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Dragon-slayers and jealous rats: The gendered self in contemporary self-help manuals
Hazleden, Rebecca
Hazleden, Rebecca
Author
Abstract
This article traces two broad discourses concerning gender in a selection of relationship manuals from 1974 to 2004. On the one hand are manuals promoting traditional gender roles, and on the other are those that promote financial and emotional independence for women. In contrast to other analyses, I argue that these approaches cannot be categorised into a simplistic dichotomy of ‘feminist’ and ‘patriarchal,’ but that they are better understood as being bound up with conservative and liberal discourses of the self. I further demonstrate that these approaches both assume and require types of self that are somewhat removed from their historical antecedents and should be understood as neo variants.
Keywords
self-help, self, gender, psy expertise, liberalism, conservatism
Date
2011
Type
Journal article
Journal
Cultural Studies Review
Book
Volume
17
Issue
1
Page Range
270-295
Article Number
ACU Department
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open