‘Look at Me’, I’m femininity: The female persona in 1970s musical theatre

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Lampe
Keyword(s):  
Musical Theatre ◽  
Women's Liberation ◽  
Simone De Beauvoir ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Women's Liberation Movement ◽  
Betty Friedan ◽  
Liberation Movement ◽  
Women’S Liberation ◽  
Female Image

As the Women’s Liberation Movement developed in the 1970s, women challenged society’s limited female representation as either the Madonna or the whore. Musicals in the 1970s, including Grease (1972), Chicago (1975) and Evita (1979), complicated the female image through the juxtaposition of feminine stereotypes in the heroine’s persona. With each of the shows centralizing the plot around analysing the contradictory feminine image, the women perform in both public and private settings, along with other characters critiquing their personas. From feminist protesters to the writings of Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan, Sandy, Roxie and Eva reflect the requests of contemporary women to display their gender as something beyond the perceived dichotomy of Madonna or whore in their music performances.

The Political Mobilisation of Women's Interest Issues: The Failure of Childcare

Politics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-15
Author(s):  
Jennifer Marchbank
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
The Political ◽  
Women's Liberation ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Women's Liberation Movement ◽  
Liberation Movement ◽  
Women’S Liberation ◽  
Political Success ◽  
Women’S Liberation Movement

The Women's Liberation Movement achieved political success with several issues – but not with childcare. This article addresses the reasons for the success and failure of various WII's, examining the nature of pressure politics, methods of organising, public and private debates before focusing on women's attitudes to the childcare issue. The conclusion drawn here is that the more successful feminist issues' do not challenge gender roles to the same extent as childcare does - which could explain the nonmobilisation of childcare as an issue.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Chaperon
Keyword(s):  
The Elderly ◽  
Women's Liberation ◽  
Simone De Beauvoir ◽  
Women's Liberation Movement ◽  
Liberation Movement ◽  
Three Generations ◽  
Women’S Liberation ◽  
Women’S Liberation Movement

The following texts, published initially in Le nouvel observateur for the most part, are able to shed some light on the partnership that unites Simone de Beauvoir with the MLF (French Women’s Liberation Movement). Three generations separate Simone de Beauvoir from the movement’s young activists. Activists such as Claudine Monteil, who was twenty years old and deeply moved when she met the elderly lady of Schoelcher Street, was in her mother’s womb when ...

scholarly journals 'Every generation has to make its own women's movement'

Soundings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (77) ◽  
pp. 37-54
Author(s):  
Sheila Rowbotham ◽  
Jo Littler
Keyword(s):  
Women's Movement ◽  
Women's Liberation ◽  
Women's Liberation Movement ◽  
Historical Scholarship ◽  
Liberation Movement ◽  
Women’S Liberation ◽  
Women’S Liberation Movement

In this interview Sheila Rowbotham talks to Jo Littler about her involvement in feminism and politics over several decades. This ranges across her role in the Women's Liberation Movement, left activism, historical scholarship, work with in the Greater London Council (GLC), involvement in the international homeworking movement and her secret life as a poet.

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