This book is the first to formulate an ideology of emancipation for women in Morocco. Beginning with constructs of the body, femininity and masculinity, it analyzes the central role played by the sociopolitical writing of sexuality in creating gender hierarchy. The author focuses on Morocco, while drawing parallels with Hollywood cinema, one of the great producers of femininity and masculinity, and conducts an exhaustive examination of constructs of femininity and masculinity in language, social practices, cultural productions and legal texts. The objectives of this project are tripartite: it exposes the dynamics that devalue women’s humanity; it charts the schemas of their sexual, economic and sociopolitical exploitation; and it advances concrete solutions for re-establishing women’s human dignity. Review “This book builds on and challenges the work of Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi, seeking ways to move Moroccan society beyond its triumvirate of male/masculine authority: androcentric biopower, state-based law, and masculinist religion. Dr. Glacier describes a particularly Moroccan form of the androcentric domination of women, of women’s bodies and sexualities, which has the result that women’s very lives are negated and denied. Liberation is still the long-sought goal.” (Don Conway-Long, Associate Professor, Webster University, USA) “This book is groundbreaking and innovative. Beyond the facts, the book develops a daring ideology of emancipation for women where the “negated sex” is re-appropriated to its legitimate place. It is an inspiring and much needed addition to the academic literature in the field.” (Fatima Sadiqi, Professor of Linguistics and Gender Studies, Woodrow Wilson Center Fellow, USA) From the Back Cover This book is the first to formulate an ideology of emancipation for women in Morocco. Beginning with constructs of the body, femininity and masculinity, it analyzes the central role played by the sociopolitical writing of sexuality in creating gender hierarchy. The author focuses on Morocco, while drawing parallels with Hollywood cinema, one of the great producers of femininity and masculinity, and conducts an exhaustive examination of constructs of femininity and masculinity in language, social practices, cultural productions and legal texts. This multidisciplinary study exposes in an analytical manner the mechanisms that transform the biological bodies of persons born with a vagina into feminine bodies belonging to the collectivity; therefore, it deliberately excludes religion from its analysis. The objectives of this project are tripartite: it exposes the dynamics that devalue women’s humanity; it charts the schemas of their sexual, economic and sociopolitical exploitation; and it advances concrete solutions for re-establishing women’s human dignity. About the Author Osire Glacier is a lecturer in the History Department and in the Department of Politics and International Studies at Bishop’s University, Canada. She is the author of Les Droits humains au Maroc entre discours et réalité; Des femmes politiques au Maroc d’hier à aujourd’hui; Universal Rights, Systemic Violations and Cultural Relativism in Morocco; and Political Women in Morocco, Then and Now; and the blog www.etudesmarocaines.com.
