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Women and Fitness in American Culture explores and explodes common
representations and experiences of American fitness. This book
takes women's experiences as the centre of inquiry toward an
understanding of the function of fitness in our lives and in our
culture-at-large. Ranging from 1968 to present day, from Jane Fonda
to WiiFit, from revolution to institutionalisation, from personal
to political, and beyond, this book considers a broad range of
topics from an interdisciplinary perspective including;
generations, cultural appropriation, community development, art
choreography, methodology, healing, and social justice. Drawing on
her experience as a cultural theorist, educator, and fitness
instructor, the author offers critical and creative approaches that
reveal the limitations and possibilities of fitness. This work asks
us to think about our own relationship to fitness as well as the
more abstract meanings of this term and ultimately argues that a
multidimensional idea of fitness has some potential to transform
ourselves and our worlds...if we're willing to do the work(out).
The rise of YA dystopian literature has seen an explosion of female
protagonists who are stirring young people's interest in social and
political topics, awakening their civic imagination, and inspiring
them to work for change. These "Girls on Fire" are intersectional
and multidimensional characters. They are leaders in their
communities and they challenge injustice and limited
representations. The Girl on Fire fights for herself and for those
who are oppressed, voiceless, or powerless. She is the hope for our
shared future. This collection of essays brings together teachers
and students from a variety of educational contexts to explore how
to harness the cultural power of the Girl on Fire. It also tackles
how to educate the real-world girls who embody the ethos of the
Girl on Fire themselves. Each essay provides both theoretical
foundations as well as practical, hands-on teaching tools that can
be used with diverse groups of students, in formal as well as
informal educational settings. This volume challenges readers to
realize the symbolic power the Girl on Fire has to raise
consciousness and inform action and to keep that fire burning.
Although the ""coming of age"" story has been a popular film plot
for decades, producers have only recently realized the commercial
potential of targeting films to adolescent girls. Movies like
""Clueless"", ""Legally Blonde"" and ""Mean Girls"" have been
successfully marketed to teenage girls, as have several well-known
independent films. Important as both cultural indicators and
catalysts, these films simultaneously demonstrate pop culture's
influence on girls' films, and the ability of girls' films to
affect pop culture and perceptions of girlhood. This critical
survey of film and the modern girl concentrates largely on films of
the last two decades, addressing key themes for girls within
""coming of age"" films, the changing (but not always improving)
young feminine paradigm, and the ways these films can be powerful
determinants of culture. The first chapter explores the ways in
which girls' films construct, reinforce, challenge and dismantle
mainstream conceptualizations of sexuality, race and power. The
second chapter discusses mainstream limitations of ""coming of
age"" narratives, including recycled plots and stars, treatments of
parental and male authority, and adult conceptualizations of
adolescence. The third chapter describes girls' experiences within
these narratives through such conventions as attitude, teen
fashion, music and dance, unsanctioned rites of passage, and race.
The fourth chapter covers the negotiation of sex and sexuality,
virginity and sexual empowerment.
Dystopia is an American Tradition and a present and future reality.
The signs that we are living in a dystopia have been clear for
decades. Climate change threatens our water, air, and land.
Corruption, inequality, and injustice in politics create a vast
divide between the rich and the poor. Racism, sexism, and
homophobia divide us and oppress individuals and groups. Violence
and incarceration threaten the bodies and lives of our most
vulnerable. The marginalized suffer, the privileged are unhappy,
and complacency and cynicism abound. In trying times, we look for
heroes, and American traditions of utopia and dystopia tend to do
what most traditions do-focus on men and boys as the movers and
shakers, the makers (and the destroyers), and as agents of social
change and the promise of the future. But times are changing and
The Hunger Games transformed the game spurring an explosion of
young adult (YA) dystopia that features female protagonists.
Ignoring or minimizing the roles that girls and women play in the
present and the future (and the past) is no longer an option. In
Girls on Fire, Sarah Hentges argues that American traditions of
dystopia should look to girls and women in fiction-and in the
world-for inspiration toward progressive transformation in the
future. She shows the ways that female protagonists act as "Girls
on Fire" and reveal the injustices of the present through the lens
of the future. Tracing patterns and themes and weaving together
analysis of over a hundred and forty books as well as films, pop
culture texts, social media, articles, feminist theory, academic
analyses, and observations and students' voices from the classroom,
Girls on Fire illustrates a rich tradition and a promising future.
With a focus on Young Adult (YA) dystopia and female protagonists,
and with particular attention to intersections of race, class,
gender, sexuality and power and empowerment-as well as a vision
toward social justice- Girls on Fire traces trends and critiques,
themes and issues, characters and plots, details and patterns...and
the intersectional possibilities that fictional futures point
toward. When we expand our vision and explore our collective
imagination, we build a better future. Girls on Fire are ready to
lead the way.
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