Getting Laid, Getting Old, and Getting Fed: The Cultural Resistance of Jennifer Crusie’s Romance Heroines

The human body is a cultural text, and can be therefore be used to promote or resist various social norms. Jennifer Crusie, who defines herself as a writer of feminist romances, uses the bodies of her heroines to countermand several patriarchal assumptions about femininity. Within the Western patria...

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Main Author: Kyra Kramer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: International Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR) 2012-04-01
Series:Journal of Popular Romance Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.jprstudies.org/2012/04/getting-laid-getting-old-and-getting-fed-the-cultural-resistance-of-jennifer-crusies-romance-heroines-by-kyra-kramer/
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author Kyra Kramer
author_facet Kyra Kramer
author_sort Kyra Kramer
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description The human body is a cultural text, and can be therefore be used to promote or resist various social norms. Jennifer Crusie, who defines herself as a writer of feminist romances, uses the bodies of her heroines to countermand several patriarchal assumptions about femininity. Within the Western patriarchal hegemony women are valued primarily for attractiveness, and the unspoken cultural definition of female beauty is a woman who is, among other things, young, thin, and sexually modest. Crusie, by creating heroines who are older, fatter, and more sexually experienced than the “ideal” woman, yet who are still able to establish their social and romantic worth, illustrates the feminist ideology that women have value and accomplishments beyond the limits of the socially paradigmatic definitions of femininity and beauty. Her novels serve as a feminist parables that reaffirm the inherent normalcy and desirability of an imperfect female body.
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spelling doaj.art-522187caa6f24f909849987cf27b386d2024-02-12T19:03:09ZengInternational Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR)Journal of Popular Romance Studies2159-44732012-04-0122121Getting Laid, Getting Old, and Getting Fed: The Cultural Resistance of Jennifer Crusie’s Romance HeroinesKyra Kramer The human body is a cultural text, and can be therefore be used to promote or resist various social norms. Jennifer Crusie, who defines herself as a writer of feminist romances, uses the bodies of her heroines to countermand several patriarchal assumptions about femininity. Within the Western patriarchal hegemony women are valued primarily for attractiveness, and the unspoken cultural definition of female beauty is a woman who is, among other things, young, thin, and sexually modest. Crusie, by creating heroines who are older, fatter, and more sexually experienced than the “ideal” woman, yet who are still able to establish their social and romantic worth, illustrates the feminist ideology that women have value and accomplishments beyond the limits of the socially paradigmatic definitions of femininity and beauty. Her novels serve as a feminist parables that reaffirm the inherent normalcy and desirability of an imperfect female body.https://www.jprstudies.org/2012/04/getting-laid-getting-old-and-getting-fed-the-cultural-resistance-of-jennifer-crusies-romance-heroines-by-kyra-kramer/ageanthropologyanyone but youbet mebodiescrusiefatfeminismfoodmenopausenonconformityresistance“romancing reality” sexualitywelcome to temptationkyra kramerweight
spellingShingle Kyra Kramer
Getting Laid, Getting Old, and Getting Fed: The Cultural Resistance of Jennifer Crusie’s Romance Heroines
Journal of Popular Romance Studies
age
anthropology
anyone but you
bet me
bodies
crusie
fat
feminism
food
menopause
nonconformity
resistance
“romancing reality
” sexuality
welcome to temptation
kyra kramer
weight
title Getting Laid, Getting Old, and Getting Fed: The Cultural Resistance of Jennifer Crusie’s Romance Heroines
title_full Getting Laid, Getting Old, and Getting Fed: The Cultural Resistance of Jennifer Crusie’s Romance Heroines
title_fullStr Getting Laid, Getting Old, and Getting Fed: The Cultural Resistance of Jennifer Crusie’s Romance Heroines
title_full_unstemmed Getting Laid, Getting Old, and Getting Fed: The Cultural Resistance of Jennifer Crusie’s Romance Heroines
title_short Getting Laid, Getting Old, and Getting Fed: The Cultural Resistance of Jennifer Crusie’s Romance Heroines
title_sort getting laid getting old and getting fed the cultural resistance of jennifer crusie s romance heroines
topic age
anthropology
anyone but you
bet me
bodies
crusie
fat
feminism
food
menopause
nonconformity
resistance
“romancing reality
” sexuality
welcome to temptation
kyra kramer
weight
url https://www.jprstudies.org/2012/04/getting-laid-getting-old-and-getting-fed-the-cultural-resistance-of-jennifer-crusies-romance-heroines-by-kyra-kramer/
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