Gender and the Construction of Hegemonic and Oppositional Femininities analyzes the construction of femininities within the key social institutions of school, work, and the media. The book draws from previous research to demonstrate how femininities are constructed in school and work and analyzes gendered representations in current fictional media.

This book draws on the concepts of hegemonic and nonhegemonic masculinities as well as emphasized and oppositional femininities to chronicle and illuminate the construction of gender in Beverly Hills, 90210. The book argues that not only delegitimized but also legitimated forms of masculinity and femininity require critical scrutiny and interrogation in order to expose the constructed nature of gender identities. Through an analysis of individual characters and specific episodes, the author demonstrates how the series presents certain characters as challenging normalized gender performances and the status quo. The program, however, ultimately reaffirms gender hegemony through portrayals of women and femininity as subordinate to men and masculinity. This book provides a sophisticated analysis of a popular series that established the teen television genre and thus serves as a cultural artifact.

Gender and the Construction of Hegemonic and Oppositional Femininities analyzes the construction of femininities within the key social institutions of school, work, and the media. The book draws from previous research to demonstrate how femininities are constructed in school and work and analyzes gendered representations in current fictional media.

The corporate salaryman and professional housewife stand as hegemonic archetypes of masculinity and femininity in Japan. However, these rigid gender roles are being challenged by women who are seeking to move beyond the strictly defined confines of their traditional roles as caregivers and homemakers. Through interviews with a range of Japanese women, this book explores how women's gender roles are both reified and undermined in Japan today, and uncovers the prevalent themes, or 'discourses', that are utilized to construct gendered identities. It shows that while dominant discourses formulate notions of femininity within the domestic sphere, these are simultaneously resisted and problematized by contemporary women. To this end, Justin Charlebois traces the construction of different 'oppositional' femininities, such as the single career woman and married working mother, which challenge, destabilize, and potentially reconfigure the traditional gender order. This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of gender roles and femininity in Japan, and as such will be of great interest to students and scholars of Japanese culture and society, gender studies and women's studies.

This book provides a unique conceptualization of: 1) embodiment as a lived aspect of gender, 2) how masculine practices may be constructed by both boys and girls, 3) how such embodied social actions are related to violence and nonviolence, and 4) the fallacy of the mind-body, sex-gender, and gender difference binaries.

The author of this volume skillfully demonstrates that a vital component to understanding crime is to be able to view it as more than a single activity. James W. Messerschmidt argues that crime operates subtly through a complex series of gender, race and class practices and these interwoven elements must be seen as part of all social existence, not viewed independently.

The editors, Rosemary Gartner and Bill McCarthy, have assembled a diverse cast of criminologists, historians, legal scholars, psychologists, and sociologists from a number of countries to discuss key concepts and debates central to the field. The Handbook includes examinations of the historical and contemporary patterns of women's and men's involvement in crime; as well as biological, psychological, and social science perspectives on gender, sex, and criminal activity. Several essays discuss the ways in which sex and gender influence legal and popular reactions to crime. An important theme throughout The Handbook is the intersection of sex and gender with ethnicity, class, age, peer groups, and community as influences on crime and justice. Individual chapters investigate both conventional topics - such as domestic abuse and sexual violence - and topics that have only recently drawn the attention of scholars - such as human trafficking, honor killing, gender violence during war, state rape, and genocide.