Never marry a woman with big feet : women in proverbs from around the world / Mineke Schipper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schipper, Mineke.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Proverbs.

Proverbs--History and criticism.

Women--Quotations, maxims, etc.

Women.

Physical Description:

x, 422 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2003]

Summary:

In cultures all over the globe, sex and gender issues have been expressed in proverbs, the world's smallest literary genre. This fascinating book provides revealing insights into the female condition across centuries and continents, as recorded in thousands of vivid and earthy proverbs about women. Mineke Schipper analyzes similarities, differences, and contradictions in the cultural norms about gender expressed in proverbs she has found from over 150 countries. Grouping the sayings into such categories as the female body, love, sex, child-birth, and female power, she finds shared patterns in ideas about women (and how men see them). Part cross-cultural study, part literary criticism, and part anthology, her book is a unique and intriguing resource to dip into again and again.

Contents:

The Mother of All Sciences 1

Creation and Procreation 2

Collecting and Questioning 5

Proverbs and Their Impact 8

Legacies 9

Media 11

Features 12

Changing Contexts, Constant Cores 15

1 The Female Body 18

From Head to Foot 18

Stature and Appearance 19

Body and Soul 22

Head and Neck 24

Brains 26

Eyes 28

Nose and Ears 30

Lips, Mouth, Teeth, Tongue 31

Shoulders and Arms 33

Hands and Fingers 34

Sex Characteristics 37

Nursing Breasts and Breasts as Objects of Desire 41

Womb 44

Vagina 46

Buttocks 47

Legs, Knees, Feet 48

Beauty and Beautifying 51

Radiance 51

The Impact of Female Attraction 53

Belles 54

Beauty versus Intelligence 60

Transience 61

Outer Beauty and Inner Qualities 61

Ugliness 62

Fatal Allurements 66

The Female Body Anthology 68

2 Phases of Life 93

Girls, Daughters, Brides 93

A Boy or a Girl? 93

Bride-wealth and Dowry 97

Virginity and Virtue 99

Spinsters 103

Wedding Day 104

Wedlock 106

Wives, Co-Wives, Widows 108

Wives 108

Good or Bad? 109

The 'Good' Wife 110

'Wickedness' 111

Co-Wives 113

Why an Extra Wife? 115

Hierarchies among Wives 116

Problems and Disillusions 118

Widows 120

Death of Wife, Death of Husband 121

Loss and Sorrow 123

Widows' Tears 125

Slander 125

Remarrying 127

Mothers and Mothers-in-Law 129

Mothers 129

Uniqueness 129

Ideal Children and Worrying Mothers 131

Mothers and Children, Mothers and Sons 133

Mothers and Daughters 135

Who is Taking Care of the Mother? 136

Motherless 137

Mothers-in-Law versus Daughters-in-Law 140

Rivals 141

Newly Arrived 142

Revenge 144

Death and the Mother-in-Law 145

Old Age 146

Grandmothers and Old Women 147

Good Old Age 148

Bad Old Age 151

Old Age Behaviour 152

Decrepitude and Death 156

Status and Authority 157

Phases of Life Anthology 159

3 Basics of Life 204

Love 204

Falling in Love 205

The Logic of Love 207

Love in Marriage 210

Love and Other Men's Wives 212

Bitter Worries and Sweet Words 214

Sex 217

Private Parts 217

Desire 219

Pleasure 223

The First Time and Next 225

Heavenly Delight 228

Fertility, Pregnancy, Childbirth 230

Sterility 231

Fertility 233

Pregnancy 236

Childbirth and Childbed 237

Basics of Life Anthology 242

4 Female Power 266

Verbal Talent 267

An Inborn Quality? 268

The Jewel of Silence 269

Work 270

'Woman's Work' 271

Cookery 276

Cleaning 279

Crafts 280

Never-Ending Hard Work 282

What to Do Without a Wife 285

Knowledge 287

For Men Only 288

Women's Advice 290

'Cunning' versus 'Knowledge' 292

From Healing to Poisoning 294

Witchcraft and Other Occult Forces 295

Female Witches 297

Devil and Satan 301

Countermeasures 304

Moulding a Wife 305

Do Not Praise and Do Not Trust 308

Not to Be Seen and Not to Be Heard 310

Violence 311

Wife-Beating 313

Husband-Beating 315

Anyone Against? 316

Women's Reactions 317

Female Power Anthology 320

5 Messages of Images 350

Women as Objects 351

Containers 352

Flowers, Trees, Fruits 355

Women as Animals 357

Women as Eatables 361

Gendered Places and Spaces 364

Home and the World 364

Here and Hereafter 369

Images in Search of Hierarchies 371

Messages of Images Anthology 375

Epilogue: Proverbial Imagination in an Age of Globalization 387

Languages, Cultures and Countries 402.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [406]-414) and index.

ISBN:

0300102496

OCLC:

53307688