Performing Femininity

Humorous yet touching, Performing Femininity challenges traditional and feminist perspectives on gender. As "a woman whose brand of feminism is suspect," Lesa Lockford places herself in the most shameful, the most abject circumstances: an image obsessed weight-watcher, an exotic dancer, and a theatrical performer. By exposing herself to the abject, she reclaims her body's symbolic value from society. This experimental autoethnography provides a provocative model to the ethnographer and rewards the student of gender studies with a rare perspective.