Something Old, Something Bold: Bridal Showers and Bachelorette Parties
Author: Beth Montemurro
Contemporary weddings in the United States can be extravagant, highly ritualized, and costly affairs. From the intricate details of the wedding dress, to the painstaking selection of flowers, to the festively-packaged favors offered to guests, they are often the culmination of months of fastidious planning and preparations.
In Something Old, Something Bold, sociologist Beth Montemurro takes a fresh look at the wedding process, offering a perspective not likely to be found in the slew of planning books and magazines readily available to the modern bride. Focusing on two events—bachelorette parties and bridal showers—Montemurro draws upon years of ethnographic research and interviews to explore what these prenuptial events mean to women participants and what they tell us about the complexity and ambiguity of gender roles. The innovation of the bachelorette party—a celebration of the bride-to-be's premarital sexual identity - and the addition of men to the domestically oriented shower have often been thought to indicate gender convergence and a more progressive attitude toward power relations between men and women. But Montemurro suggests that this is not always the case. Through these events, the bride-to-be is initiated into the role of wife by her friends and family, who present elaborate and exaggerated scenarios that demonstrate both what she is sacrificing and what she is gaining.
Ultimately, Montemurro argues, prenuptial rituals contribute to the stabilization of gender inequalities - that American society at the turn of the twenty-first century is still very much married to tradition and traditional conceptions of masculinity and femininity.
What People Are Saying
Pepper Schwartz
This well written, fascinating book takes a common ritual and uses it to explain the social construction of gender, class and marriage. People interested in changing gender roles as well as behavioral science majors and graduate students will get a lot out of this book: at the very least insight into the transitions women go through as they redefine themselves sexually and emotionally -- from single and available to married and monogamous. No doubt, most readers will be surprized how much bachlorette parties reveal about women's ambivalence about this transition to marriage and how many women see the passage to marriage as bittersweet. (Author of Love Between Equals: How Peer Marriage Really Works)
Elizabeth Pleck
This highly accessible study explains why bridal showers are considered dull and boring while bachelorette parties have become the fling of choice. Something Old, Something Bold shows how the sexual revolution has transformed the way contemporary brides approach marriage. (Author of Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding)
Amy L. Best
With wonderful insight, Montemurro examines the wildly popular bachelorette party and the enduring bridal shower and in doing so, reveals the conflicting messages that surround contemporary womanhood. (Author of Prom Night:Youth, Schools and Popular Culture and Fast Cars, Cool Rides: The Accelerating World of Youth and Their Cars)
Mindy Stombler
Montemurro's in-depth analysis demonstrates that both wedding showers and bachelorette parties are not simply meaningless social gatherings but are sociologically important rituals that reproduce gender relations in complex ways. Montemurro succeeds at making the seemingly ordinary, sociologically extraordinary. (Editor, Sex Matters)
Book review: MCSA MCSE Self Paced Training Kit or UNIX Power Tools
Happy Days Healthy Living
Author: Cathy Silvers
Both a celebrity autobiography and the tale of a journey to healthful and a living-foods lifestyle, Happy Days Healthy Living chronicles the Hollywood childhood and acting career of Cathy Silvers, daughter of iconic comedian Phil Silvers. The first half of the book's title references Cathy's years as a cast member of the popular TV series Happy Days, on which she played the character of Jenny Piccolo. The story of her auditions and capture of the coveted role provides a fascinating backstage glimpse inside the television industry and one of the most popular series of all time.
The second part of this story is Cathy's adult journey from "fast-food mom" to spokesperson for healthy living on a new "web vision" network, The Healthy Living Network. In addition to her own experience learning about juicing, vegetarianism, organic food, non-toxic products, and other elements of a healthy diet and life, the author brings in voices from the world of health, nutrition, and alternative medicine to lend their expertise—these include leaders in the living-foods movement such as Dr. Gabriel Cousens, David Wolfe, and Victoria Boutenko, along with professionals well-versed in alternative medicinal approaches. Cathy Silvers successfully healed a breast condition with Chinese medicine when her doctor wanted to perform a double mastectomy. This and other experiences with alternative medicine led her to include healing along with diet in her discussion of healthy choices. One of the more moving themes of the book is the author's touching relationship with her famous and largely absent father, the late Phil Silvers, who inspired her as an actress andentrepreneur but also left her to grapple with the issue of who he really was. Short passages by Erin Moran, Marion Ross, and Henry Winkler of Happy Days highlight the book, along with a preface by the show's producer, Garry Marshall, and an introduction by its star, Ron Howard. A good read with plenty of salient information about Hollywood and healthy living.
Table of Contents:
Dedication ix
Preface: Arnold's Drive-In xi
Foreword: The Day Jenny Piccolo Walked Through My Door Garry Marshall xv
Foreword Victoria Boutenko xvii
Foreword Ron Howard xix
Happy Days
From Whence I Came Freddie Fields 3
Hollywood Parties 10
Behind the Scenes 17
Growing Up in Beverly Hills 21
Life in The South 26
My Teen Years 29
My First Public-Speaking Gigs Shawn Schepps, Hollywood-Film and Television Writer, Producer, and Director 35
Drama Queen 44
The Fourth of July 49
The Bet: How I Got the Role of Jenny Piccolo Erin Moran Joanie Cunningham Talent Manager Lou Pitt 54
"Lights, Camera, Action!" Filming Happy Days Henry Winkler, The Fonz 72
Softball and USO Tours with the Happy Days Crew Marion Ross (Mrs. Cunningham) 87
The Sit-Com Circuit 93
Exit, Stage Right: College-Bound 97
Hollywood Calling, But the Handsome Doctor Prevails 105
When "Happily Ever After" Ended Talent Agent ScottHarris 113
The Return of Sgt. Bilko (The Movie) 118
Back in the Sit-Com Saddle 126
Camping with My Kids 130
Rock Climbing 135
Health Problems Lead Me to Alternative Medicine 146
My New Family 149
Healthy Living
The Fast Track to My Grave Kristin Rotblatt, LAc 159
"Mom, I Am a Vegan Now" Matt Amsden 173
The Vegan Challenge Vegan and Raw Vegan Chefs Matt Amsden Ann Gentry Tanya Petrovna 182
Seeking the Quick Fix 193
Homeopathy, Nature's UCLA Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Dr. Jay Gordon 197
Healing My Sinus Problems Naturally Colon Hydro-Therapist Carrie Kish 205
A Non-Toxic Home 209
From Vegan to Raw Vegan Raw Vegan Chefs Matt Amsden Rod Rotondi Living Foods Movement Authority Dr. Gabriel Cousens 213
Adventures in Raw-Food Prep 226
The Healthy Living Network, THLN Entertainer E.G. Daily, Living-Foods Movement Pioneer David Wolfe Raw Melissa, Dessert Chef 232
All Aboard! We're Taking It to the Streets and Screens 244
Additional Experts: More Voices of Experience
Sergei Boutenko: Living Foods Movement Leader 256
Valya Boutenko: Living Foods Movement Leader 260
Alex Malinsky: Living Foods Movement Leader 264
Janabai Amsden: Natural Beauty and Health Leader 266
Dr. Matia Brizman: Doctor of Chinese Medicine 275
Lynda Fassa: Organic Clothing Pioneer 282
Tessa Hill: Founder of Kids for Saving Earth 286
Happy Oasis and Laura Fox: Raw Spirit Festival Founders 294
Afterword 297
Acknowledgments 301
Resources for Healthy Living 307
Bibliography 313
