role in society.

Examines how popular culture during the Great Depression and later during the Second World War influenced the lives of women.

The Battle of Life Recognizing the Adversary We Woke Up! Did you feel the devil try and steal? Ah, so you say you don’t know? So, you don’t remember running? You would try with all your might, but could not go. Yes, thank God you woke up! Did you feel the devil try and steal? Ah, so you say you don’t know? So, you don’t remember trying to scream? Mouth wide open, but your voice would not go. Yes, thank God you woke up! Did you feel the devil try and steal? Ah, so you don’t remember trying to fight? Wanting to strike, but your arms would not go. Yes, thank God you woke up! There are many of us who felt the devil try and steal. Ah, yes, we do remember and we know So well the many vile acts in which we could not go. The answer remains, upon the bruised heel (Genesis 3:15). Yes, thank God, We woke up!

Star Wars defined popular, big-screen science fiction. Still, what many viewers best recall is assertive, hilarious Leia, the diminutive princess with a giant blaster who had to save them all. As the 1977 film arrived, women were marching for equality and demanding equal pay, with few onscreen role models. Leia echoed their struggle and showed them what they could be. Two more films joined in, though by the early eighties, post-feminism was pushing back and shoving the tough heroine into her pornographic gold bikini. After a sixteen-year gap, the prequels catered to a far different audience. Queen Amidala’s decoy power originates in how dominated she is by her massive royal gowns. This obsession with fashion but also costuming as a girly superpower fits well with the heroines of the time. The third wavers filled the screens with glamorous, mighty girls – strong but not too strong, like the idealistic teen Ahsoka of Clone Wars. However, space colonialism, abusive romance, and sacrifice left these characters a work in progress. Finally, the sequel era has introduced many more women to fill the galaxy: Rey, Jyn, Rose, Maz, Qi’ra, Val, L3-37, Captain Phasma, Admiral Holdo, and of course General Leia. Making women the central warriors and leaders while keeping them powerful and nonsexualized emphasizes that they can share in the franchise instead of supporting male Jedi. There’s also more diversity, though it’s still imperfect. Hera and Sabine on the spinoff cartoon Rebels and the many girls in the new franchise Forces of Destiny round out the era, along with toys, picture books, and other hallmarks of a new, more feminist fourth wave for the franchise.

This collection examines the diverse material cultures through which early modern women's writing was produced, transmitted, and received. It focuses on the ways it was originally packaged and promoted, how it circulated in its contemporary contexts, and how it was read and received in its original publication and in later revisions and redactions.