Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917University of Chicago Press, 2008 M04 7 - 322 pages When former heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries came out of retirement on the fourth of July, 1910 to fight current black heavywight champion Jack Johnson in Reno, Nevada, he boasted that he was doing it "for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a negro." Jeffries, though, was trounced. Whites everywhere rioted. The furor, Gail Bederman demonstrates, was part of two fundamental and volatile national obsessions: manhood and racial dominance. In turn-of-the-century America, cultural ideals of manhood changed profoundly, as Victorian notions of self-restrained, moral manliness were challenged by ideals of an aggressive, overtly sexualized masculinity. Bederman traces this shift in values and shows how it brought together two seemingly contradictory ideals: the unfettered virility of racially "primitive" men and the refined superiority of "civilized" white men. Focusing on the lives and works of four very different Americans—Theodore Roosevelt, educator G. Stanley Hall, Ida B. Wells, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman—she illuminates the ideological, cultural, and social interests these ideals came to serve. |
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Page xii
... feminist . Seeking to link women and civilization , she limited her linkage to women and the " ad- vanced " race ... feminists . Happily for her reader , she balances her respect for complexity with an ability to take the measure of the ...
... feminist . Seeking to link women and civilization , she limited her linkage to women and the " ad- vanced " race ... feminists . Happily for her reader , she balances her respect for complexity with an ability to take the measure of the ...
Page 5
... feminist work that interrogates sexual ideologies for their racial specificity and ac- knowledges whiteness , not just blackness , as a racial categorization . " 23 This study attempts precisely that task . In order to understand why ...
... feminist work that interrogates sexual ideologies for their racial specificity and ac- knowledges whiteness , not just blackness , as a racial categorization . " 23 This study attempts precisely that task . In order to understand why ...
Page 16
... feminism , coeducation , divorce , and the suffragists.64 Others worked to safeguard little boys ' masculinity by recruiting more male teachers.65 Still others warned that Victorian culture itself was " effeminate " and insisted that ...
... feminism , coeducation , divorce , and the suffragists.64 Others worked to safeguard little boys ' masculinity by recruiting more male teachers.65 Still others warned that Victorian culture itself was " effeminate " and insisted that ...
Page 23
... Feminists pointed to civilization to demonstrate the importance of woman's advancement . African Americans cited civilization to prove the necessity of racial egalitarianism . Thus , the interesting thing about " civilization " is not ...
... Feminists pointed to civilization to demonstrate the importance of woman's advancement . African Americans cited civilization to prove the necessity of racial egalitarianism . Thus , the interesting thing about " civilization " is not ...
Page 25
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Contents
1 | |
Ida B Wells Representations of Lynching and Northern MiddleClass Manhood | 45 |
G Stanley Hall Racial Recapitulation and the Neurasthenic Paradox | 77 |
4 Not to SexBut to Race Charlotte Perkins Gilman Civilized AngloSaxon Womanhood and the Return of the Primitive Rapist | 121 |
Manhood Nation and Civilization | 170 |
Conclusion Tarzan and After | 217 |
Notes | 241 |
Bibliography | 289 |
Index | 297 |
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adolescent African Americans American race Anglo-Saxon antilynching Apes barbarism believed boys Burroughs century Charlotte Perkins Gilman Chicago civi civiliza civilization's civilized manliness civilized races civilized white constructed culinity cultural depicted discourse of civilization Edgar Rice Burroughs evolution evolutionary evolved example Feminism feminist fight force gender Hall's History human Ibid ideologies imperialistic Indians Iron John Jack Johnson Jane lynch law lynch mobs male body male power male sexuality manly self-restraint masculine men's middle-class millennial modern moral nation natural neurasthenic neurasthenic paradox overcivilized passion perfect political powerful manhood primal rapist primitive masculinity race race suicide racial recapitulation rape recapitulation theory remake manhood savage rapist savagery social Southern Stanley Hall superior Tarzan Theodore Roosevelt tion TR's traits uncivilized University Press unmanly Victorian violence virile Wells-Barnett white Americans White City white man's white supremacy white women woman womanhood Women and Economics York