Papers by Shelly Ronen
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2015
Gender, Work & Organization, 2018
Feminist scholars define 'postfeminism' as a set of ideas that both endorse and disavow feminism.... more Feminist scholars define 'postfeminism' as a set of ideas that both endorse and disavow feminism. Recent work documents postfeminism in interviews of women talking about experiences with gender inequality at work. The present study extends existing theorizations by showing how postfeminism obfuscates ongoing inequality at work. To do this I specify postfeminism in the terms of two mechanisms by which work becomes gender typed: gender essentialization and feminine devaluation. By relating the literature on postfeminism to sociological research on the persistence of gender typing of work, I show how 'postfeminist ideology' amounts to a double entanglement with gender typed work. In other words, post-feminist ideology drives distinct stances towards gender essentialization and feminine devaluation. I draw on 40 interviews with product designers in the United States to show this presents empirically. Designers essentialize differences between men and women designers, even mobilizing difference to claim greater inclusion of women designers, who are thought to empathize best with women consumers. Yet when essentialization is accompanied by feminine devaluation, designers deny it and it goes unrecognized. Because of this, the postfeminist ideology celebrates essentialized gendered differences, but insists on overlooking devaluation, which is a key element of ongoing gender inequality.
Gender & Society, 2010
In this article, the author explores the gendered dynamics of "grinding," sexualized dancing comm... more In this article, the author explores the gendered dynamics of "grinding," sexualized dancing common at college parties. Drawing on the observations of student participant observers, the author describes the common script for initiating this behavior. At these parties, men initiated more often and more directly than women, whose behaviors were shaped by a sexual double standard and (hetero-) relational imperative. The heterosexual grinding script enacts a gendered dynamic that reproduces systematic gender inequality by limiting women's access to sexual agency and pleasure, privileging men's pleasure and confirming their higher status.
Book Reviews by Shelly Ronen
Public Books, 2015
Hoang, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, embedded herself in four different ho... more Hoang, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, embedded herself in four different hostess bars appealing to distinct clienteles to research her book Dealing in Desire: Asian Ascendancy, Western Decline, and the Hidden Currencies of Global Sex Work. The extent of Hoang’s participation in studying hostess culture often prompts readers to identify her with the sex work she describes. Hoang herself becomes "dirty," or suspect in the process. Despite, or perhaps because of, this willingness to get dirty, Hoang shows the interdependence of capital and sex in ways that quantitative sex research cannot, and that economic research pretends do not exist.
Review Essay of The Erotic Doll: A Modern Fetish by Marquard Smith (2014), Yale University Press
Contemporary Sociology, 2013
Blog Essays by Shelly Ronen
On February 4 the TV show Broad City aired an episode about pegging that sent delighted shock wav... more On February 4 the TV show Broad City aired an episode about pegging that sent delighted shock waves throughout the interwebz. "Pegging," for the uninitiated, is the term coined in 2001 on Dan Savage's show, "Savage Love" for a woman anally penetrating a man using a strapon dildo.
A Review of Chuck Palahniuk's latest book and an exploration of the perils of women's sex toy lib... more A Review of Chuck Palahniuk's latest book and an exploration of the perils of women's sex toy liberation: a concept I refer to as the Taboo of Replacement.
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Papers by Shelly Ronen
Book Reviews by Shelly Ronen
Blog Essays by Shelly Ronen