MIDLIFE CRISIS: THE FEMINIST ORIGINS OF A CHAUVINIST CLICHE
Book ID/图书代码： 13560020C00202
English Summary/英文概要： The phrase “midlife crisis” today conjures up images of male indulgence and irresponsibility—an affluent, middle-aged man speeding off in a red sports car with a woman half his age—but before it become a gendered cliché, it gained traction as a feminist concept. Journalist Gail Sheehy used the term to describe a midlife period when both men and women might reassess their choices and seek a change in life. Sheehy’s definition challenged the double standard of middle age—where aging is advantageous to men and detrimental to women—by viewing midlife as an opportunity rather than a crisis. Widely popular in the United States and internationally, the term was quickly appropriated by psychological and psychiatric experts and redefined as a male-centered, masculinist concept.
The first book-length history of this controversial concept, Susanne Schmidt’s Midlife Crisis recounts the surprising origin story of the midlife debate and traces its movement from popular culture into academia. Schmidt’s engaging narrative telling of the feminist construction—and ensuing antifeminist backlash—of the midlife crisis illuminates a lost legacy of feminist thought, shedding important new light on the history of gender and American social science in the 1970s and beyond.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 如今谈到“中年危机”一词，让人会想到中年男性的放飞自和不负责任，一个富裕的中年男子开着一辆红色跑车，和一个比他小一半的妙龄女子疾驰而去的景象——但在它成为一种性别化的老生常谈之前，却引发了一个女权主义概念。记者Gail Sheehy曾用这个词来描述当步入中年时期，男人和女人都可能会重新评估自己的选择，寻求生活的改变。 Sheehy的定义挑战了中年危机在性别上的双重标注，上了年纪的男人吃香，而中年妇女却处于略势，(即我们常说的男人四十一枝花，女人四十豆腐渣)的论调，而是把中年看作是一种机遇而非危机。这个词在美国和国际上广泛流行，很快被心理学和精神病学专家借用，并重新定义为一个以男性为中心的、男性至上的概念。
Susanne Schmidt的《中年危机》这本富有争议的概念的第一本书，讲述了中年辩论令人惊讶的起源故事，并追溯了它从流行文化到学术界的发展历程。Susanne对中年危机中女权主义的建构——以及随之而来的反女权主义的强烈抵制——进行了引人入胜的叙述，阐明了女权主义思想没落的遗留问题，对20世纪70年代及以后的性别和美国社会科学的历史提供了重要的新视角。(Sandy)
Awards/获奖情况："Midlife was once seen as a chance for women to reassert themselves. Then came an organized, misogynist backlash. . . . In her fascinating new book, the historian Susanne Schmidt reminds us that, not long ago, we did have an important debate about the changing life course."— New Republic
"In this exceptional new book, Schmidt utilizes popular and professional contests about aging and gender to illuminate central themes of feminism and politics. Midlife Crisis is essential reading not only for historians of recent American culture but for anyone eager to understand the framing of aging and development as gender roles are transformed."— Allan M. Brandt, Harvard University
"Schmidt’s engaging history of the midlife crisis takes as a central theme the generative contributions of feminist voices in public conversations about science in the Cold War United States, raising questions about the midlife opportunities and challenges experienced by men and women in American society that feel as pertinent today as they did to Gail Sheehy’s readers in 1976. Schmidt deftly shows how an idea first articulated by a journalist wended its way into professional psychological discussions and has been with us ever since."— Erika Lorraine Milam, author of Creatures of Cain: The Hunt for Human Nature in Cold War America
About the Author/作者介绍： Susanne Schmidt is a research associate and lecturer in history at Freie Universität Berlin.
Format:HARDCOVER
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：SOLD(非我们代理）
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：Japanese rights
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