Push Comes to Shove: New Images of Aggressive Women

319 Pages·2010·1.35 MB·English

by  Maud Lavin

MAUD LAVIN
NEW IMAGES OF AGGRESSIVE WOMEN
PUSH
COMES
TO
SHOVE
The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
PUSH
COMES
TO
SHOVE
NEW IMAGES
OF AGGRESSIVE
WOMEN
MAUD LAVIN
© 2010 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, re-
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This book was set in ITC Stone Serif and ITC Stone Sans by Graphic
Composition, Inc., Bogart, Georgia. Printed and bound in the United
States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lavin, Maud.
Push comes to shove : new images of aggressive women / Maud
Lavin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index
ISBN 978-0-262-12309-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Women in
art. 2. Women in popular culture—United States— History—20th
century. 3. Women in popular culture—United States—History—
21st century. 4. Aggressiveness in art. 5. Aggressiveness in popular
culture—United States—History—20th century. 6. Aggressiveness
in popular culture—United States—History—21st century. 7. Arts,
American—20th century. 8. Arts, American—21st century. 9. Popular
culture—United States—History—20th century. 10. Popular
culture—United States—History—21st century. I. Title. II. Title: New
images of aggressive women.
NX652.W6L38 2010
704.9'4240973—dc22
2009046986
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
TO MY BROTHERS Douglas, Franklin, and Carl Lavin, with love

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 2
1 Sibling Play : Women, Sports, and Movies 10
2 Aging and Aggression 68
3 Violence : Kill Bill and Murder Girls 106
4 Unbuttoning Sexuality : Zane and Kara Walker 156
5 More Siblings : Aggression within Art and
Activist Groups 202
6 Conclusion 236
Notes 251
Bibliography 273
Index 285

Acknowledgments
While writing this book, I told a friend that working on this
project made me feel alternately fearful and excited, and my
friend replied, “Sure, because that’s the way you feel about ag-
gression.” So, true! I couldn’t have rappelled deeply into this
exploration without my friends and colleagues and the emo-
tions and ideas they so generously shared. It is a great pleasure
to thank them: Sarah Alford, Alyson Beaton, Maureen Burns,
Mark Cannon, Peter Chametzky, Romi Crawford, James El-
kins, Sue Felleman, Catherine Grant, Vanalyne Green, Joseph
Grigely, Anne Higonnet, Szu-Han Ho, David Joselit, Jamie Kees-
ling, Anne Kreamer, Kathy Livingston, Kai Mah, Katie McCarty,
Karen Morris, Mignon Nixon, Linda Nochlin, Peg Olin, Chris
Pinney, Patrick Rivers, Shawn Michelle Smith, and Lori Wax-
man. The people I interviewed for the book also stirred my heart
and mind; for that and so much else, I thank them—Jessica
Bendinger, Lynda La Plante, Lisa Lee, Marlene McCarty, Susan
Orlean, Laurie Palmer, John Ploof, Julia Steinmetz, and Amanda
Riecke.
The research for this book was supported by a John Simon
Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and I’m grateful for it. The
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I’m a professor,