Shira Tarrant, PhD
Author, Professor, Social Critic
BOOKS
The Pornography Industry: What Everyone Needs to Know
Oxford University Press
We may know pornography when we see it, but the business of pornography is a surprisingly elusive subject. Reliable figures about the industry are difficult to come by and widely disputed, but one matter that is hardly debatable is that pornography is a major and ubiquitous enterprise.In this book, Shira Tarrant parses the wide range of statistics that we have on the pornography industry, sorting myth from reality in an objective, fascinating and knowledgeable fashion. She looks at ongoing political controversies around the industry, the feminist porn wars, the views of the religious right, the history of pornography, landmark legal cases, and the latest in medical research.
Gender, Sex, and Politics: In the Streets and Between the Sheets in the 21st Century
Routledge
This anthology presents topics including Gender, Sexuality and Social Control; Pornography; Sex and Social Media; Dating, Desire, and the Politics of Hooking Up; and Issues in Sexual Pleasure and Safety. Using a point-counterpoint-different point framework, its arguments and perspectives do not pit writers against each other in a binary pro/con debate format. Instead, a variety of views are juxtaposed to encourage critical thinking and robust conversation. This framework enables readers to assess the strengths and shortcomings of conflicting ideas. The chapters are organized in a way that will challenge cherished beliefs and hone both academic and personal insight.
Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex, and Power, 2nd ed.
Routledge
Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex, and Power (2nd ed.) highlights new essays on pornography, pop culture, queer identity, Muslim masculinity, and the war on women. With personal candor and political insight, this collection of diverse authors explores sex work, digital activism, incarceration, domestic violence, surviving incest, and standing firmly as male allies facing the backlash against women’s reproductive rights. Featuring eleven new essays and six revised thematic sections, this second edition of a favorite anthology continues to encourage robust discussion and vibrant debate about masculinity and the possibilities for progressive change. The contemporary, compelling essays in Men Speak Out appeal to students, scholars, activists, and everyday readers.
Fashion Talks: Undressing the Power of Style
SUNY Press
Fashion Talks is a vibrant look at the politics of everyday style. Shira Tarrant and Marjorie Jolles bring together essays that cover topics such as lifestyle Lolitas, Hollywood baby bumps, haute couture hijab, gender fluidity, steampunk, and stripper shoes, and engage readers with accessible and thoughtful analyses of real-world issues. This collection explores whether style can shift the limiting boundaries of race, class, gender, and sexuality, while avoiding the traps with which it attempts to rein us in. Fashion Talks will appeal to cultural critics, industry insiders, mainstream readers, and academic experts who are curious about the role fashion plays in the struggles over identity, power, and the status quo.
Men and Feminism
Seal Press
There's no denying that men's involvement and interest in feminism is key to its continuing relevance and importance. Addressing the question of why men should care about feminism in the first place, Men and Feminism lays the foundation for a larger discussion about feminism as a human issue, not simply a women's issue. Men are crucial to the movement — as fathers, brothers, husbands, boyfriends, and friends. From "why" to "how" to "what can men do," Men and Feminism answers all the questions men have about how and why they should get behind feminism.
When Sex Became Gender
Routledge
A study of post-World War II feminist theory from the viewpoint of intellectual history, When Sex Became Gender explains that key ideas about the social construction of gender have origins in the feminist theorists of the postwar period. These early ideas about gender became a foundational paradigm for subsequent feminist thought. While discussing famous feminist scholars―Simone de Beauvoir, Margaret Mead―the book also hinges on the work of scholars who are lesser known to American audiences―Mirra Komarovsky, Viola Klein, and Ruth Herschberger. The postwar years have been an overlooked period in the development of feminist theory and philosophy and Tarrant makes a compelling case for this era being the turning point in the study of gender.
