Gender and Nation - Australia (Annotated Bibliography).

Subject  > Area & Country Studies Essays

Reekie, G., 'Contesting Australia: Feminism and Histories of the Nation' in Whitlock. G. & Carter, D. (eds), Images of Australia: an Introductory Reader in Australian Studies, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1994. This article gave me understanding of the feminist challenge to nation since World War II. Reekie discusses how the female experience has been excluded from national identity and the imagined community of nation mainly due to women not being included in the formation of the national identity and histories. I found her suggestion that nation is based on a fraternal community which would not exist except for the silent sacrifice and support of women, interesting. She suggests that in the past. ...

... they all agreed that they were reckless, dominated public space and were of the working class. They also drank heavily, exhibited qualities that people found offensive such as bad language and they had little respect for the police or authority in general. Rickard describes a code of dress that conveyed a message of blatant sexuality, aggressiveness and would have been offensive to the middle-class, respectable male. Although there was a female larrikin, they were not so common and tended to be associated with a male larrikin. Rickard also discusses how texts humanised the larrikin character, such as C.J. Denis's Sentimental Bloke. The article gave me an insight into how the larrikins appearance has changed

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