The Masculine Modern Woman: Pushing Boundaries in the Swedish Popular Media of the 1920s [Hardcover]

This book takes a fresh approach to one of the most popular cultural symbols of modernity in the 1920sthe masculine modern woman. Uncovering discourses on female masculinity in interwar Sweden, a nation that struggled to become modern but not decadent, this study examines cultural representations and debates across several arenas including fashion, film, sports, automobility, medicine and literature. Drawing on rich empirical material, this book traces not only how the masculine modern woman reshaped the imaginary space of what women could be, do and desire, but also how this space was eventually shrunk in order to fit into an emerging vision of a family-oriented peoples home.

Introduction  Part I: Telling Stories: Film, Fashion and Funny Complications   1. The M-Word: Modern or Masculine?  2. La Gar?onne is Dead!Long Live Femininity!   Part II: Changing Stories: Negotiating Masculinities in Sports and Automobility  3. What We Have Learned from Our Sporting Ladies : Making Sense of the Female Athlete  4. The Chauffeuse Who Wished for a Racecar: Stories of Masculinized Women Behind the Wheel  Part III: Unfinished Stories: Queer Female Masculinities  5. In No Certain Terms: Female Masculinities and Queer Desires  6. The Desire to Desire: The Masculine Modern Woman in Fiction.  Conclusion

This book explores how the fashionably masculine modern woman became one of the most visually striking and controversial symbols of modernity in the Swedish popular media of the 1920s. Drawing on rich empirical material, the analysis traces discourses on female masculinities within film, fashion, sports and literature.

Jenny Ingemarsdotter holds a PhD in the History of Science and Ideas from Uppsala University and has recently concluded a postdoctoral fellowship fundl³!