Library Catalog

The Crisis-Woman : Body Politics and the Modern Woman in Fascist Italy /

Chang, Natasha V.

The Crisis-Woman : Body Politics and the Modern Woman in Fascist Italy / Natasha V. Chang. - 1 online resource (176 p.) : 13 b&w illustrations - Toronto Italian Studies .

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Who Is the Crisis-Woman? -- 1. The Donna-crisi and the Fashion World: From Revolution to Regulatory Ideal -- 2. Scientific Discourse and the Making of the Donna-crisi -- 3. Esci fuori, mattacchiona!: Satirical Representations of the Donna-crisi -- 4. Ideologies and Economies of Crisis -- Conclusion: The Decline of the Donna-crisi -- Appendixes: Lyrics and Captions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Femininity in the form of the donna-crisi, or “crisis-woman,” was a fixture of fascist propaganda in the early 1930s. A uniquely Italian representation of the modern woman, she was cosmopolitan, dangerously thin, and childless, the antithesis of the fascist feminine ideal – the flashpoint for a range of anxieties that included everything from the changing social roles of urban women to the slippage of stable racial boundaries between the Italian nation and its colonies.Using a rich assortment of scientific, medical, and popular literature, Natasha V. Chang’s The Crisis-Woman examines the donna-crisi’s position within the gendered body politics of fascist Italy. Challenging analyses of the era which treat modern and transgressive women as points of resistance to fascist power, Chang argues that the crisis-woman was an object of negativity within a gendered narrative of fascist modernity that pitted a sterile and decadent modernity against a healthy and fertile fascist one.


Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.


In English.

9781442649675 9781442621190

10.3138/9781442621190 doi


Fascism and women--History--Italy--20th century.
Fascism and women--Italy--History--20th century.
Fascism--History--Italy--20th century.
Women in popular culture--History--Italy--20th century.
Women--Social conditions--Italy--20th century.
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies.

HQ1236.5.I8 / C43 2015

305.42094509/043