The few popular Bible stories about women are often presented in black and white—the women were good or bad, Ruth or Jezebel. But most of us fall somewhere in between these two extremes. Good Girls, Bad Girls invites readers to take a more nuanced look at 12 women in the Old Testament, to explore their lives more deeply in historical context, and to grasp what these stories might mean to women today. T. J. Wray, a biblical scholar, asks readers to consider whether Jezebel was really as bad as generally believed, and includes women ranging from the infamous Delilah to the mysterious Witch of Endor. Impeccably researched and beautifully written, Good Girls, Bad Girls will appeal to both individual readers and groups interested in learning what the Bible really has to say about these twelve important women.

Women's transgressive behaviors and perspectives are challenging societal norms in the Arab world, giving rise to anxiety and public debate. Simultaneously, however, other Arab women are unwillingly finding themselves labeled "bad" as authority figures attempt to redirect scrutiny from serious social ills such as patriarchy and economic exploitation, or as they impose new restrictions on women's behavior in response to uncertainty and change in society. Bad Girls of the Arab World elucidates how both intentional and unintentional transgressions make manifest the social and cultural constructs that define proper and improper behavior, as well as the social and political policing of gender, racial, and class divisions. The works collected here address the experiences of women from a range of ages, classes, and educational backgrounds who live in the Arab world and beyond. They include short pieces in which the women themselves reflect on their experiences with transgression; academic articles about performance, representation, activism, history, and social conditions; an artistic intervention; and afterwords by the acclaimed novelists Laila al-Atrash and Miral al-Tahawy. The book demonstrates that women's transgression is both an agent and a symptom of change, a site of both resistance and repression. Showing how transnational forces such as media discourses, mobility and confinement, globalization, and neoliberalism, as well as the legacy of colonialism, shape women's badness, Bad Girls of the Arab World offers a rich portrait of women's varied experiences at the boundaries of propriety in the twenty-first century.

This collection of essays focuses on the representations of a variety of “bad girls”—women who challenge, refuse, or transgress the patriarchal limits intended to circumscribe them—in television, popular fiction, and mainstream film from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Perhaps not surprisingly, the initial introduction of women into Western cultural narrative coincides with the introduction of transgressive women. From the beginning, for good or ill, women have been depicted as insubordinate. Today’s popular manifestations include such widely known figures as Lisbeth Salander (the “girl with the dragon tattoo”), The Walking Dead’s Michonne, and the queen bees of teen television series. While the existence and prominence of transgressive women has continued uninterrupted, however, attitudes towards them have varied considerably. It is those attitudes that are explored in this collection. At the same time, these essays place feminist/postfeminist analysis in a larger context, entering into ongoing debates about power, equality, sexuality, and gender.

Come and walk the offbeat world of Mike Strobels popular column in the Toronto Sun. Meet the legendary panhandler Shaky Lady; the Weasel, who knows where Jimmy Hoffa is buried; the secretive swinger Sexy Boots; the notorious Bicycle Bandit, who quit robbing banks, got a loan, and opened a bar; and Dr. Hook, the top doc whose professional fate rested on the cut of his jib. Youll also get a look at a fake orgasm champ, a practising witch turned beauty pageant queen, a boss cannonballer, and assorted other heroes, rogues, athletes, finks, politicos, celebrities, bureaucrats, sons, and lovers. Each column in this collection is a mini-world, tight and bright. Youll smile at Strobels take on the fads, fashions, morals, and hot topics of the day. Even the most serious issues are dissected and dispatched with often biting wit and cheek. (Warning: If youre a Montreal Canadiens fan, do not read this book.)

Good Girls, Bad Girls of the New Testament takes readers on a powerful journey through the vast landscape of Roman-occupied Judea during the first century and the genesis of Christianity. This landscape serves as the backdrop for twelve amazing stories of women whose paths intersect, either by providence or design, with the paths of Jesus or Paul. Some of these women are familiar, such as Mary, the mother of Jesus, while others, like the wife of the infamous Pontius Pilate, are lesser known. Whether she is popular or obscure, good or bad, each woman’s story is an important part of the overall Christian narrative. Good Girls, Bad Girls of the New Testament invites readers to take a more nuanced look at twelve stories that feature women, to explore their lives more deeply in historical context, and to understand the real story that includes both men and women. The book goes beyond simply telling the story of a particular biblical woman to challenge readers to explore the enduring lessons the ancient writers sought to impart. These timeless lessons are as important for us today as they were thousands of years ago.

The author aims "to demonstrate in this book not how "feminist" or "progressive" the show is but how it represents femininity, masculinity, and gender relations, including sexuality, and how this relates to the context of genre. The book aims to draw out ... patterns of gender representation and to relate these to relevant contexts".--Intro.

Since the 1990s, women artists have led the contemporary art world in the creation of art depicting female adolescence, producing challenging, critically debated, and avidly collected artworks that are driving the current and momentous shift in the perception of women in art. Girls! Girls! Girls! presents essays from established and up-and-coming scholars who address a variety of themes, including narcissism, nostalgia, post-feminism, and fantasy with the goal of approaching the overarching question of why women artists are turning in such numbers to the subject of girls – and what these artistic explorations signify. Artists discussed include Anna Gaskell, Marlene McCarty, Sue de Beer, Miwa Yanagi, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Collier Schorr, and more.

This pioneering book explores the notion of 'radical decadence' as concept, aesthetic and lived experience, and as an analytical framework for the study of contemporary feminist textile art. Gendered discourses of decadence that perpetuate anxieties about women's power, consumption and pleasure are deconstructed through images of drug use, female sexuality and 'excessive' living, in artworks by several contemporary textile artists including Orly Cogan, Tracey Emin, Allyson Mitchell, and Rozanne Hawksley. Perceptions of decadence are invariably bound to the negative connotations of decay and degradation, particularly with regard to the transgression of social norms related to femininity and the female body. Excessive consumption by women has historically been represented as grotesque, and until now, women's pleasure in relation to drug and alcohol use has largely gone unexamined in feminist art history and craft studies. Here, representations of female consumption, from cupcakes to alcohol and cocaine, are opened up for critical discussion. Drawing on feminist and queer theories, Julia Skelly considers portrayals of 'bad girls' in artworks that explore female sexuality - performative pieces designed to subvert and exceed feminine roles. In this provocative book, decadence is understood not as a destructive force but as a liberating aesthetic.

The essays cover girlhood around the world and cover such key areas as schooling, sexuality, popular culture and identity.

A revealing look at why men cheat, by two reformed cheaters—one a faithful business mogul and the other a celebrity addicted to infidelity. Relationship expert and former cheater Maxwell Billieon uncovers the hidden truth about unfaithful men and why deceitfulness is causing the demise of the human family as he teaches women everything they need to know about men who take advantage of their emotions. Ray J’s very public relationships made front-page headlines worldwide. He exposes his secret devious past as he learns how not to cheat through the principles that Maxwell Billieon has used to help countless men stop cheating. There are “Six Virtues of the New Man,” and Death of the Cheating Man reveals them all in a groundbreaking, entertaining and informative way.