- 232 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
This is the first academic book ever written on women and body hair, which has been seen until now as too trivial, ridiculous or revolting to write about. Even feminist writers or researchers on the body have found remarkably little to say about body hair, usually ignoring it completely. It would appear that the only texts to elaborate on body hair are guides on how to remove it, medical texts on 'hirsutism', or fetishistic pornography on 'hairy' women. The last taboo also questions how and why any particular issue can become defined as 'self-evidently' too silly or too mad to write about. Using a wide range of thinking from gender theory, queer theory, critical and literary theory, history, art history, anthropology and psychology, the contributors argue that in fact body hair plays a central role in constructing masculinity and femininity and sexual and cultural identities. It is sure to provide many academic researchers with a completely fresh perspective on all of the fields mentioned above.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Dedication
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The last taboo: women, body hair and feminism
- 2 ‘The wives of geniuses I have sat with’: body hair, genius and modernity
- 3 A history of pubic hair, or reviewers’ responses to Terry Eagleton’s After Theory
- 4 Hairs on the lens: female body hair on the screen
- 5 ‘La justice, c’est la femme à barbe!’: the bearded lady, displacement and recuperation in Apollinaire’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias
- 6 ‘That wonderful phænomenon’: female body hair and English literary tradition
- 7 Fur or hair: l’effroi et l’attirance of the wild-woman
- 8 Designers’ bodies: women and body hair in contemporary art and advertising
- 9 Bikini fur and fur bikinis
- 10 Women with beards in early modern Spain
- 11 On Frida Kahlo’s moustache: a reading of Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair and its criticism
- Index