A must read, 09 Apr 2003
A fantastic Feminist study of popular culture using a Foucauldian approach, arguing how our body is not only a text of culture, but also a direct locus of social control. The book argues that the so defined 'women's diseases' of hysteria in the 19th century, and aggrophobia and anorexia in the 20th century, are not mere anomalies but actual crystallisations of social pressures. Women have embodied values that they have been bombarded with so much, to be fragile and delicate, to stay at home, and to be thin and beautiful, respectively, that they have made themselves ill. In a insightful Foucauldian way, she clarifies how power in this sense cannot simply be seen as monololised by one group, the more powerful men, and wielded against another, the women, but must be seen as a series of relations. These normalising ontologies also come from below, as women also are implicated in the proliferation of this discourse; a look at any chat show, for example, will show how women are often the first to condemn other women that claim to be fat and happy, or to sleep around because they like sex.

Moreover, it is clear, consise, clearly related to everyday experience and a real pleasure to read. I am a second year anthropology student and i absolutely recommend this, as one of my favourite books, to anyone and everyone, and I consider it essential reading to students studying social sciences.

A must read, 09 Apr 2003
A fantastic Feminist study of popular culture using a Foucauldian approach, arguing how our body is not only a text of culture, but also a direct locus of social control. The book argues that the so defined 'women's diseases' of hysteria in the 19th century, and aggrophobia and anorexia in the 20th century, are not mere anomalies but actual crystallisations of social pressures. Women have embodied values that they have been bombarded with so much, to be fragile and delicate, to stay at home, and to be thin and beautiful, respectively, that they have made themselves ill. In a insightful Foucauldian way, she clarifies how power in this sense cannot simply be seen as monololised by one group, the more powerful men, and wielded against another, the women, but must be seen as a series of relations. These normalising ontologies also come from below, as women also are implicated in the proliferation of this discourse; a look at any chat show, for example, will show how women are often the first to condemn other women that claim to be fat and happy, or to sleep around because they like sex.

Moreover, it is clear, consise, clearly related to everyday experience and a real pleasure to read. I am a second year anthropology student and i absolutely recommend this, as one of my favourite books, to anyone and everyone, and I consider it essential reading to students studying social sciences.

In a different voice - Carol Gilligan, 03 Jun 2003
This book is truly amazing. For any woman who feels she has lost clarity and fierceness and the ability to tell the truth about how she feels and what is going on in the world of feelings and relationships, the social world which she inhabits, read Gilligan's work (any of it). The book made me remember what it was to learn to be nice and quiet and feminine in order to become a 'woman' when as a girl it had been much more OK to be more forthright, and more myself. Interesting both in terms of looking at the psychology of the world of teenage girls and their lived experience, in terms of engaging with social and psychological research through an engaged methodology of relationship which disturbs the usual authoritarian role of researchers, and in terms of the real and lived effects of gender roles and norms on young girls as they 'become' women, not in theory but in practice. It'll make you long for the freedom of life before you were conforming to the ways of being which are acceptable for 'a woman' and remember the amazing gifts which girls and women have to offer, which end up being hidden away and covered over in order to 'fit in' and which become harder and harder to get in touch with the more they are disavowed and disallowed. Every woman should read it, every girl should read it, every parent should read it, every teacher. Men who find women's lack of assertiveness irritating should read it to find out how women end up that way too... Highly recommended.

A must read, 09 Apr 2003
A fantastic Feminist study of popular culture using a Foucauldian approach, arguing how our body is not only a text of culture, but also a direct locus of social control. The book argues that the so defined 'women's diseases' of hysteria in the 19th century, and aggrophobia and anorexia in the 20th century, are not mere anomalies but actual crystallisations of social pressures. Women have embodied values that they have been bombarded with so much, to be fragile and delicate, to stay at home, and to be thin and beautiful, respectively, that they have made themselves ill. In a insightful Foucauldian way, she clarifies how power in this sense cannot simply be seen as monololised by one group, the more powerful men, and wielded against another, the women, but must be seen as a series of relations. These normalising ontologies also come from below, as women also are implicated in the proliferation of this discourse; a look at any chat show, for example, will show how women are often the first to condemn other women that claim to be fat and happy, or to sleep around because they like sex.

Moreover, it is clear, consise, clearly related to everyday experience and a real pleasure to read. I am a second year anthropology student and i absolutely recommend this, as one of my favourite books, to anyone and everyone, and I consider it essential reading to students studying social sciences.

In a different voice - Carol Gilligan, 03 Jun 2003
This book is truly amazing. For any woman who feels she has lost clarity and fierceness and the ability to tell the truth about how she feels and what is going on in the world of feelings and relationships, the social world which she inhabits, read Gilligan's work (any of it). The book made me remember what it was to learn to be nice and quiet and feminine in order to become a 'woman' when as a girl it had been much more OK to be more forthright, and more myself. Interesting both in terms of looking at the psychology of the world of teenage girls and their lived experience, in terms of engaging with social and psychological research through an engaged methodology of relationship which disturbs the usual authoritarian role of researchers, and in terms of the real and lived effects of gender roles and norms on young girls as they 'become' women, not in theory but in practice. It'll make you long for the freedom of life before you were conforming to the ways of being which are acceptable for 'a woman' and remember the amazing gifts which girls and women have to offer, which end up being hidden away and covered over in order to 'fit in' and which become harder and harder to get in touch with the more they are disavowed and disallowed. Every woman should read it, every girl should read it, every parent should read it, every teacher. Men who find women's lack of assertiveness irritating should read it to find out how women end up that way too... Highly recommended.

Overpowering Foucault, 30 Dec 2005
Sara Mills' text on Michel Foucault is part of a recent series put out by the Routledge Press, designed under the general editorial direction of Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway, University of London), to explore the most recent and exciting ideas in intellectual development during the past century or so. To this end, figures such as Martin Heidegger, Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricouer and other influential thinkers in critical thought are highlighted in the series, planned to include more than 21 volumes in all.

Mills' text, following the pattern of the others, includes background information on Foucault and his significance, the key ideas and sources, and Foucault's continuing impact on other thinkers. As the series preface indicates, no critical thinker arises in a vacuum, so the context, influences and broader cultural environment are all important as a part of the study, something with which Foucault would agree.

Why is Foucault included in this series? Foucault is probably second only to Jacques Derrida in influence on thinkers in the field of critical theory and cultural studies, and his impact has gone far beyond narrow intellectual confines to influence psychology, politics, literature, sociology, philosophy, linguistics, history and anthropology. Mills indicates that Foucault's primary focus is on issues of power, knowledge and discourse, with influence in the development of a lot of `posts' - post-modernism, post-colonialism, post-Marxism, post-structualism, etc.

Foucault often concentrated on the ignored, the forgotten or the overlooked in his studies. In looking at the written confession of a murderer from generations ago, or looking at prisoners in present society, Foucault looks not only at the way power operates in practical settings, but what underpins the kind of power relationships. Heavily influenced by the events of 1968, with various forms of war and open rebellion going on across the globe (including Foucault's native French society), he had an inherent distrust for the kinds of power and society relationships considered standard. His work with prisoners and those classified as mentally ill challenged prevailing notions of the intentions of incarceration and even classification - perhaps we can see even more clearly in today's mass-media-saturated society the inconsistencies, not only of application, but of intention in the development of considering who is a criminal (and what their punishment and rehabilitation is likely to be) and who is considered mentally ill - the shift care to confinement and isolation (effective removal) from society gains new meaning from Foucault's analysis.

Foucault looks at power from a very basic position, not that of macroscopic geopolitical entities, but rather interpersonal relationships on a more local level, even exploring the way society uses body and sexuality as a root resource in formulating power relationships. It is worth noting that this issue is over the idea of the `body', and not the `individual', which for Foucault are not strictly synonymous. Looking at the history of sexuality (the freer periods of sexual frankness vis-à-vis the more strict and reserved periods such as the Victorian age) leads to another set of power relations often internalised and often overlooked.

One of the useful features of the text is the side-bar boxes inserted at various points. For example, during the discussion on Foucault's development of Power and Institutions, there are brief discussions, set apart from the primary strand of the text, on the Marxist idea of ideology, developing further this idea should the reader not be familiar with it, or at least not in the way with which Foucault would be working with ideas derived from it. Each section on a key idea spans approximately twenty pages, with a brief summary concluding each, which gives a recap of the ideas (and provides a handy reference). Some of the concluding sections in this volume (unlike other volumes in the series) are not as handy as a recap, but do connect the primary ideas with the next chapter.

The concluding chapter, After Foucault, highlights some key areas of development in relation to other thinkers, as well as points of possible exploration for the reader. Foucault's thought vis-à-vis feminist thought is dramatic and interesting, given Foucault's generally androcentric (and often misogynistic) stance in writing - still the issues of power relations and society are crucial to feminist critique. His post-colonialist ideas, again springing from the reformulation of power relationships in society after a dominant, foreign power is displaced, influenced further thinkers such as Edward Said. Foucault has (perhaps unintentionally) become useful for the anti-psychiatric lobby, as Foucault sees much defined as madness to be social construct rather than actual ailment (Foucault saw talk-therapy as a kind of modernised `confessional').

There was only one point at which I had a serious disagreement with Mills in her analysis of Foucault. At one point in discussing his tendency toward not developing fully thought-out theories, she speculates that his kind of approach could possibly be used `to justify fascism or to deny the existence of the Holocaust'. I would disagree with this assessment, given that this would not in fact discredit systems of power, but merely replace one with another. If fascism or Holocaust-deniers were not a power-in-potential, that might be true. But then, this is a point upon which much discussion could continue!

As do the other volumes in this series, Mills concludes with an annotated bibliography of works by Foucault (primarily those available in authoritative English translation), works on Foucault, and even internet references.

While this series focuses intentionally upon critical literary theory and cultural studies, in fact this is only the starting point. For Foucault (as for others in this series) the expanse is far too broad to be drawn into such narrow guidelines, and the important and impact of the ideas extends out into the whole range of intellectual development. As intellectual endeavours of every sort depend upon language, understanding, and interpretation, the thorough comprehension of how and why we know what we know is crucial.

A must read, 09 Apr 2003
A fantastic Feminist study of popular culture using a Foucauldian approach, arguing how our body is not only a text of culture, but also a direct locus of social control. The book argues that the so defined 'women's diseases' of hysteria in the 19th century, and aggrophobia and anorexia in the 20th century, are not mere anomalies but actual crystallisations of social pressures. Women have embodied values that they have been bombarded with so much, to be fragile and delicate, to stay at home, and to be thin and beautiful, respectively, that they have made themselves ill. In a insightful Foucauldian way, she clarifies how power in this sense cannot simply be seen as monololised by one group, the more powerful men, and wielded against another, the women, but must be seen as a series of relations. These normalising ontologies also come from below, as women also are implicated in the proliferation of this discourse; a look at any chat show, for example, will show how women are often the first to condemn other women that claim to be fat and happy, or to sleep around because they like sex.

Moreover, it is clear, consise, clearly related to everyday experience and a real pleasure to read. I am a second year anthropology student and i absolutely recommend this, as one of my favourite books, to anyone and everyone, and I consider it essential reading to students studying social sciences.

In a different voice - Carol Gilligan, 03 Jun 2003
This book is truly amazing. For any woman who feels she has lost clarity and fierceness and the ability to tell the truth about how she feels and what is going on in the world of feelings and relationships, the social world which she inhabits, read Gilligan's work (any of it). The book made me remember what it was to learn to be nice and quiet and feminine in order to become a 'woman' when as a girl it had been much more OK to be more forthright, and more myself. Interesting both in terms of looking at the psychology of the world of teenage girls and their lived experience, in terms of engaging with social and psychological research through an engaged methodology of relationship which disturbs the usual authoritarian role of researchers, and in terms of the real and lived effects of gender roles and norms on young girls as they 'become' women, not in theory but in practice. It'll make you long for the freedom of life before you were conforming to the ways of being which are acceptable for 'a woman' and remember the amazing gifts which girls and women have to offer, which end up being hidden away and covered over in order to 'fit in' and which become harder and harder to get in touch with the more they are disavowed and disallowed. Every woman should read it, every girl should read it, every parent should read it, every teacher. Men who find women's lack of assertiveness irritating should read it to find out how women end up that way too... Highly recommended.

Overpowering Foucault, 30 Dec 2005
Sara Mills' text on Michel Foucault is part of a recent series put out by the Routledge Press, designed under the general editorial direction of Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway, University of London), to explore the most recent and exciting ideas in intellectual development during the past century or so. To this end, figures such as Martin Heidegger, Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricouer and other influential thinkers in critical thought are highlighted in the series, planned to include more than 21 volumes in all.

Mills' text, following the pattern of the others, includes background information on Foucault and his significance, the key ideas and sources, and Foucault's continuing impact on other thinkers. As the series preface indicates, no critical thinker arises in a vacuum, so the context, influences and broader cultural environment are all important as a part of the study, something with which Foucault would agree.

Why is Foucault included in this series? Foucault is probably second only to Jacques Derrida in influence on thinkers in the field of critical theory and cultural studies, and his impact has gone far beyond narrow intellectual confines to influence psychology, politics, literature, sociology, philosophy, linguistics, history and anthropology. Mills indicates that Foucault's primary focus is on issues of power, knowledge and discourse, with influence in the development of a lot of `posts' - post-modernism, post-colonialism, post-Marxism, post-structualism, etc.

Foucault often concentrated on the ignored, the forgotten or the overlooked in his studies. In looking at the written confession of a murderer from generations ago, or looking at prisoners in present society, Foucault looks not only at the way power operates in practical settings, but what underpins the kind of power relationships. Heavily influenced by the events of 1968, with various forms of war and open rebellion going on across the globe (including Foucault's native French society), he had an inherent distrust for the kinds of power and society relationships considered standard. His work with prisoners and those classified as mentally ill challenged prevailing notions of the intentions of incarceration and even classification - perhaps we can see even more clearly in today's mass-media-saturated society the inconsistencies, not only of application, but of intention in the development of considering who is a criminal (and what their punishment and rehabilitation is likely to be) and who is considered mentally ill - the shift care to confinement and isolation (effective removal) from society gains new meaning from Foucault's analysis.

Foucault looks at power from a very basic position, not that of macroscopic geopolitical entities, but rather interpersonal relationships on a more local level, even exploring the way society uses body and sexuality as a root resource in formulating power relationships. It is worth noting that this issue is over the idea of the `body', and not the `individual', which for Foucault are not strictly synonymous. Looking at the history of sexuality (the freer periods of sexual frankness vis-à-vis the more strict and reserved periods such as the Victorian age) leads to another set of power relations often internalised and often overlooked.

One of the useful features of the text is the side-bar boxes inserted at various points. For example, during the discussion on Foucault's development of Power and Institutions, there are brief discussions, set apart from the primary strand of the text, on the Marxist idea of ideology, developing further this idea should the reader not be familiar with it, or at least not in the way with which Foucault would be working with ideas derived from it. Each section on a key idea spans approximately twenty pages, with a brief summary concluding each, which gives a recap of the ideas (and provides a handy reference). Some of the concluding sections in this volume (unlike other volumes in the series) are not as handy as a recap, but do connect the primary ideas with the next chapter.

The concluding chapter, After Foucault, highlights some key areas of development in relation to other thinkers, as well as points of possible exploration for the reader. Foucault's thought vis-à-vis feminist thought is dramatic and interesting, given Foucault's generally androcentric (and often misogynistic) stance in writing - still the issues of power relations and society are crucial to feminist critique. His post-colonialist ideas, again springing from the reformulation of power relationships in society after a dominant, foreign power is displaced, influenced further thinkers such as Edward Said. Foucault has (perhaps unintentionally) become useful for the anti-psychiatric lobby, as Foucault sees much defined as madness to be social construct rather than actual ailment (Foucault saw talk-therapy as a kind of modernised `confessional').

There was only one point at which I had a serious disagreement with Mills in her analysis of Foucault. At one point in discussing his tendency toward not developing fully thought-out theories, she speculates that his kind of approach could possibly be used `to justify fascism or to deny the existence of the Holocaust'. I would disagree with this assessment, given that this would not in fact discredit systems of power, but merely replace one with another. If fascism or Holocaust-deniers were not a power-in-potential, that might be true. But then, this is a point upon which much discussion could continue!

As do the other volumes in this series, Mills concludes with an annotated bibliography of works by Foucault (primarily those available in authoritative English translation), works on Foucault, and even internet references.

While this series focuses intentionally upon critical literary theory and cultural studies, in fact this is only the starting point. For Foucault (as for others in this series) the expanse is far too broad to be drawn into such narrow guidelines, and the important and impact of the ideas extends out into the whole range of intellectual development. As intellectual endeavours of every sort depend upon language, understanding, and interpretation, the thorough comprehension of how and why we know what we know is crucial.

Thought-provoking, 16 Mar 1999
This book clarifies much of Foucault was saying in History of Sexuality. Butler is careful, however, to not borrow the models Foucault uses, thereby, avoids some of the mistakes and gaps that occur in his thinking, namely the silence on women. Butler, more than Foucault, is not willing to settle the debate on sexuality merely as the obtaining and disseminating of pleasures and how those bodies perform them. Rather, she takes bodies as always already gender indeterminate and destablilizes their performatives further to show how bodies are marked by gender as well as race, class, sexulaity, etc. and how these categories are also destabilized within the perfomative. I highly recommend this book to feminist and queer theorists and well as anyone who is concerned about creating any sort of opposition to the reactionary right-wing forces that are attempting to further entrench their dominance over the rest of us.

Performativity is not about choice!, 02 Dec 1998
When Judith Butler describes gender as performative, contrary to much of what is mistakenly thought out there, it is not about choice! It is not about choosing to put on a gender--as if it was a performance in the traditional or obvious way. The performativity of gender is meant to suggest--invoke--that gender is constituted by performative acts which repeated come to form, take shape, a "coherent" gender identity. Thus, Butler uses the performative to suggest that this coherency is false and that because of acts that disrupt the strict reads of gender--acts that occur naturally, perhaps daily, perhaps unacknowledged, gender comes to be seen/viewed as that which is only as stable as this performative function's stability is. Or put more simply, gender-as-stable is undermined by Butler by reading it through the performative--becuase it is never "performed" the same exactly. So, it is not that people can choose to perform a certain enumeration of gender, rather it is that noone precisely (actually) fulfills these gender identities that we have!

A must read, 09 Apr 2003
A fantastic Feminist study of popular culture using a Foucauldian approach, arguing how our body is not only a text of culture, but also a direct locus of social control. The book argues that the so defined 'women's diseases' of hysteria in the 19th century, and aggrophobia and anorexia in the 20th century, are not mere anomalies but actual crystallisations of social pressures. Women have embodied values that they have been bombarded with so much, to be fragile and delicate, to stay at home, and to be thin and beautiful, respectively, that they have made themselves ill. In a insightful Foucauldian way, she clarifies how power in this sense cannot simply be seen as monololised by one group, the more powerful men, and wielded against another, the women, but must be seen as a series of relations. These normalising ontologies also come from below, as women also are implicated in the proliferation of this discourse; a look at any chat show, for example, will show how women are often the first to condemn other women that claim to be fat and happy, or to sleep around because they like sex.

Moreover, it is clear, consise, clearly related to everyday experience and a real pleasure to read. I am a second year anthropology student and i absolutely recommend this, as one of my favourite books, to anyone and everyone, and I consider it essential reading to students studying social sciences.

In a different voice - Carol Gilligan, 03 Jun 2003
This book is truly amazing. For any woman who feels she has lost clarity and fierceness and the ability to tell the truth about how she feels and what is going on in the world of feelings and relationships, the social world which she inhabits, read Gilligan's work (any of it). The book made me remember what it was to learn to be nice and quiet and feminine in order to become a 'woman' when as a girl it had been much more OK to be more forthright, and more myself. Interesting both in terms of looking at the psychology of the world of teenage girls and their lived experience, in terms of engaging with social and psychological research through an engaged methodology of relationship which disturbs the usual authoritarian role of researchers, and in terms of the real and lived effects of gender roles and norms on young girls as they 'become' women, not in theory but in practice. It'll make you long for the freedom of life before you were conforming to the ways of being which are acceptable for 'a woman' and remember the amazing gifts which girls and women have to offer, which end up being hidden away and covered over in order to 'fit in' and which become harder and harder to get in touch with the more they are disavowed and disallowed. Every woman should read it, every girl should read it, every parent should read it, every teacher. Men who find women's lack of assertiveness irritating should read it to find out how women end up that way too... Highly recommended.

Overpowering Foucault, 30 Dec 2005
Sara Mills' text on Michel Foucault is part of a recent series put out by the Routledge Press, designed under the general editorial direction of Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway, University of London), to explore the most recent and exciting ideas in intellectual development during the past century or so. To this end, figures such as Martin Heidegger, Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricouer and other influential thinkers in critical thought are highlighted in the series, planned to include more than 21 volumes in all.

Mills' text, following the pattern of the others, includes background information on Foucault and his significance, the key ideas and sources, and Foucault's continuing impact on other thinkers. As the series preface indicates, no critical thinker arises in a vacuum, so the context, influences and broader cultural environment are all important as a part of the study, something with which Foucault would agree.

Why is Foucault included in this series? Foucault is probably second only to Jacques Derrida in influence on thinkers in the field of critical theory and cultural studies, and his impact has gone far beyond narrow intellectual confines to influence psychology, politics, literature, sociology, philosophy, linguistics, history and anthropology. Mills indicates that Foucault's primary focus is on issues of power, knowledge and discourse, with influence in the development of a lot of `posts' - post-modernism, post-colonialism, post-Marxism, post-structualism, etc.

Foucault often concentrated on the ignored, the forgotten or the overlooked in his studies. In looking at the written confession of a murderer from generations ago, or looking at prisoners in present society, Foucault looks not only at the way power operates in practical settings, but what underpins the kind of power relationships. Heavily influenced by the events of 1968, with various forms of war and open rebellion going on across the globe (including Foucault's native French society), he had an inherent distrust for the kinds of power and society relationships considered standard. His work with prisoners and those classified as mentally ill challenged prevailing notions of the intentions of incarceration and even classification - perhaps we can see even more clearly in today's mass-media-saturated society the inconsistencies, not only of application, but of intention in the development of considering who is a criminal (and what their punishment and rehabilitation is likely to be) and who is considered mentally ill - the shift care to confinement and isolation (effective removal) from society gains new meaning from Foucault's analysis.

Foucault looks at power from a very basic position, not that of macroscopic geopolitical entities, but rather interpersonal relationships on a more local level, even exploring the way society uses body and sexuality as a root resource in formulating power relationships. It is worth noting that this issue is over the idea of the `body', and not the `individual', which for Foucault are not strictly synonymous. Looking at the history of sexuality (the freer periods of sexual frankness vis-à-vis the more strict and reserved periods such as the Victorian age) leads to another set of power relations often internalised and often overlooked.

One of the useful features of the text is the side-bar boxes inserted at various points. For example, during the discussion on Foucault's development of Power and Institutions, there are brief discussions, set apart from the primary strand of the text, on the Marxist idea of ideology, developing further this idea should the reader not be familiar with it, or at least not in the way with which Foucault would be working with ideas derived from it. Each section on a key idea spans approximately twenty pages, with a brief summary concluding each, which gives a recap of the ideas (and provides a handy reference). Some of the concluding sections in this volume (unlike other volumes in the series) are not as handy as a recap, but do connect the primary ideas with the next chapter.

The concluding chapter, After Foucault, highlights some key areas of development in relation to other thinkers, as well as points of possible exploration for the reader. Foucault's thought vis-à-vis feminist thought is dramatic and interesting, given Foucault's generally androcentric (and often misogynistic) stance in writing - still the issues of power relations and society are crucial to feminist critique. His post-colonialist ideas, again springing from the reformulation of power relationships in society after a dominant, foreign power is displaced, influenced further thinkers such as Edward Said. Foucault has (perhaps unintentionally) become useful for the anti-psychiatric lobby, as Foucault sees much defined as madness to be social construct rather than actual ailment (Foucault saw talk-therapy as a kind of modernised `confessional').

There was only one point at which I had a serious disagreement with Mills in her analysis of Foucault. At one point in discussing his tendency toward not developing fully thought-out theories, she speculates that his kind of approach could possibly be used `to justify fascism or to deny the existence of the Holocaust'. I would disagree with this assessment, given that this would not in fact discredit systems of power, but merely replace one with another. If fascism or Holocaust-deniers were not a power-in-potential, that might be true. But then, this is a point upon which much discussion could continue!

As do the other volumes in this series, Mills concludes with an annotated bibliography of works by Foucault (primarily those available in authoritative English translation), works on Foucault, and even internet references.

While this series focuses intentionally upon critical literary theory and cultural studies, in fact this is only the starting point. For Foucault (as for others in this series) the expanse is far too broad to be drawn into such narrow guidelines, and the important and impact of the ideas extends out into the whole range of intellectual development. As intellectual endeavours of every sort depend upon language, understanding, and interpretation, the thorough comprehension of how and why we know what we know is crucial.

Thought-provoking, 16 Mar 1999
This book clarifies much of Foucault was saying in History of Sexuality. Butler is careful, however, to not borrow the models Foucault uses, thereby, avoids some of the mistakes and gaps that occur in his thinking, namely the silence on women. Butler, more than Foucault, is not willing to settle the debate on sexuality merely as the obtaining and disseminating of pleasures and how those bodies perform them. Rather, she takes bodies as always already gender indeterminate and destablilizes their performatives further to show how bodies are marked by gender as well as race, class, sexulaity, etc. and how these categories are also destabilized within the perfomative. I highly recommend this book to feminist and queer theorists and well as anyone who is concerned about creating any sort of opposition to the reactionary right-wing forces that are attempting to further entrench their dominance over the rest of us.

Performativity is not about choice!, 02 Dec 1998
When Judith Butler describes gender as performative, contrary to much of what is mistakenly thought out there, it is not about choice! It is not about choosing to put on a gender--as if it was a performance in the traditional or obvious way. The performativity of gender is meant to suggest--invoke--that gender is constituted by performative acts which repeated come to form, take shape, a "coherent" gender identity. Thus, Butler uses the performative to suggest that this coherency is false and that because of acts that disrupt the strict reads of gender--acts that occur naturally, perhaps daily, perhaps unacknowledged, gender comes to be seen/viewed as that which is only as stable as this performative function's stability is. Or put more simply, gender-as-stable is undermined by Butler by reading it through the performative--becuase it is never "performed" the same exactly. So, it is not that people can choose to perform a certain enumeration of gender, rather it is that noone precisely (actually) fulfills these gender identities that we have!

Spot-on book about how the world interacts with Transsexuals, 21 Nov 2007
I bought this book, with a view to a quick read , then selling on.
Not possible now as my copy is covered with underlines & notes I made in the margins!
Julia puts into words & a framework structure, many thoughts & half observations I've made about my interactions with the world, & how oppressive, restrictive & judgmental, non-trans people & society at large is.
I'm going to loan it to my parents, & hope the book together with my notes in it, give them more understanding about me.

A great book.

A must read, 09 Apr 2003
A fantastic Feminist study of popular culture using a Foucauldian approach, arguing how our body is not only a text of culture, but also a direct locus of social control. The book argues that the so defined 'women's diseases' of hysteria in the 19th century, and aggrophobia and anorexia in the 20th century, are not mere anomalies but actual crystallisations of social pressures. Women have embodied values that they have been bombarded with so much, to be fragile and delicate, to stay at home, and to be thin and beautiful, respectively, that they have made themselves ill. In a insightful Foucauldian way, she clarifies how power in this sense cannot simply be seen as monololised by one group, the more powerful men, and wielded against another, the women, but must be seen as a series of relations. These normalising ontologies also come from below, as women also are implicated in the proliferation of this discourse; a look at any chat show, for example, will show how women are often the first to condemn other women that claim to be fat and happy, or to sleep around because they like sex.

Moreover, it is clear, consise, clearly related to everyday experience and a real pleasure to read. I am a second year anthropology student and i absolutely recommend this, as one of my favourite books, to anyone and everyone, and I consider it essential reading to students studying social sciences.

In a different voice - Carol Gilligan, 03 Jun 2003
This book is truly amazing. For any woman who feels she has lost clarity and fierceness and the ability to tell the truth about how she feels and what is going on in the world of feelings and relationships, the social world which she inhabits, read Gilligan's work (any of it). The book made me remember what it was to learn to be nice and quiet and feminine in order to become a 'woman' when as a girl it had been much more OK to be more forthright, and more myself. Interesting both in terms of looking at the psychology of the world of teenage girls and their lived experience, in terms of engaging with social and psychological research through an engaged methodology of relationship which disturbs the usual authoritarian role of researchers, and in terms of the real and lived effects of gender roles and norms on young girls as they 'become' women, not in theory but in practice. It'll make you long for the freedom of life before you were conforming to the ways of being which are acceptable for 'a woman' and remember the amazing gifts which girls and women have to offer, which end up being hidden away and covered over in order to 'fit in' and which become harder and harder to get in touch with the more they are disavowed and disallowed. Every woman should read it, every girl should read it, every parent should read it, every teacher. Men who find women's lack of assertiveness irritating should read it to find out how women end up that way too... Highly recommended.

Overpowering Foucault, 30 Dec 2005
Sara Mills' text on Michel Foucault is part of a recent series put out by the Routledge Press, designed under the general editorial direction of Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway, University of London), to explore the most recent and exciting ideas in intellectual development during the past century or so. To this end, figures such as Martin Heidegger, Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricouer and other influential thinkers in critical thought are highlighted in the series, planned to include more than 21 volumes in all.

Mills' text, following the pattern of the others, includes background information on Foucault and his significance, the key ideas and sources, and Foucault's continuing impact on other thinkers. As the series preface indicates, no critical thinker arises in a vacuum, so the context, influences and broader cultural environment are all important as a part of the study, something with which Foucault would agree.

Why is Foucault included in this series? Foucault is probably second only to Jacques Derrida in influence on thinkers in the field of critical theory and cultural studies, and his impact has gone far beyond narrow intellectual confines to influence psychology, politics, literature, sociology, philosophy, linguistics, history and anthropology. Mills indicates that Foucault's primary focus is on issues of power, knowledge and discourse, with influence in the development of a lot of `posts' - post-modernism, post-colonialism, post-Marxism, post-structualism, etc.

Foucault often concentrated on the ignored, the forgotten or the overlooked in his studies. In looking at the written confession of a murderer from generations ago, or looking at prisoners in present society, Foucault looks not only at the way power operates in practical settings, but what underpins the kind of power relationships. Heavily influenced by the events of 1968, with various forms of war and open rebellion going on across the globe (including Foucault's native French society), he had an inherent distrust for the kinds of power and society relationships considered standard. His work with prisoners and those classified as mentally ill challenged prevailing notions of the intentions of incarceration and even classification - perhaps we can see even more clearly in today's mass-media-saturated society the inconsistencies, not only of application, but of intention in the development of considering who is a criminal (and what their punishment and rehabilitation is likely to be) and who is considered mentally ill - the shift care to confinement and isolation (effective removal) from society gains new meaning from Foucault's analysis.

Foucault looks at power from a very basic position, not that of macroscopic geopolitical entities, but rather interpersonal relationships on a more local level, even exploring the way society uses body and sexuality as a root resource in formulating power relationships. It is worth noting that this issue is over the idea of the `body', and not the `individual', which for Foucault are not strictly synonymous. Looking at the history of sexuality (the freer periods of sexual frankness vis-à-vis the more strict and reserved periods such as the Victorian age) leads to another set of power relations often internalised and often overlooked.

One of the useful features of the text is the side-bar boxes inserted at various points. For example, during the discussion on Foucault's development of Power and Institutions, there are brief discussions, set apart from the primary strand of the text, on the Marxist idea of ideology, developing further this idea should the reader not be familiar with it, or at least not in the way with which Foucault would be working with ideas derived from it. Each section on a key idea spans approximately twenty pages, with a brief summary concluding each, which gives a recap of the ideas (and provides a handy reference). Some of the concluding sections in this volume (unlike other volumes in the series) are not as handy as a recap, but do connect the primary ideas with the next chapter.

The concluding chapter, After Foucault, highlights some key areas of development in relation to other thinkers, as well as points of possible exploration for the reader. Foucault's thought vis-à-vis feminist thought is dramatic and interesting, given Foucault's generally androcentric (and often misogynistic) stance in writing - still the issues of power relations and society are crucial to feminist critique. His post-colonialist ideas, again springing from the reformulation of power relationships in society after a dominant, foreign power is displaced, influenced further thinkers such as Edward Said. Foucault has (perhaps unintentionally) become useful for the anti-psychiatric lobby, as Foucault sees much defined as madness to be social construct rather than actual ailment (Foucault saw talk-therapy as a kind of modernised `confessional').

There was only one point at which I had a serious disagreement with Mills in her analysis of Foucault. At one point in discussing his tendency toward not developing fully thought-out theories, she speculates that his kind of approach could possibly be used `to justify fascism or to deny the existence of the Holocaust'. I would disagree with this assessment, given that this would not in fact discredit systems of power, but merely replace one with another. If fascism or Holocaust-deniers were not a power-in-potential, that might be true. But then, this is a point upon which much discussion could continue!

As do the other volumes in this series, Mills concludes with an annotated bibliography of works by Foucault (primarily those available in authoritative English translation), works on Foucault, and even internet references.

While this series focuses intentionally upon critical literary theory and cultural studies, in fact this is only the starting point. For Foucault (as for others in this series) the expanse is far too broad to be drawn into such narrow guidelines, and the important and impact of the ideas extends out into the whole range of intellectual development. As intellectual endeavours of every sort depend upon language, understanding, and interpretation, the thorough comprehension of how and why we know what we know is crucial.

Thought-provoking, 16 Mar 1999
This book clarifies much of Foucault was saying in History of Sexuality. Butler is careful, however, to not borrow the models Foucault uses, thereby, avoids some of the mistakes and gaps that occur in his thinking, namely the silence on women. Butler, more than Foucault, is not willing to settle the debate on sexuality merely as the obtaining and disseminating of pleasures and how those bodies perform them. Rather, she takes bodies as always already gender indeterminate and destablilizes their performatives further to show how bodies are marked by gender as well as race, class, sexulaity, etc. and how these categories are also destabilized within the perfomative. I highly recommend this book to feminist and queer theorists and well as anyone who is concerned about creating any sort of opposition to the reactionary right-wing forces that are attempting to further entrench their dominance over the rest of us.

Performativity is not about choice!, 02 Dec 1998
When Judith Butler describes gender as performative, contrary to much of what is mistakenly thought out there, it is not about choice! It is not about choosing to put on a gender--as if it was a performance in the traditional or obvious way. The performativity of gender is meant to suggest--invoke--that gender is constituted by performative acts which repeated come to form, take shape, a "coherent" gender identity. Thus, Butler uses the performative to suggest that this coherency is false and that because of acts that disrupt the strict reads of gender--acts that occur naturally, perhaps daily, perhaps unacknowledged, gender comes to be seen/viewed as that which is only as stable as this performative function's stability is. Or put more simply, gender-as-stable is undermined by Butler by reading it through the performative--becuase it is never "performed" the same exactly. So, it is not that people can choose to perform a certain enumeration of gender, rather it is that noone precisely (actually) fulfills these gender identities that we have!

Spot-on book about how the world interacts with Transsexuals, 21 Nov 2007
I bought this book, with a view to a quick read , then selling on.
Not possible now as my copy is covered with underlines & notes I made in the margins!
Julia puts into words & a framework structure, many thoughts & half observations I've made about my interactions with the world, & how oppressive, restrictive & judgmental, non-trans people & society at large is.
I'm going to loan it to my parents, & hope the book together with my notes in it, give them more understanding about me.

A great book.


How did feminism become so misguided?, 10 Jun 2008
If ever there was a woman that proved C.H. Sommer's arguments irrefutably, it would be Valenti. Never have I had the severe displeasure of reading such coyly misogyny-inspiring muck since the SCUM Manifesto.

If you are a young woman looking to find out what feminism really is, then I implore you; stop taking advice from other young women and actually see feminism for what it has become. Read some of the works of Christina Hoff Sommers (and use a bit of common-sense) and you'll soon realise modern 'feminism' isn't really feminism at all. It doesn't preach equality, it preaches misandry. All that Valenti, and most other modern day 'feminists' will inspire is the hatred of women. So please, stop furthering this bile. All it will bring is the complete destruction of what we true feminists worked so hard to create; a dream of true equality, in which men and women can have an equal playing field. A dream that is already slowly eroding into marginalisation of men.

A fabulous introduction, 20 Mar 2008
Valenti's book is well researched and written in an accessible, yet non condescending style. If you have read much feminist literature before, this is perhaps not the book for you, it doesn't assume any prior knowledge, and spends quite a lot of time combating media stereotypes and explaining what feminism is and both how much has been achieved and how far we have to go. The chapter on what men stand to gain from feminism is excellent, more men need to read this!

If I had a teenage daughter, I would be handing this over to her without a second thought, however, if you (like me) were brought up on a diet of Naomi Wolf and Betty Friedan, you may find yourself longing for something a little meatier. I also felt it was aimed at a slightly younger woman.

Absolutely Brilliant, 18 Sep 2007
This book is absolutely brilliant! Feminist issues that are written in a language that we can all understand and relate to.
What an eye opener, I had no idea that reproductive rights were such an issue in the US, I just wish that we had a UK version.
Buy one for yourself and spread the word by buying one for your friend too!

I only wish I could rate it higher, 31 Aug 2007
I have read stacks of books on feminism. And no other book has inspired me more (maybe tieing with Manifesta and Grassroots, read those too). This book is good for younger feminists who need to cut through the rhetoric to the simple truths of why the women's movement is still important. Maybe you shouldn't give this to your preteen daughter, as the author does use some crude language to get her point across, but it doesn't take away from the quality of the book to older readers. Full Frontal Feminism makes you think, and contrary to what other reviewers say, it doesn't bash men and even applauds the efforts of some men and their organizations. But then, the assumption that women are people too may bother some people. I highly recommend this book to everyone who has ever said "I'm not a feminist but..." It's awesome and gives some great ideas as to how to bring feminism into your daily life. Read this book.

An easy, compelling intro to why feminism still matters, 28 Jun 2007
I really enjoyed this book, as it is a fresh, contemporary look into why Feminism is still as important today as it was 30 years ago.
Valenti has a highly accessible writing style; the prose is fun, contains the odd swear-word for amusement or effect, and shies away from the high-brow academic tone seen in other texts on the subject. This is very much a light "polular sociology" book and a joy to read - I didn't get bored or bogged down in rhetoric too much, even if I did disagree with some of her ideas about hyphonated surnames in marriage, for example.

I get the impression this book is squarely aimed at the under 25 American woman, and being a 34 year old Brit, felt that I was a little too old and too British for some of the issues raised (hence the 4 stars), but was equally glad to see the torch being passed on to a new generation of women, some of whom take a lot of freedoms for granted and who might not be as aware of Feminist issues as they should be.

I would recommend this book to any woman under the age of 35 who is exploring the more contemporary issues facing womankind in the West, and if you have a daughter/sister/cousin/niece/friend aged 16 to 25, this book could change her outlook on life.

A must read, 09 Apr 2003
A fantastic Feminist study of popular culture using a Foucauldian approach, arguing how our body is not only a text of culture, but also a direct locus of social control. The book argues that the so defined 'women's diseases' of hysteria in the 19th century, and aggrophobia and anorexia in the 20th century, are not mere anomalies but actual crystallisations of social pressures. Women have embodied values that they have been bombarded with so much, to be fragile and delicate, to stay at home, and to be thin and beautiful, respectively, that they have made themselves ill. In a insightful Foucauldian way, she clarifies how power in this sense cannot simply be seen as monololised by one group, the more powerful men, and wielded against another, the women, but must be seen as a series of relations. These normalising ontologies also come from below, as women also are implicated in the proliferation of this discourse; a look at any chat show, for example, will show how women are often the first to condemn other women that claim to be fat and happy, or to sleep around because they like sex.

Moreover, it is clear, consise, clearly related to everyday experience and a real pleasure to read. I am a second year anthropology student and i absolutely recommend this, as one of my favourite books, to anyone and everyone, and I consider it essential reading to students studying social sciences.

In a different voice - Carol Gilligan, 03 Jun 2003
This book is truly amazing. For any woman who feels she has lost clarity and fierceness and the ability to tell the truth about how she feels and what is going on in the world of feelings and relationships, the social world which she inhabits, read Gilligan's work (any of it). The book made me remember what it was to learn to be nice and quiet and feminine in order to become a 'woman' when as a girl it had been much more OK to be more forthright, and more myself. Interesting both in terms of looking at the psychology of the world of teenage girls and their lived experience, in terms of engaging with social and psychological research through an engaged methodology of relationship which disturbs the usual authoritarian role of researchers, and in terms of the real and lived effects of gender roles and norms on young girls as they 'become' women, not in theory but in practice. It'll make you long for the freedom of life before you were conforming to the ways of being which are acceptable for 'a woman' and remember the amazing gifts which girls and women have to offer, which end up being hidden away and covered over in order to 'fit in' and which become harder and harder to get in touch with the more they are disavowed and disallowed. Every woman should read it, every girl should read it, every parent should read it, every teacher. Men who find women's lack of assertiveness irritating should read it to find out how women end up that way too... Highly recommended.

Overpowering Foucault, 30 Dec 2005
Sara Mills' text on Michel Foucault is part of a recent series put out by the Routledge Press, designed under the general editorial direction of Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway, University of London), to explore the most recent and exciting ideas in intellectual development during the past century or so. To this end, figures such as Martin Heidegger, Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricouer and other influential thinkers in critical thought are highlighted in the series, planned to include more than 21 volumes in all.

Mills' text, following the pattern of the others, includes background information on Foucault and his significance, the key ideas and sources, and Foucault's continuing impact on other thinkers. As the series preface indicates, no critical thinker arises in a vacuum, so the context, influences and broader cultural environment are all important as a part of the study, something with which Foucault would agree.

Why is Foucault included in this series? Foucault is probably second only to Jacques Derrida in influence on thinkers in the field of critical theory and cultural studies, and his impact has gone far beyond narrow intellectual confines to influence psychology, politics, literature, sociology, philosophy, linguistics, history and anthropology. Mills indicates that Foucault's primary focus is on issues of power, knowledge and discourse, with influence in the development of a lot of `posts' - post-modernism, post-colonialism, post-Marxism, post-structualism, etc.

Foucault often concentrated on the ignored, the forgotten or the overlooked in his studies. In looking at the written confession of a murderer from generations ago, or looking at prisoners in present society, Foucault looks not only at the way power operates in practical settings, but what underpins the kind of power relationships. Heavily influenced by the events of 1968, with various forms of war and open rebellion going on across the globe (including Foucault's native French society), he had an inherent distrust for the kinds of power and society relationships considered standard. His work with prisoners and those classified as mentally ill challenged prevailing notions of the intentions of incarceration and even classification - perhaps we can see even more clearly in today's mass-media-saturated society the inconsistencies, not only of application, but of intention in the development of considering who is a criminal (and what their punishment and rehabilitation is likely to be) and who is considered mentally ill - the shift care to confinement and isolation (effective removal) from society gains new meaning from Foucault's analysis.

Foucault looks at power from a very basic position, not that of macroscopic geopolitical entities, but rather interpersonal relationships on a more local level, even exploring the way society uses body and sexuality as a root resource in formulating power relationships. It is worth noting that this issue is over the idea of the `body', and not the `individual', which for Foucault are not strictly synonymous. Looking at the history of sexuality (the freer periods of sexual frankness vis-à-vis the more strict and reserved periods such as the Victorian age) leads to another set of power relations often internalised and often overlooked.

One of the useful features of the text is the side-bar boxes inserted at various points. For example, during the discussion on Foucault's development of Power and Institutions, there are brief discussions, set apart from the primary strand of the text, on the Marxist idea of ideology, developing further this idea should the reader not be familiar with it, or at least not in the way with which Foucault would be working with ideas derived from it. Each section on a key idea spans approximately twenty pages, with a brief summary concluding each, which gives a recap of the ideas (and provides a handy reference). Some of the concluding sections in this volume (unlike other volumes in the series) are not as handy as a recap, but do connect the primary ideas with the next chapter.

The concluding chapter, After Foucault, highlights some key areas of development in relation to other thinkers, as well as points of possible exploration for the reader. Foucault's thought vis-à-vis feminist thought is dramatic and interesting, given Foucault's generally androcentric (and often misogynistic) stance in writing - still the issues of power relations and society are crucial to feminist critique. His post-colonialist ideas, again springing from the reformulation of power relationships in society after a dominant, foreign power is displaced, influenced further thinkers such as Edward Said. Foucault has (perhaps unintentionally) become useful for the anti-psychiatric lobby, as Foucault sees much defined as madness to be social construct rather than actual ailment (Foucault saw talk-therapy as a kind of modernised `confessional').

There was only one point at which I had a serious disagreement with Mills in her analysis of Foucault. At one point in discussing his tendency toward not developing fully thought-out theories, she speculates that his kind of approach could possibly be used `to justify fascism or to deny the existence of the Holocaust'. I would disagree with this assessment, given that this would not in fact discredit systems of power, but merely replace one with another. If fascism or Holocaust-deniers were not a power-in-potential, that might be true. But then, this is a point upon which much discussion could continue!

As do the other volumes in this series, Mills concludes with an annotated bibliography of works by Foucault (primarily those available in authoritative English translation), works on Foucault, and even internet references.

While this series focuses intentionally upon critical literary theory and cultural studies, in fact this is only the starting point. For Foucault (as for others in this series) the expanse is far too broad to be drawn into such narrow guidelines, and the important and impact of the ideas extends out into the whole range of intellectual development. As intellectual endeavours of every sort depend upon language, understanding, and interpretation, the thorough comprehension of how and why we know what we know is crucial.

Thought-provoking, 16 Mar 1999
This book clarifies much of Foucault was saying in History of Sexuality. Butler is careful, however, to not borrow the models Foucault uses, thereby, avoids some of the mistakes and gaps that occur in his thinking, namely the silence on women. Butler, more than Foucault, is not willing to settle the debate on sexuality merely as the obtaining and disseminating of pleasures and how those bodies perform them. Rather, she takes bodies as always already gender indeterminate and destablilizes their performatives further to show how bodies are marked by gender as well as race, class, sexulaity, etc. and how these categories are also destabilized within the perfomative. I highly recommend this book to feminist and queer theorists and well as anyone who is concerned about creating any sort of opposition to the reactionary right-wing forces that are attempting to further entrench their dominance over the rest of us.

Performativity is not about choice!, 02 Dec 1998
When Judith Butler describes gender as performative, contrary to much of what is mistakenly thought out there, it is not about choice! It is not about choosing to put on a gender--as if it was a performance in the traditional or obvious way. The performativity of gender is meant to suggest--invoke--that gender is constituted by performative acts which repeated come to form, take shape, a "coherent" gender identity. Thus, Butler uses the performative to suggest that this coherency is false and that because of acts that disrupt the strict reads of gender--acts that occur naturally, perhaps daily, perhaps unacknowledged, gender comes to be seen/viewed as that which is only as stable as this performative function's stability is. Or put more simply, gender-as-stable is undermined by Butler by reading it through the performative--becuase it is never "performed" the same exactly. So, it is not that people can choose to perform a certain enumeration of gender, rather it is that noone precisely (actually) fulfills these gender identities that we have!

Spot-on book about how the world interacts with Transsexuals, 21 Nov 2007
I bought this book, with a view to a quick read , then selling on.
Not possible now as my copy is covered with underlines & notes I made in the margins!
Julia puts into words & a framework structure, many thoughts & half observations I've made about my interactions with the world, & how oppressive, restrictive & judgmental, non-trans people & society at large is.
I'm going to loan it to my parents, & hope the book together with my notes in it, give them more understanding about me.

A great book.


How did feminism become so misguided?, 10 Jun 2008
If ever there was a woman that proved C.H. Sommer's arguments irrefutably, it would be Valenti. Never have I had the severe displeasure of reading such coyly misogyny-inspiring muck since the SCUM Manifesto.

If you are a young woman looking to find out what feminism really is, then I implore you; stop taking advice from other young women and actually see feminism for what it has become. Read some of the works of Christina Hoff Sommers (and use a bit of common-sense) and you'll soon realise modern 'feminism' isn't really feminism at all. It doesn't preach equality, it preaches misandry. All that Valenti, and most other modern day 'feminists' will inspire is the hatred of women. So please, stop furthering this bile. All it will bring is the complete destruction of what we true feminists worked so hard to create; a dream of true equality, in which men and women can have an equal playing field. A dream that is already slowly eroding into marginalisation of men.

A fabulous introduction, 20 Mar 2008
Valenti's book is well researched and written in an accessible, yet non condescending style. If you have read much feminist literature before, this is perhaps not the book for you, it doesn't assume any prior knowledge, and spends quite a lot of time combating media stereotypes and explaining what feminism is and both how much has been achieved and how far we have to go. The chapter on what men stand to gain from feminism is excellent, more men need to read this!

If I had a teenage daughter, I would be handing this over to her without a second thought, however, if you (like me) were brought up on a diet of Naomi Wolf and Betty Friedan, you may find yourself longing for something a little meatier. I also felt it was aimed at a slightly younger woman.

Absolutely Brilliant, 18 Sep 2007
This book is absolutely brilliant! Feminist issues that are written in a language that we can all understand and relate to.
What an eye opener, I had no idea that reproductive rights were such an issue in the US, I just wish that we had a UK version.
Buy one for yourself and spread the word by buying one for your friend too!

I only wish I could rate it higher, 31 Aug 2007
I have read stacks of books on feminism. And no other book has inspired me more (maybe tieing with Manifesta and Grassroots, read those too). This book is good for younger feminists who need to cut through the rhetoric to the simple truths of why the women's movement is still important. Maybe you shouldn't give this to your preteen daughter, as the author does use some crude language to get her point across, but it doesn't take away from the quality of the book to older readers. Full Frontal Feminism makes you think, and contrary to what other reviewers say, it doesn't bash men and even applauds the efforts of some men and their organizations. But then, the assumption that women are people too may bother some people. I highly recommend this book to everyone who has ever said "I'm not a feminist but..." It's awesome and gives some great ideas as to how to bring feminism into your daily life. Read this book.

An easy, compelling intro to why feminism still matters, 28 Jun 2007
I really enjoyed this book, as it is a fresh, contemporary look into why Feminism is still as important today as it was 30 years ago.
Valenti has a highly accessible writing style; the prose is fun, contains the odd swear-word for amusement or effect, and shies away from the high-brow academic tone seen in other texts on the subject. This is very much a light "polular sociology" book and a joy to read - I didn't get bored or bogged down in rhetoric too much, even if I did disagree with some of her ideas about hyphonated surnames in marriage, for example.

I get the impression this book is squarely aimed at the under 25 American woman, and being a 34 year old Brit, felt that I was a little too old and too British for some of the issues raised (hence the 4 stars), but was equally glad to see the torch being passed on to a new generation of women, some of whom take a lot of freedoms for granted and who might not be as aware of Feminist issues as they should be.

I would recommend this book to any woman under the age of 35 who is exploring the more contemporary issues facing womankind in the West, and if you have a daughter/sister/cousin/niece/friend aged 16 to 25, this book could change her outlook on life.

Thought-provoking way of reading the body, 19 Jul 2001
I enjoyed this book because of the unusual concept Grosz uses to structure it: the metaphor of the body as a Moebius strip, where the surface and interior cannot be seperated out but are intertwined and blend into each other. I like the way that she examines the body from the inside-out (eg looking at psychoanalytic theories of the body, where what's inside the body (eg. conscious mind, unconscious mind, "body image") is the focus / vantage point for analyzing the body) and then from the outside-in (looking at theorists like Foucault, reading the body in terms of its surfaces rather than assuming that the body has an "inner depth" (soul/mind/psyche etc within it) which is more crucial than its surface). Grosz's approach opens up some interesting ways of thinking about the body and I would recommend it to anyone studying gender, the body, or postmodern feminist theory. The book discusses similar issues to those found in Judith Butler's work but is a lot easier to read!!!!!

Definitely worth a read, 04 Jun 1999
Thoughtful, energetic discussion of the gendered body. One of the best introductions to Australian feminist theory. quintan wikswo

A must read, 09 Apr 2003
A fantastic Feminist study of popular culture using a Foucauldian approach, arguing how our body is not only a text of culture, but also a direct locus of social control. The book argues that the so defined 'women's diseases' of hysteria in the 19th century, and aggrophobia and anorexia in the 20th century, are not mere anomalies but actual crystallisations of social pressures. Women have embodied values that they have been bombarded with so much, to be fragile and delicate, to stay at home, and to be thin and beautiful, respectively, that they have made themselves ill. In a insightful Foucauldian way, she clarifies how power in this sense cannot simply be seen as monololised by one group, the more powerful men, and wielded against another, the women, but must be seen as a series of relations. These normalising ontologies also come from below, as women also are implicated in the proliferation of this discourse; a look at any chat show, for example, will show how women are often the first to condemn other women that claim to be fat and happy, or to sleep around because they like sex.

Moreover, it is clear, consise, clearly related to everyday experience and a real pleasure to read. I am a second year anthropology student and i absolutely recommend this, as one of my favourite books, to anyone and everyone, and I consider it essential reading to students studying social sciences.

In a different voice - Carol Gilligan, 03 Jun 2003
This book is truly amazing. For any woman who feels she has lost clarity and fierceness and the ability to tell the truth about how she feels and what is going on in the world of feelings and relationships, the social world which she inhabits, read Gilligan's work (any of it). The book made me remember what it was to learn to be nice and quiet and feminine in order to become a 'woman' when as a girl it had been much more OK to be more forthright, and more myself. Interesting both in terms of looking at the psychology of the world of teenage girls and their lived experience, in terms of engaging with social and psychological research through an engaged methodology of relationship which disturbs the usual authoritarian role of researchers, and in terms of the real and lived effects of gender roles and norms on young girls as they 'become' women, not in theory but in practice. It'll make you long for the freedom of life before you were conforming to the ways of being which are acceptable for 'a woman' and remember the amazing gifts which girls and women have to offer, which end up being hidden away and covered over in order to 'fit in' and which become harder and harder to get in touch with the more they are disavowed and disallowed. Every woman should read it, every girl should read it, every parent should read it, every teacher. Men who find women's lack of assertiveness irritating should read it to find out how women end up that way too... Highly recommended.

Overpowering Foucault, 30 Dec 2005
Sara Mills' text on Michel Foucault is part of a recent series put out by the Routledge Press, designed under the general editorial direction of Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway, University of London), to explore the most recent and exciting ideas in intellectual development during the past century or so. To this end, figures such as Martin Heidegger, Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricouer and other influential thinkers in critical thought are highlighted in the series, planned to include more than 21 volumes in all.

Mills' text, following the pattern of the others, includes background information on Foucault and his significance, the key ideas and sources, and Foucault's continuing impact on other thinkers. As the series preface indicates, no critical thinker arises in a vacuum, so the context, influences and broader cultural environment are all important as a part of the study, something with which Foucault would agree.

Why is Foucault included in this series? Foucault is probably second only to Jacques Derrida in influence on thinkers in the field of critical theory and cultural studies, and his impact has gone far beyond narrow intellectual confines to influence psychology, politics, literature, sociology, philosophy, linguistics, history and anthropology. Mills indicates that Foucault's primary focus is on issues of power, knowledge and discourse, with influence in the development of a lot of `posts' - post-modernism, post-colonialism, post-Marxism, post-structualism, etc.

Foucault often concentrated on the ignored, the forgotten or the overlooked in his studies. In looking at the written confession of a murderer from generations ago, or looking at prisoners in present society, Foucault looks not only at the way power operates in practical settings, but what underpins the kind of power relationships. Heavily influenced by the events of 1968, with various forms of war and open rebellion going on across the globe (including Foucault's native French society), he had an inherent distrust for the kinds of power and society relationships considered standard. His work with prisoners and those classified as mentally ill challenged prevailing notions of the intentions of incarceration and even classification - perhaps we can see even more clearly in today's mass-media-saturated society the inconsistencies, not only of application, but of intention in the development of considering who is a criminal (and what their punishment and rehabilitation is likely to be) and who is considered mentally ill - the shift care to confinement and isolation (effective removal) from society gains new meaning from Foucault's analysis.

Foucault looks at power from a very basic position, not that of macroscopic geopolitical entities, but rather interpersonal relationships on a more local level, even exploring the way society uses body and sexuality as a root resource in formulating power relationships. It is worth noting that this issue is over the idea of the `body', and not the `individual', which for Foucault are not strictly synonymous. Looking at the history of sexuality (the freer periods of sexual frankness vis-à-vis the more strict and reserved periods such as the Victorian age) leads to another set of power relations often internalised and often overlooked.

One of the useful features of the text is the side-bar boxes inserted at various points. For example, during the discussion on Foucault's development of Power and Institutions, there are brief discussions, set apart from the primary strand of the text, on the Marxist idea of ideology, developing further this idea should the reader not be familiar with it, or at least not in the way with which Foucault would be working with ideas derived from it. Each section on a key idea spans approximately twenty pages, with a brief summary concluding each, which gives a recap of the ideas (and provides a handy reference). Some of the concluding sections in this volume (unlike other volumes in the series) are not as handy as a recap, but do connect the primary ideas with the next chapter.

The concluding chapter, After Foucault, highlights some key areas of development in relation to other thinkers, as well as points of possible exploration for the reader. Foucault's thought vis-à-vis feminist thought is dramatic and interesting, given Foucault's generally androcentric (and often misogynistic) stance in writing - still the issues of power relations and society are crucial to feminist critique. His post-colonialist ideas, again springing from the reformulation of power relationships in society after a dominant, foreign power is displaced, influenced further thinkers such as Edward Said. Foucault has (perhaps unintentionally) become useful for the anti-psychiatric lobby, as Foucault sees much defined as madness to be social construct rather than actual ailment (Foucault saw talk-therapy as a kind of modernised `confessional').

There was only one point at which I had a serious disagreement with Mills in her analysis of Foucault. At one point in discussing his tendency toward not developing fully thought-out theories, she speculates that his kind of approach could possibly be used `to justify fascism or to deny the existence of the Holocaust'. I would disagree with this assessment, given that this would not in fact discredit systems of power, but merely replace one with another. If fascism or Holocaust-deniers were not a power-in-potential, that might be true. But then, this is a point upon which much discussion could continue!

As do the other volumes in this series, Mills concludes with an annotated bibliography of works by Foucault (primarily those available in authoritative English translation), works on Foucault, and even internet references.

While this series focuses intentionally upon critical literary theory and cultural studies, in fact this is only the starting point. For Foucault (as for others in this series) the expanse is far too broad to be drawn into such narrow guidelines, and the important and impact of the ideas extends out into the whole range of intellectual development. As intellectual endeavours of every sort depend upon language, understanding, and interpretation, the thorough comprehension of how and why we know what we know is crucial.

Thought-provoking, 16 Mar 1999
This book clarifies much of Foucault was saying in History of Sexuality. Butler is careful, however, to not borrow the models Foucault uses, thereby, avoids some of the mistakes and gaps that occur in his thinking, namely the silence on women. Butler, more than Foucault, is not willing to settle the debate on sexuality merely as the obtaining and disseminating of pleasures and how those bodies perform them. Rather, she takes bodies as always already gender indeterminate and destablilizes their performatives further to show how bodies are marked by gender as well as race, class, sexulaity, etc. and how these categories are also destabilized within the perfomative. I highly recommend this book to feminist and queer theorists and well as anyone who is concerned about creating any sort of opposition to the reactionary right-wing forces that are attempting to further entrench their dominance over the rest of us.

Performativity is not about choice!, 02 Dec 1998
When Judith Butler describes gender as performative, contrary to much of what is mistakenly thought out there, it is not about choice! It is not about choosing to put on a gender--as if it was a performance in the traditional or obvious way. The performativity of gender is meant to suggest--invoke--that gender is constituted by performative acts which repeated come to form, take shape, a "coherent" gender identity. Thus, Butler uses the performative to suggest that this coherency is false and that because of acts that disrupt the strict reads of gender--acts that occur naturally, perhaps daily, perhaps unacknowledged, gender comes to be seen/viewed as that which is only as stable as this performative function's stability is. Or put more simply, gender-as-stable is undermined by Butler by reading it through the performative--becuase it is never "performed" the same exactly. So, it is not that people can choose to perform a certain enumeration of gender, rather it is that noone precisely (actually) fulfills these gender identities that we have!

Spot-on book about how the world interacts with Transsexuals, 21 Nov 2007
I bought this book, with a view to a quick read , then selling on.
Not possible now as my copy is covered with underlines & notes I made in the margins!
Julia puts into words & a framework structure, many thoughts & half observations I've made about my interactions with the world, & how oppressive, restrictive & judgmental, non-trans people & society at large is.
I'm going to loan it to my parents, & hope the book together with my notes in it, give them more understanding about me.

A great book.


How did feminism become so misguided?, 10 Jun 2008
If ever there was a woman that proved C.H. Sommer's arguments irrefutably, it would be Valenti. Never have I had the severe displeasure of reading such coyly misogyny-inspiring muck since the SCUM Manifesto.

If you are a young woman looking to find out what feminism really is, then I implore you; stop taking advice from other young women and actually see feminism for what it has become. Read some of the works of Christina Hoff Sommers (and use a bit of common-sense) and you'll soon realise modern 'feminism' isn't really feminism at all. It doesn't preach equality, it preaches misandry. All that Valenti, and most other modern day 'feminists' will inspire is the hatred of women. So please, stop furthering this bile. All it will bring is the complete destruction of what we true feminists worked so hard to create; a dream of true equality, in which men and women can have an equal playing field. A dream that is already slowly eroding into marginalisation of men.

A fabulous introduction, 20 Mar 2008
Valenti's book is well researched and written in an accessible, yet non condescending style. If you have read much feminist literature before, this is perhaps not the book for you, it doesn't assume any prior knowledge, and spends quite a lot of time combating media stereotypes and explaining what feminism is and both how much has been achieved and how far we have to go. The chapter on what men stand to gain from feminism is excellent, more men need to read this!

If I had a teenage daughter, I would be handing this over to her without a second thought, however, if you (like me) were brought up on a diet of Naomi Wolf and Betty Friedan, you may find yourself longing for something a little meatier. I also felt it was aimed at a slightly younger woman.

Absolutely Brilliant, 18 Sep 2007
This book is absolutely brilliant! Feminist issues that are written in a language that we can all understand and relate to.
What an eye opener, I had no idea that reproductive rights were such an issue in the US, I just wish that we had a UK version.
Buy one for yourself and spread the word by buying one for your friend too!

I only wish I could rate it higher, 31 Aug 2007
I have read stacks of books on feminism. And no other book has inspired me more (maybe tieing with Manifesta and Grassroots, read those too). This book is good for younger feminists who need to cut through the rhetoric to the simple truths of why the women's movement is still important. Maybe you shouldn't give this to your preteen daughter, as the author does use some crude language to get her point across, but it doesn't take away from the quality of the book to older readers. Full Frontal Feminism makes you think, and contrary to what other reviewers say, it doesn't bash men and even applauds the efforts of some men and their organizations. But then, the assumption that women are people too may bother some people. I highly recommend this book to everyone who has ever said "I'm not a feminist but..." It's awesome and gives some great ideas as to how to bring feminism into your daily life. Read this book.

An easy, compelling intro to why feminism still matters, 28 Jun 2007
I really enjoyed this book, as it is a fresh, contemporary look into why Feminism is still as important today as it was 30 years ago.
Valenti has a highly accessible writing style; the prose is fun, contains the odd swear-word for amusement or effect, and shies away from the high-brow academic tone seen in other texts on the subject. This is very much a light "polular sociology" book and a joy to read - I didn't get bored or bogged down in rhetoric too much, even if I did disagree with some of her ideas about hyphonated surnames in marriage, for example.

I get the impression this book is squarely aimed at the under 25 American woman, and being a 34 year old Brit, felt that I was a little too old and too British for some of the issues raised (hence the 4 stars), but was equally glad to see the torch being passed on to a new generation of women, some of whom take a lot of freedoms for granted and who might not be as aware of Feminist issues as they should be.

I would recommend this book to any woman under the age of 35 who is exploring the more contemporary issues facing womankind in the West, and if you have a daughter/sister/cousin/niece/friend aged 16 to 25, this book could change her outlook on life.

Thought-provoking way of reading the body, 19 Jul 2001
I enjoyed this book because of the unusual concept Grosz uses to structure it: the metaphor of the body as a Moebius strip, where the surface and interior cannot be seperated out but are intertwined and blend into each other. I like the way that she examines the body from the inside-out (eg looking at psychoanalytic theories of the body, where what's inside the body (eg. conscious mind, unconscious mind, "body image") is the focus / vantage point for analyzing the body) and then from the outside-in (looking at theorists like Foucault, reading the body in terms of its surfaces rather than assuming that the body has an "inner depth" (soul/mind/psyche etc within it) which is more crucial than its surface). Grosz's approach opens up some interesting ways of thinking about the body and I would recommend it to anyone studying gender, the body, or postmodern feminist theory. The book discusses similar issues to those found in Judith Butler's work but is a lot easier to read!!!!!

Definitely worth a read, 04 Jun 1999
Thoughtful, energetic discussion of the gendered body. One of the best introductions to Australian feminist theory. quintan wikswo

Feminism is a complex fascinating theory, 17 Dec 2000
Feminist Thought offers the reader a comprehensive understanding of feminist theory through the 20th century. The book is an up to date text on all strands of mainstream feminism, right up to the modern post feminist school of feminism that grew during the 1990's. Written by a professor of philosophy Tong offers an in-depth discussion and overview of feminist thought and explores its complexities and contradictions. The book also looks at feminism and its claim to empower all types of women, regardless of class sexuality or race. The book opens with a chapter on each type of mainstream feminist theory, Liberal feminism, Marxist feminism, Radical feminism and mothering, Radical feminism on gender and sexuality. Then Tong moves on to discuss psychoanalytic feminism and socialist feminism and then a chapter on post-feminism, the book finishes with a discussion on standpoints. An essential text for students of femini