Abigail Bray offers a lucid and accessible introduction to Helene Cixous and her theorisation of writing and sexual difference. This book explores the context of feminist debates surrounding Cixous's work and provides a concise explanation of her major philosophical and literary concepts, including the 'other bisexuality', the 'third body', and l'ecriture feminine. Bray demonstrates, through original and provocative readings of texts by James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Clarice Lispector and Angela Carter, the creative potential of Cixous's thought on literature and philosophy. Reading Cixous alongside Nietzsche, Heidegger, Deleuze and Derrida, Bray argues for a recognition of Cixous as one of the important thinkers of our times.

Today hardcore misogyny has become the cool slapstick LOL of mainstream culture. Exposing a chilling connection between the rise of cosmetic surgery, Big Pharma, porn, self-help and beauty industries, and the shock and awe doctrines of a new culture of extreme misogyny. While race-motivated violence is recognised as an historical and cultural problem, misogynist-motivated violence is often understood as an individual problem. Instead, misogyny is normalised as sexy, rebellious and cool, or as biological, evolutionary and natural. Added to this are neoliberal ideologies about choice and responsibility, which have contributed to a victim-blaming culture that vilifies and silences women and girls who have been damaged by misogyny. This book offers an unflinching account of the billions made from breaking and remaking the minds and bodies of women and girls.

The unprecedented mainstreaming of the global pornography industry is transforming the sexual politics of intimate and public life, popularising new forms of hardcore misogyny, and strongly contributing to the sexualisation of children. Yet challenges to the pornography industry continue to be dismissed as uncool, anti-sex and moral panics. With contributions from leading world experts and activists, "Big Porn Inc" offers a cutting edge expose of the hidden realities of a multi-billion dollar global industry that promotes itself as a fashionable life-style choice. Unmasking the lies behind the selling of porn as 'just a bit of fun' this book reveals the shocking truths of an industry that trades in violence, crime and degradation. This fearless book will change the way you think about pornography forever. Contributors include: Abigail Bray; Anna van Heeswijk; Anne Mayne; Asja Armanda; Betty McLellan; Caroline Norma; Caroline Taylor; Catharine A MacKinnon; Christopher Kendall; Chyng Sun; Diana Russell; Diane L Rosenfeld; Gail Dines; Helen Pringle; Hiroshi Nakasatomi; Jeffrey Masson; Julia Long; Linda Thompson; Maggie Hamilton; Matt McCormack Evans.; Meagan Tyler; Melinda Liszewski; Melinda Tankard Reist; Melissa Farley; Natalie Nenadic; Nina Funnell; Renate Klein; Robert Jensen; Robi Sonderegger; Ruchira Gupta; Sheila Jeffreys; and, Susan Hawthorne.