Gender and the Construction of Hegemonic and Oppositional Femininities

Gender and the Construction of Hegemonic and Oppositional Femininities investigates how hegemonic and nonhegemonic forms of femininity are constructed in the social institutions of school, the workplace, and the media. Hegemonic femininities are those that form a complementary and subordinate relationship with hegemonic masculinity and in doing so legitimize a hierarchical relationship between men and women, and masculinity and femininity. Nonhegemonic femininities include culturally-idealized dominant femininities, which do not legitimize a hierarchical relationship between masculinity and femininity, and gender-deviant subordinate femininities. Through an analysis of existing empirical research and fictional media, the book illustrates the relationship between these various femininities and their relationship with masculinity.