Post-Feminist Puritanism: Teaching (and Learning from) The Lowell Offering in the 21st Century

Based on an analysis of classroom discussions and online reading responses, this essay explores how an all-women group of University of Pittsburgh undergraduates responded to The Lowell Offering, a collection of writings by mid-19th century women textile workers. While Facebook Chief Operating Offic...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sara Appel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University Library System, University of Pittsburgh 2015-06-01
Series:Radical Teacher
Online Access:http://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/radicalteacher/article/view/138
id doaj-d3420c3d41d54c27aa01d1021cc7e900
record_format Article
spelling doaj-d3420c3d41d54c27aa01d1021cc7e9002020-11-25T00:39:34ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghRadical Teacher1941-08322015-06-011020435010.5195/rt.2015.138124Post-Feminist Puritanism: Teaching (and Learning from) The Lowell Offering in the 21st CenturySara Appel0University of PittsburghBased on an analysis of classroom discussions and online reading responses, this essay explores how an all-women group of University of Pittsburgh undergraduates responded to The Lowell Offering, a collection of writings by mid-19th century women textile workers. While Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg equates “leaning in” to claim one’s place in the male-dominated corporate world with youthful feminist success, what to make of the inspiration these ambitious women students found in puritanical representations of self-sacrificial factory girls? Far from being a sign of substantive progress in women’s rights, the author argues that the “post-feminist” discursive environment shaping these students’ sense of themselves as twenty-first century women workers is rather a symptom of the mutually reinforcing relationship between neoliberal market imperatives and traditional femininity.http://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/radicalteacher/article/view/138
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Sara Appel
spellingShingle Sara Appel
Post-Feminist Puritanism: Teaching (and Learning from) The Lowell Offering in the 21st Century
Radical Teacher
author_facet Sara Appel
author_sort Sara Appel
title Post-Feminist Puritanism: Teaching (and Learning from) The Lowell Offering in the 21st Century
title_short Post-Feminist Puritanism: Teaching (and Learning from) The Lowell Offering in the 21st Century
title_full Post-Feminist Puritanism: Teaching (and Learning from) The Lowell Offering in the 21st Century
title_fullStr Post-Feminist Puritanism: Teaching (and Learning from) The Lowell Offering in the 21st Century
title_full_unstemmed Post-Feminist Puritanism: Teaching (and Learning from) The Lowell Offering in the 21st Century
title_sort post-feminist puritanism: teaching (and learning from) the lowell offering in the 21st century
publisher University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
series Radical Teacher
issn 1941-0832
publishDate 2015-06-01
description Based on an analysis of classroom discussions and online reading responses, this essay explores how an all-women group of University of Pittsburgh undergraduates responded to The Lowell Offering, a collection of writings by mid-19th century women textile workers. While Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg equates “leaning in” to claim one’s place in the male-dominated corporate world with youthful feminist success, what to make of the inspiration these ambitious women students found in puritanical representations of self-sacrificial factory girls? Far from being a sign of substantive progress in women’s rights, the author argues that the “post-feminist” discursive environment shaping these students’ sense of themselves as twenty-first century women workers is rather a symptom of the mutually reinforcing relationship between neoliberal market imperatives and traditional femininity.
url http://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/radicalteacher/article/view/138
work_keys_str_mv AT saraappel postfeministpuritanismteachingandlearningfromthelowellofferinginthe21stcentury
_version_ 1725293693479419904