Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in the 1970s [Paperback]

Sherrie A. Inness (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0812218418 | ISBN-13: 978-0812218411 | Publication Date: January 13, 2003

Wedged between the idealism and activism of the 1960s and the avarice of the 1980s, the 1970s tend to be allocated a slender role in American cultural and social history. Only now have scholars begun to examine the suspect decade—perhaps in part because it has seemed too close, at least for many who lived through it, and in part because cultural critics have rendered it synonymous with cultural stagnation and overall frivolity. Ironically, in everything from retro fashion to interior design to music, American culture today is heavily influenced by this decade so routinely scorned by the academy. Proceeding from the idea that the preoccupation with nostalgia veils the decade's true cultural significance, the essays in Disco Divas reveal that the 1970s, far from being an era of cultural stasis, were a time of great social change, particularly for women.

Disco Divas argues that 1970s popular culture provided an arena in which women's roles could be negotiated in new ways and, through individual chapters on topics ranging from film, music, television, and advertising to cheerleaders, teen-idol fans, and second-wave feminists, demonstrates how these roles were renegotiated. The great cultural shifts of the 1960s were still reverberating in the 1970s, and American society, while holding onto the ideal of the nuclear family and the white picket fence, had to come to terms with these shifts. This tension created a time of intriguing, if complicated social opportunity for women; the essays here chart the history of the women's movement from a genuinely liberating movement to a tool of corporate profits. Offering commentary on the sources of our fascination with the period, Disco Divas is an ambitious tour of how the mass-mediated popular culture of the 1970s shaped public perceptions of women and the actuality of women's lives.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sherrie A. Inness is Associate Professor of English at Miami University, author of Kitchen Culture: Popular Representations of Food, Gender, and Race, both also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (January 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812218418
• ISBN-13: 978-0812218411
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,046,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rethinking what it meant to be female in the 1970s, February 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in the 1970s (Hardcover)

DISCO DIVAS, edited by Sherri Inness, is an excellent anthology of essays from a variety of popular culture critics writing about the much-ignored decade of the 1970s and the variety of ways the evolving definition of what is female was influenced by advertising, television, movies, and even recipes.

Of particular interest to me were two chapters: one on the relevance of CHARLIE'S ANGELS (the in-depth discussion by Whitney Womack of how the signified transcended Aaron Spelling's supericial signs is a revelation that takes all the fluff out of a Farrah Fawcett haircut) and the other on changing female images on American soap operas (the depth with which female characters were written, moving from the home and bedroom to the office and boardroom, gives contemporary soap watchers a very good idea why daytime (and for that matter, nighttime) soap operas have declined both in number and viewers; Thomas Petitjean, who wrote this chapter, has a good handle on why the 1970s were indeed the golden years of the American soap opera).

This book is not simply for scholars or readers of feminist studies; it's written with style and verve that make it interesting reading for the non-scholar who simply loved the 1970s or grew up in the period and wants to see just how popular culture shaped the new millenium.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for women's studies, November 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in the 1970s (Paperback)

My women's studies teacher assigned this book, and I loved it. I had no idea that there feminist ideas behind shows like Charlie's Angels. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about pop culture.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Examines the 1970s as an era of great social change, June 12, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in the 1970s (Paperback)

Compiled, written and edited by Sherrie A. Inness, Disco Divas: Women And Popular Culture In The 1970s cogently examines the 1970s as an era of great social change, especially for women. Illustrating the reverberations of cultural shifts in the 60's, the changing images of women in popular culture and mass media, and the changes that continue to evolve as those generations of women grew older, Disco Divas is a timely and insightful contribution to Women's Studies reading lists and American Popular Culture Studies reference collections.