Sell Compromising Positions: Sex Scandals, Politics, and American Christianity by Dr. Leslie Dorrough HC best price

In Compromising Positions, Leslie Dorrough Smith questions the assumption that sex scandals are really about sex-- that is, that they are primarily concerned with the discovery of sexual misconduct. She argues that they are, instead, a form of cultural storytelling that uses racial and gendered symbols to create a collective sense of national worth and strength. Smith shows that sex scandals involve the use of four very powerful social tools--gender, race, politics, and religion-- that together create a rhetoric about what America is, who is eligible to formally represent it, and what types of symbolic religiosity such leaders must display to legitimize their power. Americans tend to condemn or excuse the sexual misdeeds of their politicians depending on the degree to which the individual in question reinforces evangelical interpretations of "American values" and a "Christian nation." Such values include not just moral integrity, but strength, courage, and conquest. As a consequence, sex scandals are less likely to occur in cultural moments when the public is open to reading a politician's moral lapse as a symbolic form of national dominance. Put simply, when a leader is perceived as strong, domineering, and necessary for national health, many people will find ways either to overlook his illicit sexual behavior or somehow read it as an American act. Review "Leslie Dorrough Smith has once again offered readers a masterpiece of critical scholarship, drawing attention to how coverage of and debate over public sex scandals function to legitimate contested national narratives and particular visions of white, hetero-masculinity. I know of few scholars capable of presenting sophisticated, counterintuitive, and complex arguments with this level of clarity, precision, and accessibility. This book should be of interest to scholars who study whiteness, masculinity, nationhood, or evangelical Christianity, or who simply are invested in the future of US politics." -- Craig Martin, St. Thomas Aquinas College About the Author Leslie Dorrough Smith is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Women's Women's and Gender Studies Program at Avila University. She is also the author of Righteous Rhetoric: Sex, Speech, and the Politics of Concerned Women for America (Oxford, 2014). Her areas of specialty include evangelicalism in America, its impact on sex, gender, and reproduction issues, and feminist theory, more broadly. Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press (December 2, 2019) Language ‏ : ‎ English Hardcover ‏ : ‎312 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0190924071 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0190924072 Item Weight ‏ : ‎1.28LB Used. Very Good Condition. Sold at a cheaper price compared to Amazon listed price ( Less international shipping fees)