Sign-In
Cart
Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna
Hardcover
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN10: 0822317516
ISBN13: 9780822317517
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: Mar 15 1996
Pages: 208
Weight: 1.25
Height: 0.90 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.40
Language: English
ISBN13: 9780822317517
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: Mar 15 1996
Pages: 208
Weight: 1.25
Height: 0.90 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.40
Language: English
Camp, Mae West told Playboy, is the kinda comedy where they imitate me. But what was West doing, if not camp itself? Guilty Pleasures puts women back into the history of camp, a story long confined to gay male practice. Emphasizing the distinctive roles women have played as producers and consumers of camp, Pamela Robertson links her subject to feminist discussions of gender parody, performance, and spectatorship. Her book offers a heady tour of social and cultural criticism at its most interesting, and American culture at its most flamboyant.
Robertson grounds her theoretical discussion of female performance and spectatorship in detailed studies of figures such as Mae West, Joan Crawford, and Madonna. She locates these figures in turn within a tradition of feminist camp--a female form of aestheticism related to masquerade and rooted in burlesque, parallel to but different from gay male camp. Through analyses of films from Gold Diggers of 1933 to Johnny Guitar, as well as video and television, Robertson shows how the gold digger is to feminist camp what the dandy is to gay male camp--its original personification and defining voice. Set against a backdrop of social history, her analysis demonstrates that feminist camp flourishes during periods of antifeminist backlash in America, and that it reflects a working-class sensibility particularly attuned to changing attitudes toward women's work and sexuality.
Appealing to a wide range of scholars spanning the fields of film and mass culture, feminism, gay/lesbian/queer studies, and cultural studies, Guilty Pleasures will also attract an audience of general readers interested in camp and popular culture.
Appealing to a wide range of scholars spanning the fields of film and mass culture, feminism, gay/lesbian/queer studies, and cultural studies, Guilty Pleasures will also attract an audience of general readers interested in camp and popular culture.
Also in
Women's Studies
Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work: The Rise of Womens Political Culture, 1830-1900
Sklar, Kathryn Kish
Paperback
$88.50
Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives
Cordingly, David
Paperback
$17.10
Come as You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life
Nagoski, Emily
Paperback
From $12.99
Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Paperback
$21.60
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola
Paperback
$22.80
Dopamine Kids: A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child's Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Hardcover
$28.50
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola
Paperback
$12.34
Unreasonable Women: Three Stories of Violence, Imprisonment, and Extraordinary Survival
Van Der Leun, Justine
Hardcover
$27.00
How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women
Mitchell, Claire
Venditozzi, Zoe
Paperback
$17.09
P Fkn R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance
Díaz, Vanessa
Rivera-Rideau, Petra R.
Paperback
$26.55
The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic
Stewart, Lindsey
Hardcover
$33.25
Liberation Summer: The Moment That Changed the Women's Movement and the Future of American Politics
McElya, Micki
Hardcover
$30.40
Sacred Pampering Principles: An African-American Woman's Guide to Self-Care and Inner Renewal
Gandy, Debrena Jackson
Paperback
$17.09
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care
Kaba, Mariame
Hayes, Kelly
Paperback
From $10.99
How to Raise an Emotionally Mature Child: Your Blueprint to a Lifetime of Happiness and Success for Your Child
Gibson, Lindsay C., PsyD
Hardcover
$27.00
The Goddess That Failed: Feminism's Unending War against Men, Families, and Civilization Itself
Fiamengo, Janice
Paperback
$23.74
Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves
Gilbert, Sophie
Paperback
$18.00
Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How It Affects Us All
Bates, Laura
Paperback
$17.09
The Woman They Could Not Silence: The Shocking Story of a Woman Who Dared to Fight Back
Moore, Kate
Paperback
$18.04
Good Daughtering: The Work You've Always Done, the Credit You've Never Gotten, and How to Finally Feel Like Enough
Alford Phd, Allison M.
Hardcover
$28.50
The Women's History of the Modern World: How Radicals, Rebels, and Everywomen Revolutionized the Last 200 Years
Miles, Rosalind
Paperback
$18.99
If Women Rose Rooted: A Life-Changing Journey to Authenticity and Belonging
Blackie, Sharon
Paperback
$17.05
Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
Serano, Julia
Paperback
$20.69
Liliana's Invincible Summer (Pulitzer Prize Winner): A Sister's Search for Justice
Rivera Garza, Cristina
Paperback
$18.05
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence
Ghodsee, Kristen R.
Paperback
$18.04
Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves
Gilbert, Sophie
Hardcover
$28.50
Sex and Dissent: Stories of Feminist Resistance in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Spain
Beatley, Meaghan
Paperback
$19.00
For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color
Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, Prisca
Paperback
$17.09
The New Age of Sexism: How AI and Emerging Technologies Are Reinventing Misogyny
Bates, Laura
Hardcover
$27.54
Femmephilia: Love Letters to Trans Mermaids, Queer Mothers, and Marilyn Monroe
Lewis, Sophie
Paperback
$20.66
In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial
Chollet, Mona
Paperback
$19.00
The Sexual Politics of Meat - 35th Anniversary Edition: A Feminist-Vegan Critical Theory
Adams, Carol J.
Paperback
$25.60
Mommy Burnout: How to Reclaim Your Life and Raise Healthier Children in the Process
Ziegler, Sheryl Gonzalez
Paperback
$18.99
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity
Burke Harris, Nadine
Paperback
$18.04
It's Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know about Your Reproductive Health (But Were Never Told)
Tang, Karen
Paperback
$19.94
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola
Hardcover
$30.40
Pcos SOS: A Gynecologist's Lifeline To Naturally Restore Your Rhythms, Hormones, and Happiness
Gersh, Felice
Perella, Alexis
Paperback
$18.04
For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran's Women-Led Uprising
Tabrizy, Nilo
Jamalpour, Fatemeh
Hardcover
$28.50
The Girl Who Baptized Herself: How a Lost Scripture about a Saint Named Thecla Reveals the Power of Knowing Our Worth
Watterson, Meggan
Hardcover
$30.40
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Paperback
$18.99
Tangled: Seven Iconic Moments in White Women's Hair and What They Tell Us about Power, Pleasure, and Complicity
Mesle, Sarah
Hardcover
$27.50
Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation
Brown, Adrienne Maree
Paperback
$13.50
Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Hardcover
$33.25
All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us about Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today
Comen, Elizabeth
Hardcover
$30.40
The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better
Anderson, Jenny
Winthrop, Rebecca
Paperback
$19.00
The Book That Taught the World to Orgasm and Then Disappeared: Shere Hite and the Hite Report
Campbell, Rosa
Hardcover
$28.80
Against the State: Anarchists and Comrades at War in Spain, Myanmar, and Rojava
Stout, James
Paperback
$21.85
When Women Get Sick: An Empowering Approach for Getting the Support You Need
Bloom, Rebecca
Hardcover
$25.64
A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher
Paperback
From $11.99
The Problem with Pretty: Beauty, Bias and the Surprising Science of Good Looks
Powell-Hicks, Allycin
Hardcover
$26.60
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
Wollstonecraft, Mary
Paperback
From $6.99
Go Play: How Parents Can Empower Kids to Build Their Own Worlds
Fox, Kate Allen
Gorback, Gennie, M. Ed
Paperback
$18.99
White Women: Everything You Already Know about Your Own Racism and How to Do Better
Rao, Saira
Jackson, Regina
Paperback
$15.20
No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know about Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
Snyder, Rachel Louise
Paperback
$17.00
The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight
Ackmann, Martha
Paperback
$22.00
Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials
Roach, Marilynne K.
Paperback
$20.89
A Reasonable Guide for Unreasonable Women: 20 Steps to Find Your Purpose and Power in a World on Fire
Chalupa, Andrea
Hardcover
$27.55
God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion
Mehta, Samira K.
Paperback
$41.93
Our Diaries, Ourselves: How Diarists Chronicle Their Lives and Document Our World
Rubiner, Betsy
Hardcover
$27.50