(no subject)
Hi! You guys remember me, right? (...right?) Yeah, I have been failing a little at commenting on anything lately. But I have still been reading my flist! Just. Quietly. And not the fic.
On the other hand, even though I have been sucking rather badly at reading any fic, the fact that I have been spending an hour a day riding buses most days for the past five weeks means that for once I am not sucking that badly at reading paper books.
I finally got around to reading Third Wave Feminism and Television, an essay collection I picked up a while ago when I was going through the gender studies section of Blackwell's seeing if I could find books that mentioned fanfiction in the index. (I found way more than I would have guessed! Third Wave Feminism and Television was the only one I bought, but I found four or five that mentioned fanfic, and Blackwell's gender studies section is like... one bookcase.)
I really enjoyed the book! In fact, anyone interested in gender studies or media studies can consider this a rec. Each essay analysed a different TV show, but used the TV show as a way to examine wider issues; for example the chapter on Oz looked at prison rape, and the chapter on The Sopranos looked at classism and sex work. Analysis via popular culture is a way of looking at cultural issues that really appeals to me. I haven't actually watched any of the TV shows examined (beyond my very passing knowledge of Buffy, and even then, that was being contrasted with the Anita Blake book series, with which I have no familiarity at all), but the essays gave enough information that I could follow their analysis despite not knowing the canon. Aside from making some mild sadface over spoilers (worth it, IMO, despite my gigantic spoilerphobicness), not having watched the shows didn't really bother me.
It is written somewhat academically, so maybe not worth reading for anyone who hates academic writing, but there was only one essay I had any trouble with (Bobby Noble's essay on Queer as Folk, FTR. I got enough from that chapter that it was still worth reading, but I'm pretty sure I missed some stuff, too. There were a couple of points where he referenced other people's analysis but didn't really give me enough detail that I could follow without having read the people he was referencing). A lot of it was really pleasingly written, IMO. I particularly liked the writing by the editor Merri Lisa Johnson. My brain's reaction to her essay was just "I WANT YOU IN ME". IDK, maybe I am just very compatible with her way of writing, but I think trying to re-write her essays in non-academic writing would totally ruin them. She used her language to place her ideas directly into my brain, and while that stretched my brain in ways it hasn't been stretched in a while, it also felt so good. I need to read that kind of thinkiness more often. Quite possibly I will end up hunting down more of her writing.
I am now hardcore in a feminist non-fiction mood (or examination of society through pop-culture analysis, that would work too), so if any of you guys have read any relevant books you've enjoyed, you should totally rec me them. I almost definitely haven't already read it, so, y'know, rec me anything. I wants it! *grabby hands*
For my own reference:
Ain't I a Woman? - bell hooks
This Sex Which Is Not One - Luce Irigaray
Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet - Karen Hellekson, Kristina Busse
How to Suppress Women's Writing - Joanna Russ
Sex Wars: Sexual Dissent and Political Culture - Lisa Duggan, Nan D. Hunter
Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism - Leslie Heywood, Jennifer Drake
Jane Sexes It Up: True Confessions of Feminist Desire - Merri Lisa Johnson
Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Race and Gender in the United States, 1880-1917 - Gail Bederman
Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discursive Spaces - Juana Rodríguez
Feminism and Science - Evelyn Fox Keller, Helen E. Longino
Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire - Lisa M. Diamond
Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire - Eve Sedgwick
On the other hand, even though I have been sucking rather badly at reading any fic, the fact that I have been spending an hour a day riding buses most days for the past five weeks means that for once I am not sucking that badly at reading paper books.
I finally got around to reading Third Wave Feminism and Television, an essay collection I picked up a while ago when I was going through the gender studies section of Blackwell's seeing if I could find books that mentioned fanfiction in the index. (I found way more than I would have guessed! Third Wave Feminism and Television was the only one I bought, but I found four or five that mentioned fanfic, and Blackwell's gender studies section is like... one bookcase.)
I really enjoyed the book! In fact, anyone interested in gender studies or media studies can consider this a rec. Each essay analysed a different TV show, but used the TV show as a way to examine wider issues; for example the chapter on Oz looked at prison rape, and the chapter on The Sopranos looked at classism and sex work. Analysis via popular culture is a way of looking at cultural issues that really appeals to me. I haven't actually watched any of the TV shows examined (beyond my very passing knowledge of Buffy, and even then, that was being contrasted with the Anita Blake book series, with which I have no familiarity at all), but the essays gave enough information that I could follow their analysis despite not knowing the canon. Aside from making some mild sadface over spoilers (worth it, IMO, despite my gigantic spoilerphobicness), not having watched the shows didn't really bother me.
It is written somewhat academically, so maybe not worth reading for anyone who hates academic writing, but there was only one essay I had any trouble with (Bobby Noble's essay on Queer as Folk, FTR. I got enough from that chapter that it was still worth reading, but I'm pretty sure I missed some stuff, too. There were a couple of points where he referenced other people's analysis but didn't really give me enough detail that I could follow without having read the people he was referencing). A lot of it was really pleasingly written, IMO. I particularly liked the writing by the editor Merri Lisa Johnson. My brain's reaction to her essay was just "I WANT YOU IN ME". IDK, maybe I am just very compatible with her way of writing, but I think trying to re-write her essays in non-academic writing would totally ruin them. She used her language to place her ideas directly into my brain, and while that stretched my brain in ways it hasn't been stretched in a while, it also felt so good. I need to read that kind of thinkiness more often. Quite possibly I will end up hunting down more of her writing.
I am now hardcore in a feminist non-fiction mood (or examination of society through pop-culture analysis, that would work too), so if any of you guys have read any relevant books you've enjoyed, you should totally rec me them. I almost definitely haven't already read it, so, y'know, rec me anything. I wants it! *grabby hands*
For my own reference:
Ain't I a Woman? - bell hooks
This Sex Which Is Not One - Luce Irigaray
Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet - Karen Hellekson, Kristina Busse
How to Suppress Women's Writing - Joanna Russ
Sex Wars: Sexual Dissent and Political Culture - Lisa Duggan, Nan D. Hunter
Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism - Leslie Heywood, Jennifer Drake
Jane Sexes It Up: True Confessions of Feminist Desire - Merri Lisa Johnson
Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Race and Gender in the United States, 1880-1917 - Gail Bederman
Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discursive Spaces - Juana Rodríguez
Feminism and Science - Evelyn Fox Keller, Helen E. Longino
Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire - Lisa M. Diamond
Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire - Eve Sedgwick