Showing titles in Gender Studies

The first of Henry VIII's wives was Catherine of Aragon, the pious Catholic princess who suffered years of miscarriages and still births and yet failed to produce a male heir.

The Insecure Girl's Handbook will guide you through your insecurity no matter what life stage you're at, pointing out the pitfalls of people pleasing, negative backchat and crippling comparison along the way. It's a carefully curated toolkit of tried and tested mechanisms and small pearls of wisdom to start combatting that feeling that holds us back from speaking up, from following our dreams or even feeling that our dreams aren't good or big enough. I hope it will provide you with a comforting hug and pep talk, from one insecure girl to another.

From early childhood, we learn about the world and its possibilities through myths and fairy tales. The heroines, though, tend to be golden-haired princesses, and the evil-doers often older women. But from midlife onwards, women today are searching for positive versions of themselves, and this dazzling array of not-to-be-messed-with characters provides them. They outwit monsters, test and mentor younger heroines, embody the cycles and seasons of the earth, weave the world into being - and almost always have the last laugh.

Author Carol F. Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in 17th-century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in that society and attempts to answer the question why some women were vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft and possession.

Not Gay thrusts deep into a world where straight guy-on-guy action is not a myth but a reality: There's fraternity and military hazing rituals, where new recruits are made to grab each other's penises and stick fingers up their fellow members' anuses; online personal ads, where straight men seek other straight men to masturbate with; and, last but not least, the long and clandestine history of straight men frequenting public restrooms for sexual encounters with other men.

After getting arrested at a Venezuelan airport with a suitcase of cocaine, Natalie was clueless about the danger she was facing. Sentenced to 10 years, she arrived at a prison with armed men on the roof, whom she mistakenly believed were the guards, only to find out they were homicidal gang members. Immediately, she was plunged into a world of unimaginable horror and escalating violence, where murder, rape, and gang warfare were carried out with the complicity of corrupt guards

The grass isn't greener on the other side: Heiresses have always been viewed with eyes of envy. They were the ones for whom the cornucopia had been upended, showering them with unimaginable wealth and opportunity. However, through intimate historical biographies, Women of Means shows us that oftentimes the weaving sisters saved their most heart-wrenching tapestries for the destinies of wealthy women. Women of Means is bound to be a non-fiction best seller, full of the best biographies of all time.

After months of following one-size-fits-all advice for a 57-year-old widow, Linda Crill is still miserable, until she makes a rebellious spur-of-the-moment decision: she trades her corporate suits for motorcycle leathers and commits herself to a 2,500-mile road trip down America’s Pacific Northwest coast on a Harley. The problem: she doesn’t know how to ride and has only 30 days to learn. Four short weeks later, Linda joins two men and a woman for a white-knuckled, exhilarating road trip along the west coast from Vancouver, Canada, to the wine country of Mendocino, California....

There is a war on masculinity, and everywhere we look—on every front we hold sacred—we can see the painful reminders of this collapsing order. The chaos and crisis we are experiencing today should be a signal for men everywhere to rise up; to fight to preserve our way of life by once again walking the ancient paths. But this isn’t a journey that need be taken alone.

In A More Complete Beast, Jack Donovan picks up Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on nobility and master morality and uses them to guide men through an "upside-down" modern world, avoid the trap of hateful ressentiment, and overcome adversity through creativity. In Donovan's hands, Nietzsche's words are rasps and chisels to help men refine a strength-based ethos, revealing their highest and noblest selves to become more complete men. And, as Nietzsche reminded us, man is a beast - so to become a more complete man is always to become a more complete beast.

For nearly three thousand years, Helen of Troy has been both the embodiment of absolute female beauty and a reminder of the terrible power that it can wield. Held responsible for both the Trojan War and enduring the enmity between East and West, for millennia she has been viewed as an exquisite agent of extermination. But who was she really? Focusing on the 'real' Helen, bestselling historian Bettany Hughes reconstructs the true life for this elusive Green Bronze age princess and places her alongside the heroes and heroines of myth and history.

Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with her high school teachers who think the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes, hallway harassment and gross comments from guys during class. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules. Viv's mum was a tough-as-nails, punk rock Riot Grrrl in the '90s and now Viv takes a page from her mother's past and creates Moxie, a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates.

From Aaron Gouveia, who gained viral fame after tweeting his support for his son's painted fingernails (and who knows toxic masculinity very well), learn practical and actionable tips such as: don't accept different standards for moms and dads; teach boys that "girl" is not an insult and retire phrases like "boys will be boys"; and show boys that expressing their emotions and being physical is a good thing.

Feminist historian Therese Oneill is back, to educate you on what to expect when you're expecting...a Victorian baby! In Ungovernable, Oneill conducts an unforgettable tour through the backward, pseudoscientific, downright bizarre parenting fashions of the Victorians.

We all need incredible women in our life to build us up and keep us on track. To give us those tips and tricks we never knew were essential, and to advise us against making the same mistakes and messes again and again. Sophia & Cinzia will bring their learnings, experiences and insight to the audiobook to show you you're not alone and no topics are off limits. Alongside great advice will be helpful takeaways and lifestyle ideas. This is the only audiobook for young women finding their way in life. It's a warm hug from a best friend.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Feminists Don't Wear Pink (and Other Lies) curated and read by Scarlett Curtis with a cast of fierce women. We asked 52 women: what does the F word mean to you? The result is extraordinary. Curated by journalist and activist Scarlett Curtis, with incredible pieces by Emma Watson, Zoe Sugg, Keira Knightley, Gemma Arterton, Bridget Jones (by Helen Fielding), Saoirse Ronan, Liv Little, Dolly Alderton, Karen Gillan, Alicia Garza, Jameela Jamil, Kat Dennings, Nimco Ali, Beanie Feldstein, Olivia Perez, Amika George, Evanna Lynch, Akilah Hughes and others.

Ancient and classical societies have always had an ideal of manhood. In Japan, the samurai cultivated not only the art of the sword, but also poetry, calligraphy, and spiritual practice. In Confucianism, the ideal man was the Chun-Tzu (the Higher Man), who cultivated both the arts of war and the arts of peace. And in medieval Europe, the knight lived by the comparable code of chivalry. Such men, considered both warriors and mystics, exemplified wholeness. Yet today, men exist in a chaotic world without role models, guidance, or a sense of the sacred masculine.

Amazons - fierce warrior women dwelling on the fringes of the known world - were the mythic archenemies of the ancient Greeks. Heracles and Achilles displayed their valor in duels with Amazon queens, and the Athenians reveled in their victory over a powerful Amazon army. In historical times, Cyrus of Persia, Alexander the Great, and the Roman general Pompey tangled with Amazons.

Like every other superhero, Wonder Woman has a secret identity. Unlike every other superhero, she has also has a secret history. Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore has uncovered an astonishing trove of documents, including the never-before-seen private papers of William Moulton Marston, Wonder Woman's creator.

Lift as You Climb is a dynamic guide to owning your ambition without having to be someone you don’t want to be. It’s about balancing ambition and compassion, and women being able to strive for personal success while trying to help - or lift - others along the way. We all have difficult moments at work, times when we feel awkward, when our daily micro interactions make us uncomfortable, perhaps when we have to say no or assert ourselves in a way that makes us feel less like ourselves, less 'sisterly'.