.” — Heather Love, Transition, “In this landmark study, Halberstam consolidates her position as a key theorist within Queer scholarship. . . Oh, yum!” — Kate Bornstein, author of My Gender Workbook, 905 W. Main St. Ste 18-B opportunities for women. In addition, she infuses humor and little personal preferences or irritations (mostly through colorful adjective choices) into the middle of serious analysis, which makes the whole academic process more interesting and less elusive. . He rereads Anne Lister's diaries and Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness as foundational assertions of female masculine identity; considers the enigma of the stone butch and the politics surrounding butch/femme roles within lesbian communities; and explores issues of transsexuality among "transgender dykes"-lesbians who pass as men-and female-to-male transsexuals who may find the label of "lesbian" a temporary refuge. Halberstam also tackles such topics as women and boxing, butches in Hollywood and independent cinema, and the phenomenon of male impersonators. . Masculinity Theory Men’s traditional role has been that of family provider/breadwinner, and the types of behaviour they are encouraged to adopt is as the independent, self-confident, tough, competitive, aggressive, dominant and risk-taking. — Library Journal, "Halberstam’s book can be added to the list of important studies of masculinity and femininity. Demonstrating how female masculinity is not some bad imitation of virility, but a lively and dramatic staging of hybrid and minority genders, Halberstam catalogs the diversity of gender expressions among masculine women from nineteenth-century pre-lesbian practices to … These include re-labelling, status enhancement and distancing from the feminine. . . Activity-passivity is a personality dimension. .” — Rachel Adams, GLQ, “A significant contribution to a growing genre of feminist analyses of masculinity. [T]he genuine enthusiasm she brings to her research is catchy and this book could very well be the catalyst for expanding a whole field of thought. I was told that boxing was not appropriate for a girl my age and that I should pick out something... JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. This void was questione… book . . Halberstam makes a compelling argument for a more flexible taxonomy of masculinity, including not only men, who have historically held the power in society, but also women who embody qualities that are usually associated with maleness, such as strength, authority, and independence." oppressive effects of masculinity upon women. . Female masculinity also brings into light the connection between masculinity and power in society. Despite this comfort, men adopt a variety of strategies to re-establish a masculinity that has been undermined by the ‘feminine‘ nature of their work. . Bryher was a masculine woman, whom McCabe (2006, 29) describes as follows: Bryher’s wish to be a boy led her to don masculine garb, cut her hair, and model herself upon the ‘girl-page’ she wrote about in Elizabethan drama. . . This book will only enhance that reputation. [It] should rank among our most important, sophisticated feminist analyses of the way maleness is constructed in Western culture. . Female Masculinity's greatest strength lies in its scope. 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