{"product_id":"penis-envy-and-other-bad-feelings-by-mari-ruti-9780231186698","title":"Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMari Ruti combines theoretical reflection, cultural critique, feminist politics, and personal experience to analyse the prevalence of bad feelings in contemporary everyday life. Proceeding from a playful engagement with Freud's idea of penis envy, Ruti's autotheoretical commentary fans out to a broader consideration of neoliberal pragmatism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShe focuses on the emphasis on good performance, high productivity, constant self-improvement, and relentless cheerfulness that characterises present-day Western society. Revealing the treacherousness of our fantasies of the good life, particularly the idea that our efforts will eventually be rewarded—that things will eventually get better—Ruti demystifies the false hope that often causes us to tolerate an unbearable present.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTheoretically rigorous and lucidly written, \u003cem\u003ePenis Envy and Other Bad Feelings\u003c\/em\u003e is a trenchant critique of contemporary gender relations. Refuting the idea that we live in a postfeminist world where gender inequalities have been transcended, Ruti describes how neoliberal heteropatriarchy has transformed itself in subtle and stealthy, and therefore all the more insidious, ways.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMobilising Michel Foucault's concept of biopolitics, Jacques Lacan's account of desire, and Lauren Berlant's notion of cruel optimism, she analyses the rationalisation of intimacy, the persistence of gender stereotypes, and the pornification of heterosexual culture. Ruti shines a spotlight on the depression, anxiety, frustration, and disenchantment that frequently lie beneath our society's sugarcoated mythologies of self-fulfilment, romantic satisfaction, and professional success, speaking to all who are concerned about the emotional costs of the pressure-cooker ethos of our age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47995493777644,"sku":"9780231186698","price":45.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780231186698-penis-envy-and-other-bad-feelings.jpg?v=1784897159","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/penis-envy-and-other-bad-feelings-by-mari-ruti-9780231186698","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}