Aktion	Zweigstelle	Standorte	Status	Frist	Vorbestellungen
Vorbestellen	Zweigstelle: 07., Urban-Loritz-Pl. 2a	Standorte: PR.AF Zimm / College 3g - Englisch / Regal 3g-1	Status: Verfügbar	Frist:	Vorbestellungen: 0

"This essay collection uses female monsters from Greek mythology to explore traits that women are taught to suppress, and encourage readers to embrace them instead"--

 

A fresh cultural analysis of female monsters from Greek mythology, and an invitation for all women to reclaim these stories as inspiration for a more wild, more “monstrous” version of feminism

 

The folklore that has shaped our dominant culture teems with frightening female creatures. In our language, in our stories (many written by men), we underline the idea that women who step out of bounds—who are angry or greedy or ambitious, who are overtly sexual or not sexy enough—aren’t just outside the norm. They’re unnatural. Monstrous. But maybe, the traits we’ve been told make us dangerous and undesirable are actually our greatest strengths.

 

Through fresh analysis of 11 female monsters, including Medusa, the Harpies, the Furies, and the Sphinx, Jess Zimmerman takes us on an illuminating feminist journey through mythology. She guides women (and others) to reexamine their relationships with traits like hunger, anger, ugliness, and ambition, teaching readers to embrace a new image of the female hero: one that looks a lot like a monster, with the agency and power to match.

 

Often, women try to avoid the feeling of monstrousness, of being grotesquely alien, by tamping down those qualities that we’re told fall outside the bounds of natural femininity. But monsters also get to do what other female characters—damsels, love interests, and even most heroines—do not. Monsters get to be complete, unrestrained, and larger than life. Today, women are becoming increasingly aware of the ways rules and socially constructed expectations have diminished us. After seeing where compliance gets us—harassed, shut out, and ruled by predators—women have never been more ready to become repellent, fearsome, and ravenous.

 

Contents

Table of Contents

A Note to the Reader ix

Introduction: Sister Monsters 1 (10)

How to Turn a Man to Stone

11 (20)

Voracious

31 (18)

Dogs Below the Waist

49 (18)

Singing for Bread

67 (16)

The Snatchers

83 (18)

That's What You Think

101 (18)

Social Justice Warriors

119 (20)

Deep Houses

139 (18)

Shark, Snake, Swarm

157 (18)

Come Back Twice as Hard

175 (18)

Epilogue: Mother of Monsters 193 (6)

Acknowledgments 199 (4)

Resources 203 (8)

Credits 211