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Shifting Boundaries of Feminism in American Politics: A Case Study of Hillary Clinton

Author: 
Year:
Pages:236
ISBN:1-4955-0408-5
978-1-4955-0408-2
Price:$179.95

The Adele Mellen Prize for Distinguished Scholarship
Drawing on theories of identity construction and deconstruction, the author examines what it means to be a feminist in the contemporary American political arena. The author explores the boundaries implicitly created by identity categories to uncover feminists’ perceptions of whether or not Hillary Clinton is truly a feminist political candidate. This book provides an application of these theories to the contemporary feminist movement in the United States.

Reviews

“This book represents a significant contribution to feminist scholarship. Brooke brings up important topics that are critical to the continued development of feminism…This is both timely and important as backlash against feminism increases and we see continued retrenchment of women’s rights in the United States.”
-Dr. Catherine Marshall,
Robert Wendell Eaves Distinguished Professor,
University of North Carolina


“Brooke Midkiff has written a timely, terse and balanced monograph on debates about Hillary Clinton’s status as a feminist. The text is not really about Hillary Clinton…Midkiff approaches Hillary as a trope, a figure almost. As the most prominent female politician in the US, Clinton stands in for all the hopes, disappointments, worries, anxieties, and longings we have for women in politics…beneath her study of Clinton, Midkiff seems to be asking, can there be a feminist politician?”
-Dr. Jen Gilbert,
Associate Professor,
York University, Toronto


“Brooke Midkiff examines Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate through the lens of feminism as a movement for social change in American politics. Drawing on theories of identity construction and deconstruction, Midkiff examines what it means to be a feminist in contemporary American politics as well as analyzing feminists’ perceptions of whether or not Hillary Clinton is truly a feminist political candidate…[it] offers a valuable discussion of the role of postfeminism in understanding Clinton as a politician and as a presidential candidate.”
-Dr. John J. Carter,
Professor of History and Political Science
Central Methodist University


Table of Contents

Abstract
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Feminism as Orthodoxy, Hillary as Heretic?
Orthodoxy as Framing
Chapter 2: feminism vs. Feminism
On Asking: What is a Woman?
Finding Feminist Identity
Chapter 3: Politics & Feminism
Reality meets Idealism
Hillary Clinton and Constructions of the Public-Personal Self
Conclusion
Chapter 4: Sitting in Judgment: Feminist Transgressions
Second-Wave Feminism
Third-Wave Feminism
Chapter 5: Acts of Atonement
Locating Hillary Clinton in ‘Feminist’ Policy Issues
Feminist Critical Policy Analysis of Clinton’s Policy
Initiatives
Synthesis
Lavender Reconciliation?
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Feminist Wounds
Fighting the Internalized Male Gaze
Postfeminism as Clinton’s Opponent
References
Index