Gender

What implications does the Srin-mo, a pre-Buddhist deity who traverses across almost all of the periods of time in Tibetan religious life, have on the social status of women? Embodying the places and spaces of Tibet, a malevolent demoness called the Srin-mo has been essential in laying the formation of Tibetan Buddhism. The concept of the Srin-mo can be traced back to the pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet: Bön. The story of the Srin-mo is not a creation myth in the sense of a worldly inception,  but the story of the demoness does represent the creation of a harmonious society, spurring from the preceding time of primordial chaos found amongst the Bön religion. Looking at the origins of the demoness’ story is necessary in order to understand how and why the Srin-mo holds efficacious power over the land and people of Tibet. Here, I will investigate the case of the Srin-mo, which is controversially one of the most important beings in Tibet, but unquestionably, an irrevocable component of understanding what implications geography holds on Tibet.

This essay seeks to examine in parts, the ostensible absence of women’s political participation, particularly in peace processes in Africa. The essay will draw experiences and examples from a couple of African countries to argue that women’s continuous absence in peace discourses is as a result of political stereotypes, backed by patriarchal norms and masculinity tendencies which usually epitomises maleness to the ‘knower’, ‘protector’, ‘powerful’, ‘leader’.

Therefore in instances were women are able to actively participate on equal capacities like their male counterparts, it goes against and threatens the constructed patriarchal systems and its flair of hegemony.

The female terrorist circulates within contemporary Western culture as an object of fascination and heightened concern. Gender and the Political analyses cultural constructions of the female terrorist, arguing that she operates as a limit case of both feminine and feminist agency. Drawing on an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, this book demonstrates that the development of the discourse on terrorism evolves in parallel with, and in response to, radical feminism in the US in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Situated at the borderlines between sexuality, threat and abjection, Amanda Third argues that the figure of the female terrorist compels a reexamination of the project of radical politics and the limits of modernity.

http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/gender-and-the-political-amanda-third/?K=9781137402752

"A fascinating exploration of the historical twinning of terrorism and feminism in the U.S. By redirecting our attention to these important discourses emerging in the 60's and 70s, this book provides a crucial corrective to counter post 9/11 anxieties that continually project the terrorist as somehow coming from elsewhere." - Jasbir K. Puar, Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Rutgers University, USA

"Amanda Third's Gender and the Political convincingly argues that the modern concepts of terrorism and feminism are historically and conceptually interwoven. The book does this by reading terrorism studies against the grain while simultaneously positioning the concept of terrorism as a central trope of postmodern thought. These two discourses - the former increasingly foundational to, the latter highly critical of, the modern state and social order - are placed in fruitful conversation with one another, resulting in a deeply illuminating study of the contemporary political terrain in the United States." - Mehmet Döşemeci, Assistant Professor of History, Bucknell University, USA

Military is a profession which is mostly dominated by men. Often the words like combat, war and bravery are used for men folk. However, the scenario has changed in last few decades and women have also been commissioned in the forces in many countries. Despite the induction of women in forces they are mostly assigned desk jobs and not taken for combat role or command positions. Since their induction, women are having only 15% or less representation in forces worldwide. They continue to strive to achieve professional competence in the field. Women today are excelling in every field but military is a field where their potential has not been recognised yet. The current paper presents a review of relevant studies in order to investigate the root of gender variance in forces and provides an in-depth understanding into the issues and challenges in achieving gender equality in forces. Various psychological theories along with supporting studies have been discussed to critically analyse the pros and cons of employing women in combat role. It is recognized that armed forces need the fittest and finest, irrespective of gender. Hence, a competency based approach in deployment for combat role is recommended as it will give women equal opportunity to prove their competency and serve in combat role.

Author’s Note
Undertaking the research for this paper proved to be a challenging exercise. A theme such as ‘The Experience of Engendering Local Government in the Commonwealth Caribbean’ assumes that information on local government exists and what is perhaps lacking is how women have fared in local government structure. Instead I found there is a paucity of information on local government in the Commonwealth Caribbean. Very little documented, accessible information exists. Library searches and different types of consultations and referrals reveal inadequate sources of information on women and local government. I was forced to modify the title of the paper because at this phase we do not yet know the experiences of women and local government.

Introduction: Violence against women is a significant public health problem, as well as a fundamental violation of women's human rights. It is one of the most common forms of violence globally and includes physical , sexual, emotional and economic violence.

RESUMEN: En la sociedad la diferencia entre los sexos se tradujo ideológicamente en un lenguaje binario y jerarquizado, donde el arte tuvo mucho que decir, ya que a través de sus creaciones el artista buscó siempre un término medio positivo que reconcilió lo masculino y lo femenino del ser humano. De esta manera los creadores presentaron lo femenino como un poder que no fue sino corrompido por la razón y que tuvo una importante relación desde tiempos ancestrales con la mujer, el arte y el matriarcado, frente al racionalismo patriarcal que ha sido dominante en todas las facetas del ser humano llegado este dominio hasta nuestros días. En el pensamiento del individuo y en su esfuerzo social, habría comenzado a surgir los signos precursores de una edad subjetiva, donde emergería un idealismo subjetivo, que se traduciría en una realización del individuo en la satisfacción de su más íntima naturaleza estética e intuitiva tratando de supeditar a este fin su existencia. Su verdadero propósito será el descubrimiento de una verdad más profunda, donde el poder de lo femenino y el arte estarían muy presentes. ABSTRACT: In society the difference between the sexes would ideologically translated into a binary language and hierarchical, where art would have much to say, and that through his creations the artist always seek a positive average they reconcile male and female of human being. In this way the creators presented the feminine as a power that would not have been corrupted by reason and logical thinking and would have an important relationship since ancient times with women, art and matriarchy, against patriarchal rationalism that has been dominant in all facets of the human being come this domain until today. In the thinking of the individual and social effort it would have begun to emerge harbingers of subjective age, which emerge a subjective idealism, which would result in a realization of the individual in meeting their most intimate aesthetic and intuitive nature trying to subordinating to this end its existence, its real purpose is the discovery of a deeper truth, where the power of the feminine and art would be very present.

This article studies Cypriot LGBs' identity construction processes and understandings of politics amidst the sociopolitical environment within which they are articulated. It does so by addressing a question that is central to gender and sexuality research: How are gender and sexual identities formed, and how do these formations inform gender and sexuality politics in contexts caught between tradition and modernity? Employing a qualitative research design, it thematically analyzes data from interviews with Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot LGBs. It marks intra-ethnic and interethnic in-group exclusions. It argues that these exclusions are reinforced by local notions about modernity, expressed through the “Europe/west–versus the–rest” opposition. Nonetheless, it also finds that the successes of the Cypriot LGBTI movement have been based on opportunities created by Europeanization. Therefore, it helps develop our understanding of the implications of conceptions of nationhood, gender, and sexuality on gender and sexuality politics where the “rest” meets the “west.”

KEYWORDS: Gender, Sexuality, Identity, Politics, Modernity, Cyprus

In the field of identity politics and cultural identity, the representation of differences plays a crucial role. The extent of the differences a society has determines the social outcomes in divergent ways. Surely, there are other variables that cause social anxiety or communal solidarity such as religious views, socio-political conditions and also gender relations. To the point of departure, the case of homosexuality, or in a general way, the boundaries of sexuality is very controversial field so as to reveal the effects of ideologies, social conditions and historical past where all of these evolved through times. In order to understand and to reach a general view, the experiences of small towns are very decisive and unavoidable parts of such studies. As a basic explanation, that is why Arlene Stein chooses to make an ethnographic study in the USA around 1990s. In this paper, I will try to make a basic analysis of ‘The Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community’s Battle Over Sex, Faith and Civil Rights’ by presenting my reading of this story and through reacting to the general points.

Women travellers from Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria and America explored, visited, worked and resided in regions of the East that were considered “proper and safe for dynamic men only” (Smith, 1887). The mammoth body of writings by women travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries, that claim to be eyewitness descriptions of the female microcosmos, provide a rich and detailed interpretation of the Orient, including a feminine version, a female gaze.  European and American women identified with the so-called Other, expressed their solidarity and participated in Muslim women’s daily domestic life, customs, female social gatherings, religious celebrations and feasts. As a result, they accused male travellers- who had written about domestic manners in the East and the position of women in Islam of misinforming or misleading their readers, stressing that their accounts were based on second or third-hand information, their unrestrained imagination and exotic fantasies.

The study investigated effects of two innovative instructional delivery strategies on junior secondary school students’ achievement in Basic Science and Technology. The population comprised 3050 JSII students in 41 public co-educational junior secondary schools in Karu LGA of Nasarawa state made up of 1701 male students and 1349 female students. A quasi-experimental pre-test, posttest non-equivalent group research design was employed as design and without a control group. Through multi-stage random sampling, 2 intact JSII classes were selected with sample size of 121. Using balloting, one of the classes was assigned as experimental group taught using sensory stimulation strategy and the other with inquiry strategy. The instrument used for data collection was Basic Science and Technology Achievement Test (BSTAT) with a reliability coefficient of BSTAT is 0.82 analyzed using Spearman Brown rank order correlation. Two research questions were formulated with corresponding hypotheses and were tested at 0.05 level of significance for the study. Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and ANCOVA statistics. The study revealed significantly higher achievement for students taught Basic Science and Technology concepts using sensory stimulation as against those taught using inquiry strategies. Though male students achieved higher than their female counterparts when taught using sensory stimulation strategy, the difference is not significant. It is recommended that teachers of Basic Science and Technology should adopt sensory stimulation strategy in their instructional delivery approach. The multiple appeals to students’ senses by sensory stimulation strategy tends to make learning pleasurable and supports meta-cognitive processes which aids easy remembering, reduces agitation and increases alertness during learning.

Lost in Transition tells of ordinary lives upended by the collapse of communism. Through ethnographic essays and short stories based on her experiences in Eastern Europe between 1989 and 2009, Kristen Ghodsee explains why it is that so many Eastern Europeans are nostalgic for the communist past. Ghodsee uses Bulgaria, the Eastern European nation where she has spent the most time, as a lens for exploring the broader transition from communism to democracy. She locates the growing nostalgia for the communist era in the disastrous, disorienting way that the transition was handled. The privatization process was contested and chaotic. A few well-connected foreigners and a new local class of oligarchs and criminals used the uncertainty of the transition process to take formerly state-owned assets for themselves. Ordinary people inevitably felt that they had been robbed. Many people lost their jobs just as the state social support system disappeared. Lost in Transition portrays one of the most dramatic upheavals in modern history by describing the ways that it interrupted the rhythms of everyday lives, leaving confusion, frustration, and insecurity in its wake.

Endorsements

“The collapse of the Soviet empire entailed not only the Blitzkrieg dissolution of the socialist economies and one-party states of Eastern Europe, but also immediate accidental and incidental changes in the everyday lives of its residents. With an ear for the ironic, the sensual, the playful, and the tragic, Kristen Ghodsee tells personal stories from this period of dissolution, which began several decades before the Berlin Wall came down. Drawing from her encounters in many years of research in Bulgaria, she portrays the changing nature of experience in that place during that time. Though understood as impoverished at the time, this socialist experiment reveals, in retrospect, lives filled with adventure, surprising friendships, and an openness to forms of engagement and being that makes the fullness of the free market and democracy in the post-Cold War order of today seem, by comparison, pale and predictable.”—John Borneman, Princeton University

“These charming essays have an unintended consequence. Not only are they a documentary ethnography of the lives of people caught up in the painful transition from socialism to capitalism. They are also a sort of Bildungsroman of a young American discovering another world and shedding stereotypes.”—Maria Todorova, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The Role of Temporary Marriage (TM) in Promoting Early Child Marriage (ECM) in Iran

Kameel Ahmady

Published by (Preprint): Springer Nature Scientific Publishing
Email: Kameel.ahmady@gmail.com
URL: www.kameelahmady.com   

Abstract

This study aims to deepen understanding of the phenomenon of temporary marriage (TM) and its role in promoting early child marriage (ECM) in Iran. The research reveals that traditional families wish to control the sexual behavior of boys and girls and avoid the social pressure on them at mixed gatherings, by making them mahram (In Islam, a mahram is a member of one's family with whom marriage would be considered haram (illegal in Islam); from whom purdah, or concealment of the body with hijab, is not obligatory; and who may serve as a legal escort of a woman during journeys longer than three days) to one another through temporary marriage. It demonstrates that while temporary marriage has a role in legalizing illicit relationships, it also facilitates the ECM narrative in Iran. ECM, however, is not the only by-product of the temporary marriage but contributes to stigmatizing the younger generation in various ways. Moreover, religion is only one contributor to the popularity of temporary marriages, which is more about the control and power exerted by Iran's patriarchal society and male-dominated culture over the most vulnerable segment of the population: the women.

This paper explores the meanings of women’s empowerment and gender equality
in the information society, looking at the opportunity for progressive change and
critically unpacking the Information and Communication Technology for Development
(ICTD) discourse on gender and development. It also seeks to articulate
a rights-based framework to policy and action that takes on the specific
question of what models of access and connectivity will work for the marginalised
peoples and countries, in a manner that promotes gender justice. The paper was
written for the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development
(UN-GAID) Annual Meeting and Global Forum 2008.

Dieser Beitrag bietet einen Überblick über die Debatte um eine geschlechtergerechte Sprache in Frankreich. Ausgehend von der lebhaften Auseinandersetzung über die sogenannte écriture inclusive in jüngster Zeit wird gezeigt, dass Frankreich seit den 1970er Jahren eine Sonderstel- lung innerhalb der Frankofonie einnimmt. Die Académie française, die als oberste Hüterin der französischen Sprache gilt, hat die Verwendung feminisierter Berufs- und Amtsbezeichnungen in amtlichen Texten lange bekämpft. Derzeit zieht sie ins Feld gegen den zunehmenden Einsatz von Abkürzungspunkten in der Behördensprache (électeur.rice.s). Deutlich wird, wie sehr sich die Argumente von Befürwortern und Gegnern eines geschlechtergerechten Sprachgebrauchs auf beiden Seiten des Rheins ähneln.

This paper provides an overview of the debate on linguistic gender equality in France. Based on the recent heated debate about the so-called écriture inclusive, it shows that France has occu- pied a special position within the French-speaking countries since the 1970s. For a long time, the Académie française, considered to be the supreme guardian of the French language, has argued against using feminised designations for professions and functions in official texts. It is presently campaigning against the increasing use of abbreviation dots in the official language (électeur. rice.s). Interestingly enough, the arguments used by proponents and opponents of a gender-equitable language turn out to be quite similar on both sides of the Rhine.

In this chapter, we contribute to the decolonial feminisms that are expanding our understanding of extractive geographies and political ecologies of the subsoil. In this, we take extractivism to denote both the material processes of removal as well as a particular logic (not only of economic accumulation but of being) that renders materials, territories and bodies extractible (and necessarily so). We critically examine the ways in which these extractive logics and processes frequently initiate and condone racialised sexualised violence. In this, we argue that intersectional violence is at the heart of extractivism. Extraction settles within internal ecologies (including ecologies of health and disease) in ways that reaffirm colonial logics of race and sexuality. This broadening of the meaning of extractivism is important in understanding (a) how extraction operates through multiple forms and scales of power and (b) its intersectional and pluriform impacts. Sexual violence, we conclude, is at the centre of racialised extractivism; this is illustrated in corporate language and the more informal logics of residential tourism, both of which are united by colonial logics that would render black life disposable. We conclude with reflections on the value of decolonial feminist dialogue-as-critique that attends to the resonances across and between black women’s experiences of extractivism.

In this study, in order to analyze how gender roles and stereotypes are built in magazine advertisements, overall 230 advertisements of men's magazine FHM and women's magazine Cosmopolitan, published in 2004, were surveyed. To do this, four volumes for each magazine could be reached and the selected advertisements were analyzed comparatively by the references of gender studies. During the process not only semiological analysis, but also content analysis, which is supposed to support and strengthen the results, established the method of the study. Within the framework of the references about idealization of modernity, by which consumption is promoted and gender stereotypes are reproduced as well, the results firstly showed that stereotypes of femininity in Cosmopolitan advertisements present variety in consideration of FHM advertisements. While it was not found any obvious sexual intercourse signs in FHM advertisements, they were detected, on the other hand, in Cosmopolitan advertisements. Not only traditional, subordinated women, but also modern women who are self-confident, independent representations were found. There are also male representations within the framework of hegemonic, dominated and affective manhood while some “new manhood” who is more moderate, gentle and more feminine were indicated.  It was also found that both of the magazines include signs, which associate with fetishism and sexual fantasies.

Purpose – There is a vast array of literature which investigates the concept and impact of workplace incivility. Evidence suggests that compared to male employees, female employees tend to experience and put up more with workplace incivility. However, there is limited research on how this affects
female employee’s willingness to complete work-related tasks. The purpose of this paper is to set out to examine whether gender moderates the role between tolerance for workplace incivility and those behaviours characterised by work withdrawal.
Design/methodology/approach – In total, 317 employees from a range of business industries and governmental agencies completed a quantitative survey of measures relating to their work withdrawal behaviour and their perception of their workplaces’ tolerance for uncivil behaviours.
Findings – Results revealed that when females perceived high levels of tolerance for workplace incivility, they decreased their work withdrawal behaviour. No relationship between tolerance for workplace incivility and work withdrawal was found for males.
Research limitations/implications – The homogeneity of the sample, that is, the sample comprised predominantly of white-collar, White Australian workers.
Practical implications – Improve managers and organisations’ knowledge and understanding about deviant workplace behaviours – especially between male and female employees.
Originality/value – The paper adds to the work in the workplace incivility, diversity-gender and equity research area. Specifically, it highlights how male and female employees react when they
perceive that their workplace tolerates deviant behaviours. This knowledge will inform managers and their organisations of a more effective way of managing conflict.

In this paper, I explain how the gender binary is described by Sandy Stone, an academic theorist, media theorist and author, and considered a founder of the academic discipline of transgender studies, as a matter of space from which trans people cannot participate in the discourse. I use this notion of gender as a matter of space to compare Stone’s discourse to that of feminist theorist and artist bell hooks, who describes the position of black women as a matter of space as well – a space from which black women develop an oppositional gaze and thus engage in the discourse, instead of being excluded from it. I compare Stone’s strategy of reclaiming the insult and the notion of counter discourse that arises from that with hooks’ notion of the oppositional gaze, as I examine how these new discourses can lead to forms of agency in a context of oppression. I take into consideration philosopher of feminist epistemology Sandra Harding’s Standpoint Theory,  in order to understand Stone’s and hooks’ creation of a critical space that is developed through the deconstruction of oppressive binary systems, and in which knowledge and agency are generated by marginalized groups.

In this paper, I discuss how dance can operate as a method in the collaborative performance ethnography to explore the sensory and emo- tional dimensions of the embodiment of young womanhood. Drawing on one dance workshop where we explored material objects symbolic of womanhood, particularly introducing Nitika and her intuitive dance with gendered objects and her bodily ways of knowing and learning about gender, I illustrate how dance enabled exploration of young women’s identity intertwined with objects and their gendered meanings. I argue that creative embodied methods such as dance create space for working with the plurality of fleeting sensory and emotional information, not because it is more important than any other information, but because it is an alternative way of knowing about oneself, others and the world.

"ABSTRACT

Before World War II, popular American culture, including newspapers, radio, and cinema, regularly depicted beauty as necessarily white. Similarly, mainstream magazines, board games, postcards, dolls, and virtually every form of visual media and material culture presented the image of the black woman as either that of the hypersexual sex worker “Jezebel” or the unattractive house servant “Mammy.” Faced with such negative and maligned representations of their race in the popular media, a number of enterprising businesswomen set out in the decades after WWII to change the stereotypical mass representation of black women. African-American modeling and charm school owners –such as New York City’s Ophelia DeVore and Barbara Watson, Berkeley’s Annette Starr, and Cleveland’s Artha Woods– applied their ventures in beauty and business towards promoting social change. In part because of their hard work, mainstream cultural outlets began to depict women of color as attractive, poised, and professional. African-American modeling and charm school owners conceptualized their life’s work as an important part of the mid-twentieth century’s Civil Rights Movement. In doing so, black beauty entrepreneurs used for-profit business enterprise as a means to promote sweeping social change in America."

In an attempt to explain why the gender gap in leadership positions persists, we propose a model centered on legitimacy. When women hold powerful positions, they have a harder time than men eliciting respect and admiration (i.e., status) from subordinates. As a result, female power-holders are seen as less legitimate than male power-holders. Unless they are able to legitimize their role, relative illegitimacy will prompt a variety of consequences such as more negative subordinate behavior and reduced cooperation when the leader is a woman. Subordinate rejection will likely put female leaders in a precarious mindset, and trigger negative responses toward subordinates; such behavior can confirm negative expectations of female leaders and further undermine female authority in a self-reinforcing cycle of illegitimacy. Leader or organizational features that enhance status attributions and/or lower subordinates' perceptions of power differentials may increase legitimacy for women in leadership roles.

The eponymous protagonist of Phèdre emerges as a true tragic heroine by exercising her own free will to commit wrong instead of being a mere victim of fate. Criticism focusing on injustice has tended to shine light on Thésée, denying Phèdre royal sovereignty just as French Salic law did to queens. By shifting the spotlight from Thésée to Phèdre, and from the idea of judgment as a means of redressing injustice to injustice resulting from the challenges of governance and self-governance in royal leaders, we will see that Phèdre’s gender has tended to obscure the important connection suggested between injustice and the exercise of monarchical power. The gender of the eponymous heroine of the play operates as a cover: by associating wrongdoing with a female monarch, a literal impossibility in France, Racine is able to delve into particularly controversial aspects of unjust governance as experienced in his day and age.

Social changes in the contemporary era have directly influenced human life and existence, especially the meaning of marriage. In light of these contemporary developments, researchers have emphasized the urgent need to deconstruct marriage and re-constitute it, fundamentally altering its traditional characteristics and meaning in the process. Conversely, the Orthodox Church views the essence of marriage with an interminable consistency and continuity characterized by the mysterion of love in Christ. Is it viable to live the meaning of this mysterion in today’s postmodern era? To examine this issue, this study initiates an interdisciplinary dialogue between postmodern perspectives on marriage and family on the one hand, and the vision of Orthodox theology on the other. This new and unexplored dialogue endeavors to contribute to the positive engagement of the Orthodox Church with the postmodern world.

Purpose – To determine how leadership experience affects the value leaders place on leadership traits. In particular, we sought to determine if individuals with different amounts of leadership experience deferentially desire traits related to dominance and cooperation.
Design/methodology/approach – Participants reported the importance of dominant and cooperative traits for an ideal leader, and reported the number of leadership roles that they had experienced.
Findings – The desirability of dominance-related traits decreased as leadership experience increased, but only for women. In contrast, the desirability of cooperation-related traits remained the same, regardless of leadership experience or gender.
Implications – Overall, these findings suggest leaders learn to desire different traits as they gain leadership experience. Implications of this research may exist in both business and political domains. In business, interview and selection decisions may depend on the leadership experience and gender of the decision-maker. Organizations should carefully select members of the organization to make these critical hiring decisions. In politics, candidates would be wise to consider the leadership experience and gender of constituents in their self-presentation attempts.
Originality/value – This research presents the first examination of the effect of leadership experience on the desirability of leader personality traits. In addition, this is one of the first studies to refocus on the dominance/cooperation dichotomy—a promising focus for future trait research.

“Repression” names just one of the defense mechanisms that characterize queer theory’s quarter-century evasion of Lacanian psychoanalysis. The act of repressing the unconscious might seem entirely different than the decision to reject the psychoanalytic theory of the unconscious. Yet, as Freud writes in the 1925 “Negation,” “[a] negative judgement is the intellectual substitute for repression; its ‘no’ is the hall-mark of repression, a certificate of origin.” One of the key concepts of Lacanian theory that queer theory finds inadmissible is repression. Indeed, repression has been somewhat of a bugaboo since its inception. Tracing queer theory from the foundational texts of Judith Butler and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick to the contemporary writings of Lee Edelman, Lauren Berlant, and Paul B. Preciado, while building on Tim Dean’s Beyond Sexuality, this chapter argues that queer theory has repressed repression, thereby forestalling the thinking of radical social change that Lacan makes possible.

In ‘¿Género ínfimo?: el cuplé y la cupletista como desafío’, Pepa Anastasio focuses on the relation of women to the production of both popular and mass culture by looking to the female singers of the cuple´, in order to understand the role of this increasingly commercialized musical form as one means for women to enter the public sphere. Studying the lives of the cuple´ performers, their location in the music halls of Spain’s main urban areas, and normative practices in music and literature, Anastasio argues for a complex reading of popular song as a subversive practice that because, not in spite, of its supposedly frivolous character and apparent compliance with a male entertainment system, offered women a vehicle for economic and artistic self-empowerment. Paying special attention to the performance of cuple´ in Barcelona in the early twentieth century, Anastasio addresses the way in which this gendered form of communication not only countered normative sexual expectations, but also established notions of what type of cultural manifestations should be representative of the nation (in this case Catalonia).