Female Readers Research Articles

Kisses, Bitches: Pretty Little Liars Frames Postfeminism’s Adolescent Girl

This article examines the contribution of the young adult series Pretty Little Liars to contemporary understandings of the teenage girl. Over the course of eighteen novels, protagonists Hanna, Emily, Spencer, and Aria struggle to escape the mysterious “A,” who sees their every move, manipulates them into embarrassing situations, and publicly airs their secrets. I argue that the series productively utilizes the paranoid form to interrogate particular forms of cultural condescension towards adolescent girls. The narrative of A’s prosecutions illustrates how young women are perceived as rightful subjects of surveillance and how they continue to be shamed for sexual expression and bodily non-conformity. Pretty Little Liars also plays with gendered language, complicating the pop-culture trope of the “mean girl,” often used to pathologize girls’ anger, by detaching the character A from gender altogether. The series further circulates the problematic word “bitch,” and in so doing replicates the slippery postfeminist terrain in which words reclaimed as empowering can also be used against girls to cut and wound. Analysis of the teenage girl’s tenuous place in Pretty Little Liars is contextualized both within the postfeminist moment and within the contemporary young adult market, which financially relies on adolescent female readers but too often disdains their tastes.

Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan ed. by Mark McLelland et al.

Reviewed by: Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan ed. by Mark McLelland et al. Deborah Shamoon (bio) Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan. Edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker. University of Mississippi Press, Jackson, 2015. x, 303 pages. $65.00, cloth; $30.00, paper. In the title of a 2001 online article, Mark McLelland asked, "Why Are Japanese Girls' Comics Full of Boys Bonking?"1 Notwithstanding the playful title, McLelland was one of the first scholars writing in English to take the genre of boys' love (BL) seriously. Fifteen years later, this question is [End Page 462] less surprising as boys' love manga has proliferated in Japan and abroad, and slash (gay-themed fan fiction) has gained prominence in the West. The idea that women might enjoy fantasies of gay male romance and sex has achieved a degree of mainstream recognition, even in the United States. As McLelland argues in that early essay, the more interesting question is not "Why?" but "Why not?" or more specifically, why do we assume that gay images should be the domain of gay men alone? McLelland, joined by Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker as editors of a new collected volume, offers various and nuanced answers to this question and others: not only "why?" but who is reading, what is at stake for readers, and writers, and how the greater prominence of boys' love has both granted legitimacy and threatened free expression. The volume is arranged more or less chronologically, beginning with a chapter by Barbara Hartley on Takabatake Kashō's illustrations of bishōnen(beautiful boys) in the 1920s and ending with a chapter by Mark McLelland on the future of boys' love in light of government censorship such as the "Non-Existent Youth Bill" and grassroots attempts to remove BL from public libraries. Overall, chapters focus on fans (fujoshi or rotten girls, that is, female fans of boys' love), on professional and amateur writers and artists, and on discourses around fans. While there is some close reading of prominent texts, the emphasis is more on reading practices. The two standout chapters in this volume are translations of essays by Fujimoto Yukari and Ishida Hitoshi, which originally appeared in a special issue of the Japanese literary magazine Yuriika (Eureka) in 2007 on boys' love studies. Fujimoto's essay is an update and reconsideration of an essay she first published in 1991, which is also available in English translation.2 In revisiting her earlier argument that the male characters stand in for female readers, Fujimoto finds that as the genre has matured and diversified, the scope of playing with gender has widened to "experiments in transgressing every possible border of sexual difference" (p. 85). While boys' love manga, with its generic code of masculine seme (top) and feminine uke (bottom) pairings, is superficially heteronormative, Fujimoto argues that couplings contain more nuanced character traits that are not limited to a strict male-female binary, and playing with various pairings allows readers to experience sexual fantasies freed from gender oppression. Ishida likewise takes on the issue of heteronormativity in boys' love, along with the yaoi ronsō (boys' love debate) begun in 1992, which argues that the genre is homophobic and appropriates and/or misrepresents gay culture. The fact that characters often claim they are not gay and disavow gay sex as disgusting (kimochi warui) adds fuel to the debate. Ishida summarizes the response of BL readers and [End Page 463] writers, who tend to assert that the male characters are fantasies, not meant to be understood as real gay men but as points of identification for female readers. However, Ishida argues they are both: "Understanding the intersection of representational appropriation and self-projection will help us see why yaoi/BL endlessly demands the reinsertion of gender power dynamics via the roles of uke and seme to a world where the gender binary is deconstructed through featuring two characters of the same sex" (p. 229). These two chapters help to bring the Japanese language scholarship on boys' love and the debates surrounding it to a wider readership. Chapters by James Welker...

BOTANY (ADAPTED) FOR WOMEN IN BIBLIOTHÈQUE UNIVERSELLE DES DAMES

In 1786 there appeared two volumes in the collection Bibliotheque universelle des dames which formed an elementary course of botany addressed to women. The course was based on Demonstrations elementaires de botanique (Lyon, 1766), written by Marc-Antoine-Louis Claret of Flerieu de La Tourrette (in collaboration with Francois Rozier) for the use of students of the Royal Veterinary School. The purpose of this paper is to describe the way in which the authors adapted the botanical content for female readers.

Dworkin’s subjects: Interpellation and the politics of heterosexuality

This article provides a critical rereading of Andrea Dworkin’s infamous text Intercourse. I use Judith Butler’s post-structural theory to contest the common view that Dworkin forwards an immutable position on heterosexual intercourse. Instead, I argue that she identifies a particularly pernicious discourse used to represent vaginal penetration – the discourse of intercourse-as-violation. This discourse is important for feminists to consider because the codification of sex acts affects the codification of gendered social actors. The article continues to explore how Dworkin’s text positions readers as gendered subjects in order to better understand why her work is seldom given careful contemplation. When read as positing an essentialist position on heterosex, heterosexed male readers are brought into social being as perpetrators of sexual violation while female readers are positioned as morally superior victims. This distasteful position is quickly rejected as readers form affective attachments to her work based in disindentification.

Editing Feminism in the ROWOHLT VERLAG Paperback Series

In 1977, the Rowohlt Verlag launched a paperback series for women, rororo neue frau, becoming the first major West German publisher to publish alternative women’s literature or Frauenliteratur. But rororo neue frau was not the only Rowohlt paperback series producing a new kind of literature for female readers. In 1972, Rowohlt had already founded a series for young readers called rororo rotfuchs. The founding editor, Uwe Wandrey, and his colleagues and later series editors, Renate Boldt and Gisela Krahl, chose to publish realistic, critical and political books that encouraged values like equality and fairness. Many books in the series dealt with emancipation and empowerment for girls and women. On the basis of archival sources, this contribution discusses how the editors chose and edited texts for publication, shedding light on the intricate relationship between publishing houses, editors, authors and readers.

THE EFFICIENCY OF SUGGESTED MODEL FOR HANDLING THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN ARABIC WOMAN MAGAZINES TO DEVELOP ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES AND SKILLS

This study drives at measuring the effectiveness of a proposed model for handling environmental issues in Arab woman magazines for developing environmental values and skills. The study uses the analytical-descriptive (qualitative) method in order to evaluate the content of the Arab woman magazines of issues and environmental topics, focusing as well on the readers 'concern in those issues and their construction of their value and skill level. The study uses the quasi-experimental method to apply the proposed module and measure its impact on developing environmental values and skills among a group of (50) female readers from Cairo and Alexandria governorates and some Arab States (study sample). The study also uses the two-fold survey method, the qualitative and the analytical, making a checklist of the environmental issues and problems that the readers are concerned with. The study uses these research tools: A content analysis tool of the Arab woman magazines, a Questionnaire Form, Scale of Environmental Values and Skills (by researcher), a (50) forms for each tool. The study comes to these results: There are significant statistical differences at (0.05) significance level on Scale of Environmental Values and Scale of Environmental Skills of the experimental group pre/post measurement, in favour of the post-measurement. The results also show a positive impact of the four environmental models (the environment's life) on the environmental value and skill component of female readers regarding the post application of scale of Values and scale of skills. Given the analytical study, it becomes evident that Zaharat Al-Khalig (study sample) magazine considers the most interested one in environment and pollution issues; while both of Hawaa and Saidaty magazines differ partially in their interests, denoting that Arab woman magazines are in critical need to more studies and research involved in the environment's issues, publishing information concerning the environment in different divergent journalistic forms.

‘WWWWD: What would Wonder Woman do?’: An interview with Trina Robbins

Abstract This interview with Trina Robbins explores her roles as a comics creator, historian and activist. It discusses her championship of female creators and readers and her various publications within the fields of feminist and LGBT commix, superheroics, and self-publishing.

Modas de madames e mocinhas: a colaboração de Alceu Penna em A Cigarra Magazine

As trajetórias de A Cigarra (1914-1975) e Alceu Penna (1915-1980) estão muito entrelaçadas. Integrada aos Diários Associados de Chateaubriand em meados da década de 1930, a revista passou a contar com as colaborações do artista gráfico e figurinista mineiro nessa mesma época. Com as jornalistas Helena Ferraz e Elza Marzullo, desenvolveu A Cigarra Feminina, um amplo suplemento da revista que circulou entre 1948 e 1955. Utilizando o gênero como categoria de análise histórica, e ainda como maneira de observar as relações de poder, pretendo, neste artigo, relacionar os trabalhos de Penna com a produção de normativas, bem como sugeridas às leitoras, explicitamente ou nas entrelinhas e nos entretraços. Para tanto, farei uma análise imagética e textual da fonte selecionada.

Injuries among electric power industry workers, 1995–2013

IntroductionWorkers in the electric power industry face many risks of injury due to the high diversity of work tasks performed in potentially hazardous and unpredictable work environments. MethodWe calculated injury rates by age, sex, occupational group, and injury type among workers in the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Occupational Health and Safety Database (OHSD), which contains recordable injury, medical claims, and personnel data from 18 participating electric power companies from 1995 to 2013. ResultsThe OHSD includes a total of 63,193 injuries over 1,977,436 employee-years of follow-up, for an overall injury rate of 3.20 injuries per 100 employee-years. Annual injury rates steadily decreased from 1995 to 2000, increased sharply in 2001, and subsequently decreased to their lowest rate of 1.31 injuries per 100 employee-years in 2013. Occupations with the highest injury rates were welders (13.56 per 100 employee-years, 95% CI 12.74–14.37), meter readers (12.04 per 100 employee-years, 95% CI 11.77–12.31), and line workers (10.37 per 100 employee-years, 95% CI 10.19–10.56). Males had an overall higher injury rate compared to females (2.74 vs. 1.61 per 100 employee-years) although some occupations, such as meter reader, had higher injury rates for females. For all workers, injury rates were highest for those in the 21 to 30 age group (3.70 per 100 employee-years) and decreased with age. Welders and machinists did not follow this trend and had higher injury rates in the 65+ age group. There were 63 fatalities over the 1995 to 2013 period, with 21 fatalities (33.3%) occurring among line workers. ConclusionsAlthough injury rates have decreased over time, certain high-risk groups remain (i.e., line workers, mechanics, young males, older welders and machinists, and female meter readers). Practical applicationsProtective measures and targeted safety programs may be warranted to ensure the safety of electric power workers.

Praying the Psalms in the Ancrene Wisse

ABSTRACTIn Part One of the Ancrene Wisse, the author recommends to his female readers the daily recital of Matins from the Office of Our Lady, as well as requiring the recital of the Hours, each “as she has them written down”. This demonstrates not only the competence of the original readers in liturgical Latin, but also of the anchoresses’ deep familiarity with the text of the Psalms. This is exploited by the author, who quotes the Psalms on at least seventy-seven occasions, twice as much as any other scriptural book. When quoting the Psalms across the work the author does not normally translate the Latin, but when he does it is usually with the purpose of developing allegorical and moral glosses on the Psalter text. In this way, the author’s use of the Psalms in the other books of his treatise both draws on the anchoresses' liturgical reading and simultaneously enhances it by offering deeper meanings to texts which they repeatedly read. This article will explore how this strategy serves to tie many of the arguments of the Ancrene Wisse to the women’s daily reading of the Psalms.

Women Entrapment and Flight in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

This paper attempts to yield a critical reading of “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892), which is one of the pioneering feminist works of American literature. Attempts have been made at finding affinities between the specific characterization of the story and the stereotypical male and female figures as defined by patriarchy and in terms of traditional gender roles. The paper tries to draw on Lacan’s conceptions of language, Cixous’ ideas about écriture féminine, and Freud’s misconception about women’s conditions. Drawing critical attention to this information, the paper focuses on the main unnamed female character and the fact that her anonymity helps the readers, specifically female readers, to identify themselves with her.

Edith Wharton in Washington, 2–4 June 2016

Edith Wharton in Washington, 2–4 June 2016

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN READING PREFERENCE: EVIDENCE FROM A MOBILE PHONE PLATFORM

Two studies were conducted to investigate gender differences in a sample of young South African readers from poor communities. In the first study, the self-reported reading preferences of 2 775 readers on a mobile phone platform supplied by the FunDza Literacy Trust were surveyed. Both male and female readers indicated that they liked four genres in particular: romance, drama, non- fiction, and stories with specific South African content. There were nevertheless some differences, such as that a higher percentage of males liked stories involving sport. The second study examined the unique FunDza site visits made by readers, as a proxy measure of what they actually were reading. Four genres stood out: romance, drama, biography, and action/adventure. Again the similarity between male and female readers was noticeable, although many more females than males read content on the site.

Australian Women Writers Abroad

Australian Women Writers Abroad

The Experience of Female Readers in Sweden around 1600 – Evidence Collected from Funeral Sermons

The Experience of Female Readers in Sweden around 1600 – Evidence Collected from Funeral Sermons

The Experience of Female Readers in Sweden around 1600 – Evidence Collected from Funeral Sermons

The Experience of Female Readers in Sweden around 1600 – Evidence Collected from Funeral Sermons

Machado and the Cost of Reading

Abstract: This essay studies Machado de Assis’ relations with the technical and economic foundations of literary production in nineteenth-century Brazil, which seem to have been abundant and diverse, leaving marks both inside and outside of his fiction. It will be argued that Machado de Assis is much more attentive (and submissive) to the misty, complex, and asymmetric world in which, in nineteenth-century Brazil, not only narrators and male and female readers but also writers and editors exchanged flips and bows.

Chaucer's Feminine Pretexts: Gendered Genres in Three Frame Moments

Abstract In the construction of his authorial persona, Chaucer sought to identify himself with genres of literature that may have been associated with female readership in the medieval cultural imagination, including vernacular devotional writing (Pseudo-Origen's De Maria Magdalena), conduct literature (the Tale of Melibee), and hagiography (the Introduction to the Man of Law's Tale). By exploiting the cultural resonances of these stereotypically women's genres, Chaucer positioned himself as a writer for an emerging bourgeois audience and distinguished his works as compassionate and socially productive.

More Than “Little Old Ladies Going Gliding”: The Canadian Press and Women's Interest News

During the 1960s to the 1990s, the Canadian Press (CP) news agency struggled with how to share news of interest to female readers with its member newspapers. CP's senior news managers and their newspaper colleagues across Canada disagreed about the journalistic value of gendered content, or even how to define it, depending on their own newsroom cultures as well as their understanding of the preferences of readers in their regions. The news agency's internal documents and interviews with editors reveal that regional differences among editors and audiences had a great influence on how these production changes were received at CP's member newspapers and whether they considered women's issues and interests “hard” news, “soft” news, or of no consequence at all.

Loving Boys Twice as Much: Chinese Women’s Paradoxical Fandom of “Boys’ Love” Fiction

ABSTRACTThis study examines how young female Chinese fans negotiate gender, sexuality, and identity through their readings of Chinese boys’ love (BL) fiction. BL fiction, or danmei in Chinese, is a romantic fiction genre featuring same-sex relationships between two men. I argue that BL fandom facilitates a gendered politics of looking that empowers female readers to turn a voyeuristic gaze upon men. This subversive gaze allows fans to play with patriarchal gender constructions, provides escapism, and creates aesthetics that offer an alternative to clichéd heterosexual romantic storytelling. Because of their shared interests and practices, a distinctive BL online subculture has formed. Within this subculture, fans also demonstrate a diverse, fluid, and individualistic identification with BL. BL fandom also shapes these young women’s perceptions of same-sex love while disavowing their heterosexual privileges. Indeed, fans seem to appropriate the marginalized BL stories to express their own desires for idealized heterosexual relationships.