A Not So Foreign Affair: Fascism, Sexuality, and the Cultural Rhetoric of American Democracy

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Andrea Slane

A Not So Foreign Affair

Fascism, Sexuality, and the Cultural Rhetoric of American Democracy

Andrea Slane

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English

Duke University Press
22 May 2001

Regional studies; Semiotics & semiology; Cultural studies; Gay & Lesbian studies

"In ""A Not So Foreign Affair"" Andrea Slane investigates the influence of images of Nazism on debates about sexuality that are central to contemporary American political rhetoric. By analyzing an array of films, journalism, scholarly theories, melodrama, video, and propaganda literature, Slane describes a common rhetoric that emerged during the 1930s and 1940s as a means of distinguishing ""democratic sexuality"" from that ascribed to Nazi Germany. World War II marked a turning point in the cultural rhetoric of democracy, Slane claims, because it intensified a preoccupation with the political role of private life and pushed sexuality to the centre of democratic discourse. Having created tremendous anxiety - and fascination - in American culture, Nazism became associated with promiscuity, sexual perversionand the destruction of the family. Slane reveals how this particular imprint of fascism is used in progressive as well as conservative imagery and language to further their domestic agendas and shows how our cultural engagement with Nazism reflects the inherent tension in democracy between the value of diversity, individual freedoms national identity, and notions of the common good. Finally, she applies her analysis of wartime narratives to contemporary texts, examining anti-abortion, anti-gay, and anti-federal rhetoric, as well as the psychic life of skinheads, censorship debates, and the contemporary fascination with incest. ""A Not So Foreign Affair"" should appeal to those interested in cultural studies, film and video studies, American studies, 20th century history, German studies, rhetoric, and sexuality studies."

By: Andrea Slane
Imprint: Duke University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 680g
ISBN: 9780822326939
ISBN 10: 0822326930
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 22 May 2001
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

List of Illustratioins Acknowledgments A Not So Foreign Affair: Introduction Section One: The Democratic Family 1. Nazi Nationalist Melodrama: Science, Myth, and Paternal Authority in Die Goldene Stadt 2. American Nationalist Melodrama: Tales of Hitler’s Children 3. “Family Values” and Naziana in Contemporary Right-wing Media Section Two: The Democratic Psyche 4. Nazism, Psychology, and the Making of Democratic Subjects 5. The American Nazi: Cold War Social Problem Films and National Psychobiography 6. Skinheads, Militiamen, and the Legacies of Failed Masculinity Section Three: Democratic Sex 7. The Iconology of the Sexy Nazi Woman: Marlene Dietrich as Political Palimpsest 8. Sexualized Nazis and Contemporary Popular Political Culture Epilogue Notes Bibliography

Associate Professor in the Faculty of Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Reviews for A Not So Foreign Affair: Fascism, Sexuality, and the Cultural Rhetoric of American Democracy

Slane writes elegantly, clearly, and with a careful rigor out of which come startling observations. A Not So Foreign Affair situates itself within a new and very important field in which contemporary conservatism is given the same kind of sophisticated theoretical treatment as avant-garde work has received in the past. - Linda Kintz, author of Between Jesus and the Market: The Emotions that Matter in Right-Wing America This book had me riveted. With a careful balance of broad theoretical claims, historical specificity, and close textual readings, Slane makes connections across the history of sexuality and its surrounding political and cultural discourses that are indeed impressive. Hers is a subtle and penetrating critique. - Sharon Willis, author of High Contrast: Race and Gender in Contemporary Hollywood Film