In 1892 a furious Charlotte Perkins Gilman put pen to paper and created the avant-garde feminist work The Yellow Wallpaper as a warning - in this haunting Gothic tale, a woman is confined to a room and forbidden to do anything interesting - and she loses her mind. In 1887, following a severe nervous breakdown, Gilman had been sent to a leading neurologist, she explains in 'Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper', also included in this volume. He was a 'wise man' who 'put me to bed and applied the rest cure... and sent me home with solemn advice to "live as domestic a life as far as possible"... and "never to touch pen, brush or pencil again" as long as I lived. I went home and obeyed those directions for some three months, and came so near the borderline of utter mental ruin that I could see over.' The Yellow Wallpaper is both a haunting illustration of the treatment of mental health and a chilling Gothic tale, and this new edition makes it ready to enchant another generation of readers.

"Murderous Mothers is both an homage to and a critical reflection on the multiple Medea figures that populate late twentieth-century German literature. Claire Scott artfully demonstrates how feminist politics and women's issues - from abstract questions about the power of women's bodies and voices, to concrete matters like abortion and sexual violence - speak through this ancient myth, transforming it into something vital and urgent. Scott's own voice is crystal clear throughout, which allows the layers of productive critique to shine through. With its sophisticated literary analyses, its deep engagement with feminist and postcolonial theory, and its lucid and accessible style, Murderous Mothers will interest and provoke a range of readers and critics." (Kata Gellen, Duke University) "Murderous Mothers explores the ambiguities of literary Medea adaptations in beautifully written, engaging prose. For anyone interested in the aesthetics and politics of contemporary literature, this book offers brilliant examples of how literary adaptations of classical myths can contribute to contemporary political discourses on motherhood, reproductive rights, gender, and rage." (Maria Stehle, University of Tennessee, Knoxville) This book explores German-language Medea adaptations from the late twentieth century and their relationship to feminist theory and politics. Close readings of novels and plays by Ursula Haas, Christa Wolf, Dagmar Nick, Dea Loher, and Elfriede Jelinek reveal the promise and the pitfalls of using gendered depictions of violence to process inequity and oppression. The figure of Medea has been called many things: a witch, a barbarian, a monster, a goddess, a feminist heroine, a healer, and, finally, a murderous mother. This book considers Medea in all her complexity, thereby reframing our understanding of identity as it relates to feminism and to mythological storytelling. This book project was the Joint Winner of the 2020 Peter Lang Young Scholars Competition for German Studies in America.

Women and Positive Aging: An International Perspective presents the noted research in the fields of psychology, gerontology, and gender studies, reflecting the increasingly popular and pervasive positive aging issues of women in today's society from different cohorts, backgrounds, and life situations. Each section describes a bridge between the theoretical aspects and practical applications of the theory that is consistent with the scientist-practitioner training model in psychology, including case studies and associated intervention strategies with older women in each chapter. In addition to incorporating current research on aging women's issues, each section provides the reader with background about the topic to give context and perspective.

Innovation within Tradition is an exploration of the meaning and implications of Joseph Ratzinger's biblical interpretation of the women of salvation history. Mary Frances McKenna argues that Ratzinger's work, through his development and refinement of the church's tradition, brings the important role and significance of the female characters of Scripture to the fore by placing them at the heart of Christian faith. Explicating the pope emeritus's concept of a "female line in the Bible," which has a profound impact on the meaning and interpretation of the women of salvation history, the volume shows that this concept illustrates the practical value and creative nature of his approach to theology and biblical interpretation. Pivotal to the argument are questions around the findings on the notion of person, feminist theology, salvation history, and Mary, as well as the use of history in theology and biblical interpretation and the potential for the continuing development and deepening of the church's comprehension of the meaning of revelation. The book advances a constructive approach, in coordination with these questions, for a Trinitarian theology of society, addresses old theological issues anew, and provides a starting point for an interdenominational understanding of Mary.

Social Studies of Gender: A Next Wave Reader invites students to critically examine the use of and assumptions about sex and gender while studying the various areas in which gender analysis is conducted. The reader features a collection of diverse articles that approach the study of gender, sex, and gender discrimination from a variety of perspectives. These various approaches underscore the richness in the field as well as diverging theories about the basis of gender difference. The opening chapter introduces readers to the variety of ways social and behavioral scientists have studied and understood sex and gender in recent decades. Additional chapters are divided into two distinct sections. Part I is dedicated to theorizing gender and sexuality as fields of inquiry. Students read about gender regulations, gender as research, contemporary sexuality, and the politics of sexuality. In Part II, inequalities related to gender and sex are explored. The readings cover gender within the family and workplace, the gendered nature of science and technology, intimacy and violence, views of masculinity, sex education, and more. Enlightening and timely, Social Studies of Gender is an ideal textbook for courses in gender and sexuality studies, social research, and sociology.

Gender, Continuity, and the Shaping of Modernity in the Arts of East Asia, 16th-20th Centuries explores women's and men's contributions to the arts and gendered visual representations in China, Korea, and Japan from the premodern through modern eras. A critical introduction and nine essays consider how threads of continuity and exchanges between the cultures of East Asia, Europe, and the United States helped to shape modernity in this region, in the process revealing East Asia as a vital component of the trans-Pacific world. The essays are organized into three themes: representations of femininity, women as makers, and constructions of gender, and they consider examples of architecture, painting, woodblock prints and illustrated books, photography, and textiles. Contributors are: Lara C. W. Blanchard, Kristen L. Chiem, Charlotte Horlyck, Ikumi Kaminishi, Nayeon Kim, Sunglim Kim, Radu Leca, Elizabeth Lillehoj, Ying-chen Peng, and Christina M. Spiker. Gender, Continuity, and the Shaping of Modernity in the Arts of East Asia, 16th-20th Centuries is now available in paperback for individual customers.

In Women and Gender in a Lebanese Village: Generations of Change, Nancy W. Jabbra addresses change in women's and gender roles in a village in Lebanon's Bekaa valley. Employing ethnographic methods and secondary sources, she explores that change from the post-World War II period to the early twenty-first century. The topics of geography and power, family and kinship, education and work, community solidarity, ritual and symbolism, and consideration of the future comprise the substantive part of her monograph. This work is a much-needed comprehensive treatment of women in a contemporary Arab Christian rural community.