Something old, something bold : bridal showers and bachelorette parties / Beth Montemurro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Montemurro, Beth, 1972-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Showers (Parties)--United States--History.

Showers (Parties).

Bachelorette parties--United States--History.

Bachelorette parties.

Marriage customs and rites.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

xiii, 224 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, [2006]

Summary:

Weddings in the United States are often extravagant, highly ritualized, and costly affairs. In this book, Beth Montemurro takes a fresh look at the wedding process, offering a perspective not likely to be found in the many planning books and magazines readily available to the modern bride. Montemurro draws upon years of ethnographic research to explore what prenuptial events mean to women participants and what they tell us about the complexity and ambiguity of gender roles. Through the bachelorette party and the bridal shower, the bride-to-be is initiated into the role of wife by her friends and family, who present elaborate scenarios that demonstrate both what she is sacrificing and what she is gaining.

Montemurro argues that American society at the turn of the twenty-first century is still married to traditional conceptions of masculinity and femininity and that prenuptial rituals contribute to the stabilization of gender inequalities.

Contents:

Introduction: Joining the party

Origins of bridal showers and bachelorette parties

Something old : etiquette, tradition, and femininity at bridal showers

Something borrowed and blue : the bachelorette party

Something new : consumption, materialism, and excess in pre-wedding rituals

Something different : variations in pre-wedding rituals

Conclusion: Bashful brides and bold bachelorettes.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-214) and index.

ISBN:

0813538106

0813538114

OCLC:

61879613

Publisher Number:

9780813538105

9780813538112