Women, Feminism, and Femininity in the 21st Century : American and French Perspectives

american Women Look At French Women As Having It All: Sex, Motherhood, Work, And Public Office, While French Women Look At American Women As Puritanical, Excessively Feminist, And Unable To “have It All” Without Guilt. The Essays In This Book By Leading American And French Academics And Critics Set The Record Straight By Assessing The Truth Of Each Outlook. They Conclude That Facts Are Different From Imagination, And That On Many Issues, French Feminists Could Actually Look To The U.s. For Inspiration. This Book Offers The First Comparative Critical Appraisal Of How Women Live In The Us And In France And Suggests Paths Of Reflection On What Women Can Do To Improve Their Lives In The Twenty-first Century. This Is A Must Read For Anyone Interested In The Nature Of Womanhood Today In The Western World. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-12 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 France in 2009: A Glimpse into Women’s Lives....Pages 15-28 Liberté, Egalité ... Infidelité? Musings on French and American Sexual Behavior....Pages 29-40 Women in Management and the Glass Ceiling: The French Situation....Pages 41-54 The Stalled Revolution: Gender and Time Allocation in the United States....Pages 55-77 Career Prioritizing in Dual-Earner Couples....Pages 79-105 Sexual Harassment: Crime, Discrimination, or Just Bad Business?....Pages 107-115 Front Matter....Pages 117-117 Parity versus History....Pages 119-131 Parity and the Sexual Order....Pages 133-154 Feminist Perspectives on Parité in the United States: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly....Pages 155-173 Front Matter....Pages 175-175 Creative Feminine Nonfiction in the United States: A Model for French Feminists?....Pages 177-187 Rethinking Parenthood to Achieve Reproductive Equality....Pages 189-199 Political and Theoretical Introduction to Post-Sexuality....Pages 201-217 Third-Wave Feminism, Sexualities, and the Adventures of the Posts....Pages 219-234 Conclusion....Pages 235-238 Back Matter....Pages 239-249 This book offers the first comparative critical appraisal of how women live in the US and in France and suggests paths of reflection on what women can do to improve their lives in the 21st century