Speaking from the Heart: Gender and the Social Meaning of Emotion(Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction)

Who gets called 'emotional'? And what does it mean when that happens? What tells us that a person is 'speaking from the heart'? The prevailing stereotype is that she is emotional, while he is not. In Speaking From the Heart Professor Shields draws on examples from everyday life, contemporary culture and the latest research, to reveal how culturally shared beliefs about emotion shape our identities as women and men. She shows how the discourse of emotion is fundamentally concerned with judgements about authenticity and legitimacy of experience, themes deeply implicated in creating and maintaining gender boundaries. This fascinating exploration of gender and emotion in a clear and engaging style takes up topics as diverse as nineteenth-century ideals of womanhood, weeping politicians, children's play and the Superbowl. It is a must read for anyone interested in the way emotion affects our everyday lives. Speaking from the Heart by Stephanie Shields has received a Distinguished Publication Award by The Association for Women in Psychology.

Table of Contents:
Preface; 1. That 'vivid, unforgettable condition'; 2. When does gender matter?; 3. Doing emotion/doing gender: practising in order to 'get it right'; 4. Sentiment, sympathy, and passion in the late nineteenth century; 5. The education of the emotions; 6. Ideal emotion and the fallacy of the inexpressive male; 7. Emotional = female; angry = male?; 8. Speaking from the heart; References; Index.

About the Author :
Stephanie A. Shields is Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at Pennsylvania State University. She has been Director of Women's Studies both at the University of California, Davis, and at Pennsylvania State University, and was founding director of the Consortium for Women and Research at UCD. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the American Psychological Society and a charter member of the International Society for Research on Emotions. She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on human emotion, the psychology of gendeR, and women in American Psychology. This is her first single-authored book.

Review :
'This is an extraordinarily well-written book. My belief is that undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars working in the area of gender, emotion, and identity will definitely feel intellectually enriched after reading this book. ... excellent interdisciplinary scholarship, intelligent theoretical analyses, and lucid writing make this book an important piece of scholarly work in the field of psychology and related disciplines.' Sex Roles 'Perceiving a gaping hole in the psychological study of emotion, which has largely ignored gender issues, Shields moves beyond a purely descriptive account of gender differences and toward a theoretical explanation for how and why emotion is inextricably intertwined with conceptions of femininity and masculinity. Her approach is unabashedly feminist and social constructivist, which will please many but rile others ... Shields presents a persuasive case for the dual social construction of gender and emotional expressivity. Regardless of one's theoretical perspective, this book is important and recommended for lower- and upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers interested in the study of emotion.' R. Compton, Haverford College 'The book is particularly impressive in its accessible and engaging style, with its ample use of 'real life' examples ... which makes for stimulating and enjoyable reading. while researchers in the area of emotion and gender, across the disciplines of psychology, gender studies and others, will find it a comprehensive and valuable text, it is arguably also an appropriate resource for post-graduate teaching.' South African Journal of Psychology