Defining femininity is an intriguing pursuit. Socially constructed and individually experienced, its definition changes across time and place. Some people find it in the shape of the body or the length of the hair. For others, it is in the emotional response, a unique sensitivity and openness. For many, it suggests passivity.
In Listening Like A Girl, Jules Joanne Gleeson argues that at the core of the feminine is the act of listening, and more to the point, listening more intently than those speaking. While society constructs listening as a form of passivity, it hides an inherent power as a highly skilled and competent act, capable of undermining patriarchal expectations.
Extrapolating from this core observation, Gleeson takes the reader on a cultural and theoretical journey. Exploring figures from pop singer Troye Sivan to Jacqueline Rose, and discussing butch and bisexuality, as well as the links between femininity and communist politics, she ultimately lands on reflections on the tension between femininity and introspection.
