Femininity

With intelligence and humor, Susan Brownmiller explores the history and unspoken rules of the burden of “feminine perfection” What is femininity? How is it measured? What are its demands? How are women meant to dress, look, think, act, feel, and be, according to the mores of society? Susan Brownmiller offers a witty and often pointed critique of the concept of femininity in contemporary culture and throughout history. She explores the demands placed upon women to fit an established mold, examines female stereotypes, and celebrates the hard-won advances in women’s lifestyle and attire. At once profound, revolutionary, empowering, and entertaining, Femininity challenges the accepted female norm while appreciating the women throughout history who have courageously broken free of its constraints. Brownmiller addresses the set of societal strictures, esthetic ideals, and assigned "characteristics" which governs the lives of half of America, and which goes by the name of Femininity. Biological femaleness, writes Brownmiller, is the smallest part of the elusive quality we know as femininity, which "always demands more. It must constantly reassure its audience by a willing demonstration of difference, even when one does not exist in nature." Body and gesture, skin and hair, conversation and clothing; the way a woman speaks, the way she sits, the way she smells: all are ruled by a code that requires enhancement, containment, exaggeration, or even denial of woman's nature. Whether an individual woman finds in femininity the luxuriant pursuit of a positive identity or an implacable standard she can never hope to meet, femininity remains, at bottom, "a powerful esthetic based upon a recognition of powerlessness."--Publisher description. With intelligence and humor, Susan Brownmiller explores the history and unspoken rules of the burden of ?feminine perfection? What is femininity? How is it measured? What are its demands? How are women meant to dress, look, think, act, feel, and be, according to the mores of society? Susan Brownmiller offers a witty and often pointed critique of the concept of femininityin contemporary culture and throughout history. She explores the demands placed upon women to fit an established mold, examines female stereotypes, and celebrates the hard-won advances in women{u2019}s lifestyle and attire. At once profound, revolutionary, empowering, and entertaining, Femininity challenges the accepted female norm while appreciating the women throughout history who have courageously broken free of its constraints Cover; Title Page; Contents; Prologue; Body; Hair; Clothes; Voice; Skin; Movement; Emotion; Ambition; Epilogue; About the Author; A Note on Sources; Acknowledgments; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y; Z; Copyright.