Femininity and Domination : Studies in the Phenomenology of Oppression

by Sandra Lee Bartky

Book Overview

Bartky draws on the experience of daily life to unmask the many disguises by which intimations of inferiority are visited upon women. She critiques both the male bias of current theory and the debilitating dominion held by notions of "proper femininity" over women and their bodies in patriarchal culture.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B007CHR6GU
• ISBN13: 9780415901864
• Release Date: November 1990
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 156 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.1" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

a way of looking at how we're socialized for trouble

There's nothing worse than forced femininity and how it limits a woman's life.This book gets you beyond all the gender bias non-sense and leads you to understand how we got in this mess in the first place and how to change,because humans ARE capable of change and do not have to stay in boundaries which bind their talents,aspirations and individual make up.Within all humans,there are different degrees of femininity and masculinity and the masculine based way that men are raised,has allowed them not only greater freedom in the world but also greater freedom within,to think strong and be strong,whilst women have been given a limited recipe for life which binds them to a femininity which may not be part of a particular woman's physical or emotional make up..I get the message that women are taught to play a role of false femininity which suffocates their true natures as individuals.

an essential read to help understand human relations

though i first read this book for a class, i have since turned to it many times. ms. bartky has a clear grasp on the dynamics of relations between men and women not only on the basic level of how we treat eachother, but on the intimate level of how we treat ourselves. this is a must read not only for feminists, but for anyone who has ever wondered why men and women are treated differently in our society... why we ARE different, and how we can change or overcome our seeming differences. it may be a bit thick at times on philosophical and sociological language, but the messages come through loud and clear enough so that you don't need to be schooled in either discipline to enjoy it.