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Naked Feminism

Breaking the Cult of Female Modesty

Victoria Bateman

$51.95

Hardback

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English
Polity Press
15 June 2023
Is it right that, despite the promises of feminism, women’s bodies remain at the mercy of state, society and religion? Should a scantily clad woman, or a promiscuous one, be worth less than a fully covered woman, or a chaste one? Are being sexy and being smart really mutually exclusive? Can a woman be both body and brain? Victoria Bateman has confronted these questions with actions as well as words. She has appeared naked on national television, on stage, in art and at protests – using her body, as well as her brain, to deliver her message.

In Naked Feminism, Bateman makes a compelling case for women’s bodily freedom, and explains why the current puritanical revival is so dangerous for women. Illustrating the swinging pendulum of bodily modesty through the ages, she takes us on a journey from the ancient civilisations of Egypt and Babylon, through the birth of Christianity and Islam, to the lax morals of the medieval period and the bawdiness of Chaucer and Shakespeare; to the clampdowns of the Puritans and later the Victorians and, more recently, to the re-veiling of the Middle East and the purity pledges of modern-day America. She ends with a plea: feminists must unite to challenge the repression of the female body, as only then can women be truly free.

By:  
Imprint:   Polity Press
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 218mm,  Width: 150mm,  Spine: 25mm
Weight:   522g
ISBN:   9781509556069
ISBN 10:   1509556060
Pages:   256
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Figures and Tables Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Chapter 1: The Modesty Cult: A History Chapter 2: The Modesty Cult: The Dangers Chapter 3: The Modesty Cult: The Causes Chapter 4: Beware Puritanical Feminism Conclusion Notes References Index

Victoria Bateman is author of the acclaimed book The Sex Factor: How Women Made the West Rich and is a fellow in economics at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge. She has been profiled by The Times, has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph and Bloomberg, and has appeared on numerous occasions on the BBC and ITV. Victoria is also known for using her body in art and protest, including to challenge the assumptions and stigma surrounding women's bodies.

Reviews for Naked Feminism: Breaking the Cult of Female Modesty

Brilliant. Revolutionary. Revealing. Kate Lister, author of A Curious History of Sex As honor killings and Internet influencers collide, we could all use a little help us making sense of what being unclothed really means nowadays. I love this book and the world needs it. It's readable, enlightening, joyful, infuriating, irreverent, and utterly fascinating. Without preaching and with the perfect combo of heaviness and humor, our heroic author explains why nakedness - and how we think about it - is a critical topic worth laying bare. Amanda Palmer, author of the New York Times bestseller The Art of Asking Outstanding. A controversial and important book with its finger so firmly on the pulse of feminist activism that its timing could hardly be more perfect. Emma Rees, author of The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History Naked Feminism does not require you to strip off to engage with its ideas, but it does challenge you to cast off your judgements about women's bodies. Annebella Pollen, author of Nudism in a Cold Climate Victoria Bateman does a wonderful job of dissecting the binaries which tear women, and societies, into segments. She delves into why nudity and sexual labor threaten to upend society, and how that pressures all sides to comply with modesty culture. She is to be congratulated for writing Naked Feminism - it is another step towards re-incorporating our bodies into our concepts of humanity and self. Jessica Stoya, author of Philosophy, Pussycats, & Porn This book saddens, shocks and alarms whilst revolutionising the way we think about and value women. Ms Bateman traces dualisms of many kinds: Madonna versus whore, respectable versus disgraced, chaste versus unholy, hot versus slutty. These are the kinds of conceptual structures around which moral values play out, and they are essential to understanding what nudity means to us and the influence that the cult of female modesty has on all societies. British Naturism Advocating instead for a 'naked feminism' that broadly embraces the concept of 'my body, my choice,' Bateman makes a convincing and well-organized case. It's a spirited rallying cry. Publishers Weekly


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