Now all politics are reproductive politics, argues esteemed feminist critic, Laura Briggs. Today's economic realities mean we are always at work, and time to care for dependents and communities has evaporated. Our households bear witness to this with trends towards later childbearing, growing use of IVF, widening racial disparities in infant mortality, and popular dependence on risky marriages and mortgages for semblances of security. Meanwhile an immigrant workforce (which is actually more female than male) cares for US households while leaving their own kids in home countries. This brilliant book outlines our crisis and explains how we got here. From Republican and Democrat stories of Black "welfare queens" and Latina "breeding machines" that helped destroy the so-called nanny state to stagnant wages in rising McJobs, and from a Queer turn to same-sex marriage to the blame game for the subprime crisis, Laura Briggs shows how from the 1980s to Trump and beyond, our current woes are anything but our fault.
Now all politics are reproductive politics, argues esteemed feminist critic, Laura Briggs. Today's economic realities mean we are always at work, and time to care for dependents and communities has evaporated. Our households bear witness to this with trends towards later childbearing, growing use of IVF, widening racial disparities in infant mortality, and popular dependence on risky marriages and mortgages for semblances of security. Meanwhile an immigrant workforce (which is actually more female than male) cares for US households while leaving their own kids in home countries. This brilliant book outlines our crisis and explains how we got here. From Republican and Democrat stories of Black "welfare queens" and Latina "breeding machines" that helped destroy the so-called nanny state to stagnant wages in rising McJobs, and from a Queer turn to same-sex marriage to the blame game for the subprime crisis, Laura Briggs shows how from the 1980s to Trump and beyond, our current woes are anything but our fault.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. “Radical Feminism’s Misogynistic Crusade” or the Conservative
Tax Revolt?
2. Welfare Reform: The Vicious Campaign to Reform 1 Percent of the
Budget
3. Offshoring Reproduction
4. The Politics and Economy of Reproductive Technology and Black
Infant Mortality
5. Gay Married, with Children
Epilogue: The Subprime
Notes
Index
Laura Briggs is Professor and Chair of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of several books on gender and empire, including Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico and, most recently, Somebody's Children: The Politics of Transracial and Transnational Adoption. She also serves as an editor for the University of California Press American Crossroads series.
"Makes a convincing argument that reproductive labor is at the
heart of all public conversation and policy over the past several
decades. . . . She manages to pull off this extensive examination
in just 212 pages, using language that is accessible to those who
are new to the material, while also creating crucial new
understanding for those who consider themselves informed on gender
and politics and/or people who are examining ways to use public
policies to create change as part of broader justice
movements."
*Rewire*
"Offers readers a way to understand how neoliberalism’s solutions
run absolutely counter to social needs."
*Against the Current*
"This engaging book covers feminist theory and how it views a
divergence of issues since the 1970s. Excellent for collections on
feminism, current affairs, and American politics."
*Choice*
"Briggs concludes dramatically that 'in the US . . . there is no
outside to reproductive politics.' Until governments and business
pay attention to this, the crises of our time will only deepen—and
not just in the US."
*Times Higher Education Supplement*
“Offers readers a way to understand how neoliberalism’s solutions
run absolutely counter to social needs.”
*In These Times*
"Makes a clear and significant contribution to our understandings
of reproductive politics."
*Gender and Society*
"Briggs handles complex politics clearly and straightforwardly. Her
text is well-suited for academics and activists alike."
*RGWS: A Feminist Review*
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
