It's no secret that most girls, at some point, love all things princess: the poofy dresses, the plastic tiaras, the color pink. Even grown-up women can't get enough of royal weddings and royal gossip. Yet critics claim the princess dream sets little girls up to be weak and submissive, and allows grown women to indulge in fantasies of rescue rather than hard work and self-reliance. Enter Jerramy Fine – an unabashed feminist who is proud of her life-long princess obsession and more than happy to defend it. Through her amusing life story and in-depth research, Fine makes it clear that feminine doesn't mean weak, pink doesn't mean inferior, and girliness is not incompatible with ambition. From 9th century Cinderella to modern-day Frozen, from Princess Diana to Kate Middleton, from Wonder Woman to Princess Leia, Fine valiantly assures us that princesses have always been about power, not passivity. And those who love them can still be confident, intelligent women. Provocative, insightful, but also witty and personal, In Defense of the Princess empowers girls, women, and parents to dream of happily ever after without any guilt or shame.

'Everyone has a little dirty laundry.' The darkly comic series about the secret lives of the ladies living on Wisteria Lane became an instant breakthrough hit for ABC. 21 million viewers tuned in for the first episode and this figure has steadily grown as audiences from around the globe have switched on to the shenanigans in suburbia. "Desperate Housewives" was subject to a backlash in America, where advertisers on the ABC network were lobbied by Christian groups and Parents' Associations. But the sponsorship withdrawal that resulted did little to dampen the enthusiasm of its legions of fans. Recipient of several awards including the People's Choice Award and Golden Globe for Best Television - Musical or Comedy, "Desperate Housewives" is a hit. "Reading Desperate Housewives" offers a critical response to one of the most talked about shows on contemporary television. Leading scholars and writers dissect the appeal of "Desperate Housewives", tapping into early reactions and controversy. They consider the American sex wars, contemporary feminism, Republican politics and the rise of the Right, gender and femininity, motherhood and marriage - and that Vanity Fair shoot. The book includes an episode guide tracing all those goings-on beyond that white picket fence.

I AM NOT A Desperate Housewife dispels the myth of the past and present stereotypical housewife and provides a Biblical perspective of the commitment and assignments provided for today's woman of God. The subtitle A Homeland Security Plan for Desperate Times exposes the enemy's weapons of mass deception as the first and formidable weapon specifically targeted toward women to destroy their confidence in the authority of the Word of God. Scriptures and personal exhortations named Recipes concludes this plan as the counter-supernatural intelligence for seek-and-destroy missions to establish and maintain the peace and posterity Christ has provided for the Christian home. This book's unique approach targets seven common deceptions that confront women of all ages, races, careers, and marital status and provides a strategy for applying the Word of God, prayer, and faith daily to identify, prevent, and destroy the spiritual warfare that is waged within our emotions. The author uses her 24 year experiences as a home maker and 17 years as a preacher to help mothers relate to the successes and failures in her Christian walk. This book will equip women of all ages with the proper application of Bible scriptures on how to be emotionally intelligent in their daily decision making inside and outside of the home.

Are you a divorcee and single mum who will go to extraordinary lengths for love? Are you vulnerable and flaky at the best of times? Is your style shabby chic? Or maybe you are the opposite and you couldn't possibly leave the house without making sure you've filed, pruned and dusted, and planned the week's dinners. You're all about keeping up appearances despite what is really going on behind closed doors. Or are you an ex-career girl who is now in constant panic mode trying to run your household like the stock exchange but spending time trying to control your young children? Or are you a trophy wife? Are your walls lined with Warholesque prints of yourself. Your husband works long hours earning the pennies that pay for your diamonds and you are left alone to flirt with the gardener and concentrate on your yoga moves. And then there are the neighbours... Divided into four parts, this book takes four stereotypical housewives: Single Mum, Alpha Wife, Stressed Out Wife and Trophy Wife. Each part reveals their personality and world – the clothes they wear, their hobbies, how they design their homes, the state of their kitchen sinks, their favourite cocktails, how they run the households, what kind of men they go for what books they read. Each wife is offered professional advice from beauticians, fashion gurus, make-up experts, and relationship therapists to help her run her life more efficiently and improve herself so that she avoids becoming a desperate housewife.

2019 Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago - Best New Poetry Collection Winner 2019 Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago - Best Poet Runner-Up In Even the Saints Audition Raych Jackson Reconditions her body and reclaims her church. This empowering book of poems interrogates the relationship between blackness, shame, and what it is to live a life tied to the church. Rich with historical context and a deeply engaging personal narrative. This body of work is bursting with charm, wit, and pride, as it dances on the thin line between saint and sinner. Includes poems such as "Period Rules", “A Wasted Ass Shave”, and "I Ask What 'Circumcision' Means in a Full Sunday School Class" that have been watched by millions online Advance praise for Even the Saints Audition This is an important and brave book, one that keeps me asking for more. -Fatimah Asghar, Author of IF THEY COME FOR US / co-creator of BROWN GIRLS Jackson rearranges the scripture of God until it is a machine that works for her. Her bible blesses the ones who roam. -Kara Jackson, Author of BLOODSTONE / National Youth Poet Laureate This work is a sinner's diary, made of the secrets between pews, the notes beneath the hymns and the guilt writhing within desire. -Toaster, Artist

‘From Happy Homemaker to Desperate Housewives: Motherhood and Popular Television’ is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to key debates concerning the representations of motherhood, motherwork and the maternal role in contemporary television programming. The volume looks at the construction of motherhood in the ostensibly female genre of soap opera; the mother as housewife in the domestic situation comedy; deviant, desiring and delinquent motherwork in the teen drama; the single working mother in the contemporary dramedy; the fragile and failing mother of reality parenting television; the serene and selfless celebrity motherhood profile; and the new mother in reality pregnancy and childbirth television. ‘Motherhood and Popular Television’ examines the depiction of motherhood in this wide range of popular television genres in order to illustrate how the maternal role is being constructed, circulated and interrogated in contemporary factual and fictional programming, paying particular attention to the ways in which such images can be seen to challenge or conform to the ideal image of the ‘good’ mother that dominates the contemporary cultural landscape.

Although the figure of the ‘desperate housewife’ is familiar to us, Haggett suggests that many women in the 1950s and ’60s led satisfying lives and that gender roles, while very different, were often seen as equal.