American Gold Digger - (Gender and American Culture) by Brian Donovan (Paperback)

About the Book

"The stereotype of the 'gold digger' has a fascinating trajectory in twentieth century America, from tales of greedy chorus girls to tabloid coverage about Anna Nicole Smith and her octogenarian tycoon husband, from vaudeville jokes to contemporary hip hop lyrics. While stories of conniving women who manipulate men for money have been around for centuries, the use of the specific term only dates back to the 1910s, when it was first published in a book by suffragette Virginia Brooks. Here, Brian Donovan traces the development of the "gold digger" to reveal the porous relationship between law and culture, using the concept to assess the power of stereotypes that create and reinforce social inequality"--

Book Synopsis

The stereotype of the "gold digger" has had a fascinating trajectory in twentieth-century America, from tales of greedy flapper-era chorus girls to tabloid coverage of Anna Nicole Smith and her octogenarian tycoon husband. The term entered American vernacular in the 1910s as women began to assert greater power over courtship, marriage, and finances, threatening men's control of legal and economic structures. Over the course of the century, the gold digger stereotype reappeared as women pressed for further control over love, sex, and money while laws failed to keep pace with such realignments. The gold digger can be seen in silent films, vaudeville jokes, hip hop lyrics, and reality television. Whether feared, admired, or desired, the figure of the gold digger appears almost everywhere gender, sexuality, class, and race collide.

This fascinating interdisciplinary work reveals the assumptions and disputes around women's sexual agency in American life, shedding new light on the cultural and legal forces underpinning romantic, sexual, and marital relationships.

Review Quotes

"Well organized and researched, analyzing how attitudes toward women's changing roles in society during specific eras (e.g., the 1920s, WW II, the 1960s) affected the gold digger stereotype. It includes an impressive bibliography and useful endnotes."--CHOICE