Download or read book Pole Dancing Empowerment and Embodiment written by S. Holland and published by Springer. This book was released on 2010-03-10 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an international, multi-disciplinary empirical account of pole classes and how they fit into wider discourses about bodies and gender, and age and fitness. In particular, the book explores how women initiate agency and espouse liberation and empowerment through something as seemingly problematic as pole classes.
Download or read book Femininity Feminism and Recreational Pole Dancing written by Kerry Griffiths and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the phenomenon of pole dancing as an increasingly popular fitness and leisure activity for women. It moves beyond previous debates surrounding the empowering or degrading nature of pole dancing classes, and instead explores the complexities of these concepts and highlights that women participating in this practice cannot be seen as one dimensional. Femininity, Feminism and Recreational Pole Dancing explores the construction, negotiation and presentation of a gendered and classed identity and self through participation in pole dancing, the meaning of pole dancing as a fitness practice for women, and the concepts of community and friendship as developed through classes. Using empirical research, the book uncovers the stories and experiences of the women who participate in these classes, and examines what the mainstreaming of this type of sexualised dance means for the women who practice it. Pole dancing is shown to be a practice in which female identities are negotiated, performed and enacted and this book positions pole dancing as an activity which both reinforces but also presents some challenge to ideas of feminism and femininity for the women that participate. Women's participation in pole dancing is described in a discourse of choice and control, yet this book argues that the decision to participate is somewhat constructed by the advertising of these classes as enabling women to create a particular desirable self, which is perpetuated throughout our culture as the ‘ideal’. Exploring the ways in which women attempt to manage impressions and present themselves as ‘respectable’, the book examines how women wish to dis-identify with both women who work as strippers and women who are feminist, seeing both identities as contradictory to the feminine image that they pursue. The book explores the capacity of these classes to offer women some feelings of agency but challenges the idea that participating in pole dancing can offer collective empowerment. The book ultimately argues that women’s participation can be viewed both in terms of their active engagement and enjoyment of these classes and in terms of the structures and pressures which continue to shape their lives. This timely publication explores the complexity of the pole dancing phenomenon and highlights a range of questions surrounding this activity as a leisure form. It will be a valuable contribution to those interested in women’s and gender studies, cultural studies, feminism, sociology and leisure studies.
Download or read book Innovations in Biomedical Engineering written by Marek Gzik and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-10-10 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a compact study on recent concepts and advances in biomedical engineering. The ongoing advancement of civilization and related technological innovations are increasingly affecting many aspects of our lives. These changes are also visible in the development and practical application of new methods for medical diagnosis and treatment, which in turn are closely linked to expanding knowledge of the functions of the human body. This development is possible primarily due to the increasing cooperation of scientists from various disciplines, and related activities are referred to as “biomedical engineering.” The combined efforts of doctors, physiotherapists and engineers from various fields of science have helped achieve dynamic advances in medicine that would have been impossible in the past. The reader will find here papers on biomaterials, biomechanics, as well as the use of information technology and engineering modeling methods in medicine. The respective papers will promote the development of biomedical engineering as a vital field of science, based on cooperation between doctors, physiotherapists and engineers. The editors would like to thank all the people who contributed to the creation of this book – both the authors, and those involved in technical aspects.
Download or read book The Sexual Politics of Ballroom Dancing written by Vicki Harman and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-10-10 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents an engaging sociological investigation into how gender is negotiated and performed in ballroom and Latin dancing that draws on extensive ethnographic research, as well as the author’s own experience as a dancer. It explores the key factors underpinning the popularity of this leisure activity and highlights what this reveals more broadly about the nature of gender roles at the current time. The author begins with an overview of its rich social history and shifting class status, establishing the context within which contemporary masculinities and femininities in this community are explored. Real and imagined gendered traditions are examined across a range of dancer experiences that follows the trajectory of a typical learner: from finding a partner, attending lessons and forming networks, through to taking part in competitions. The analysis of these narratives creates a nuanced picture of a dance culture that is empowering, yet also highly consumerist and image-conscious; a highly ritualised set of practices that both reinstate and transgress gender roles. This innovative contribution to the feminist leisure literature will appeal to students and scholars of anthropology, dance, sport, gender, cultural and media studies.
Download or read book Modern Vintage Homes Leisure Lives written by Samantha Holland and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the meanings and practices of vintage lives. It focuses on the non-mainstream subculture of vintage clothes and lifestyle, specifically that of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and asks how those engaged in the culture place themselves within the gendered and classed contexts of these eras. As a result, it also identifies the tensions involved in these identities connected to a past that offered little gain for women and narrow gender roles for both women and men. Modern Vintage Homes & Leisure Lives is based on original empirical international data about a group of people who wear vintage clothing all of the time and whose homes are styled entirely, or almost entirely, vintage. It aims to understand the meanings of vintage for them through their daily practices and accrued knowledge. Through interviews and direct observations of vintage events it also explores questions about the acquisition, display and curation of vintage clothes, homes and objects, about glamour and wardrobes, about the history of second-hand markets, and emotional durability and ideas about ghosts, hauntings and spectral remains. It will be of particular interest to students and academics of gender and women’s studies, fashion and design, fashion history, cultural studies, the body and embodiment.
Download or read book Ageing and Youth Cultures written by Paul Hodkinson and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens to punks, clubbers, goths, riot grrls, soulies, break-dancers and queer scene participants as they become older? For decades, research on spectacular 'youth cultures' has understood such groups as adolescent phenomena and assumed that involvement ceases with the onset of adulthood. In an age of increasingly complex life trajectories, Ageing and Youth Cultures is the first anthology to challenge such thinking by examining the lives of those who continue to participate into adulthood and middle-age. Showcasing a range of original research case studies from across the globe, the chapters explore how participants reconcile their continuing involvement with ageing bodies, older identities and adult responsibilities. Breaking new ground and establishing a new field of study, the book will be essential reading for students and scholars researching or studying questions of youth, fashion, popular music and identity across a wide range of disciplines.
Download or read book Ageing and Youth Cultures written by Andy Bennett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-05-11 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens to punks, clubbers, goths, riot grrls, soulies, break-dancers and queer scene participants as they become older? For decades, research on spectacular 'youth cultures' has understood such groups as adolescent phenomena and assumed that involvement ceases with the onset of adulthood. In an age of increasingly complex life trajectories, Ageing and Youth Cultures is the first anthology to challenge such thinking by examining the lives of those who continue to participate into adulthood and middle-age. Showcasing a range of original research case studies from across the globe, the chapters explore how participants reconcile their continuing involvement with ageing bodies, older identities and adult responsibilities. Breaking new ground and establishing a new field of study, the book will be essential reading for students and scholars researching or studying questions of youth, fashion, popular music and identity across a wide range of disciplines.
Download or read book Critical Research in Sport Health and Physical Education written by Richard Pringle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-17 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within the overlapping fields of the sociology of sport, physical education and health education, the use of critical theories and the critical research paradigm has grown in scope. Yet what social impact has this research had? This book considers the capacity of critical research and associated social theory to play an active role in challenging social injustices or at least in ‘making a difference’ within health and physical education (HPE) and sporting contexts. It also examines how the use of different social theories impacts sport policies, national curricula and health promotion activities, as well as the practices of HPE teaching and sport training and competition. Critical Research in Sport, Health and Physical Education is a valuable resource for academics and students working in the fields of research methods, sociology of sport, physical education and health. Chapter 5 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Download or read book Gender Agency and Coercion written by S. Madhok and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-01-16 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on recent feminist discussions, this collection critically reassesses ideas about agency, exploring the relationship between agency and coercion in greater depth and across a range of disciplinary perspectives and ethical contexts.
Download or read book Subcultures Bodies and Spaces written by Samantha Holland and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-28 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection provides sociological and cultural research that expands our understanding of the alternative, liminal or transgressive; theorizing the status of the alternative in contemporary culture and society.
Download or read book Sexscapes of Pleasure written by Elena Zambelli and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2022-11-11 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on Italy, this book discusses how women negotiate sexuality and social status in a Western sexscape constituted by multifaceted articulations of women’s sexuality, commodities and modernity. Drawing from ethnographic research, this book brings together the narratives of Italian and migrant women pole dancing for leisure, women pole and lap dancing for work, as well as women selling sex. By tracing commonalities in women’s processes of subjectivation and othering across the non/sex working women divide, the book foregrounds the intersecting structures of oppression under which women negotiate selfhood.
Download or read book Pole Story written by Claire Griffin Sterrett and published by Pole Story. This book was released on 2011-05-28 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pole dancing is revolutionizing the way in which women relate to sex and their bodies. It has empowered many women through physical fitness and sensual movement. And yet the psychology behind this empowerment has not really been well defined or well understood by many people. This book is the first of its kind to capture and explore these issues. It has the potential to encourage people to examine their prejudices about pole dancing and female sexuality, and to cast the art of pole dancing in an entirely new light.
Download or read book The S Factor written by Sheila Kelley and published by Workman Publishing. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces an exercise program combining yoga, dance, and erotic movements designed to tone muscles, increase flexibility, and promote weight loss.
Download or read book Bad Girls Dirty Bodies written by Gemma Commane and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-10-15 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What makes a woman 'bad' is commonly linked to certain 'qualities' or behaviours seen as morally or socially corrosive, dirty and disgusting. In Bad Girls, Dirty Bodies, Gemma Commane critically explores the social, sexual and political significance of women who are labelled 'bad', sluts or dirty. Through a variety of case studies drawn from qualitative and original ethnographic research, she argues that 'Bad Girls' disrupt heterosexual normativity and contribute new embodied knowledge. From neo-burlesque, sex-positive and queer performance art, to explicit entertainment and areas of popular culture; Commane situates 'bad' women as sites of power, possibility and success. Through the combination of case studies (Ms T, Empress Stah and RubberDoll, Mouse and Doris La Trine), Gemma Commane offers a challenge to those who think that sexual, slutty, bad, and dirty women are not worth listening to. Significantly, she unpicks the issues generated by women who are complicit in the subjugation, policing and marginalization of 'other' women, both in popular culture and in sites of subcultural resistance.
Download or read book The Politics of In Visibility written by Kath Woodward and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Visibility matters in contemporary societies; online, in the media and in the public eye. But who is seen and how? Are women still seen through a male gaze? This book explores the politics of looking and being looked at, and the relationship between actual and virtual worlds, for example in sport, art and cinema.
Download or read book The Hallelujah Effect written by Babette Babich and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-16 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book studies the working efficacy of Leonard Cohen's song Hallelujah in the context of today's network culture. Especially as recorded on YouTube, k.d. lang's interpretation(s) of Cohen's Hallelujah, embody acoustically and visually/viscerally, what Nietzsche named the 'spirit of music'. Today, the working of music is magnified and transformed by recording dynamics and mediated via Facebook exchanges, blog postings and video sites. Given the sexual/religious core of Cohen's Hallelujah, this study poses a phenomenological reading of the objectification of both men and women, raising the question of desire, including gender issues and both homosexual and heterosexual desire. A review of critical thinking about musical performance as 'currency' and consumed commodity takes up Adorno's reading of Benjamin's analysis of the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction as applied to music/radio/sound and the persistent role of 'recording consciousness'. Ultimately, the question of what Nietzsche called the becoming-human-of-dissonance is explored in terms of both ancient tragedy and Beethoven's striking deployment of dissonance as Nietzsche analyses both as playing with suffering, discontent, and pain itself, a playing for the sake not of language or sense but musically, as joy.
Download or read book Gender and Contemporary Horror in Film written by Samantha Holland and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2019-03-13 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection focuses on gender and contemporary horror in film, examining how and if representations of gender in horror have changed.
