The Female Rogue - by Jacquelyn Jackson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Female body hatred and fear have been reinforced by religion and culture for centuries, but can be transformed with female agency driven by unearthing and living healthy narratives of female strength and sacredness that will change laws and lives.

Hundreds of female eyes, locked in oil and clay, latch onto Jacquelyn's body as she wanders the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Female images frozen in frames and on pedestals as virgins and victims adrift in a sea of male kings and conquerors. The fierce female gaze ignites a panic attack, and she swears she can hear their plea: Set us free.

Two months later, a dream as insistent as the female eyes shakes her awake with a question: Where is my rogue? She searches New York sidewalks and Montana meadows. When she awakens, she knows her rogue is not outside but in.

Jacquelyn knew rogue energy as a child but puberty stole her away. The eyes insist she get the energy back. How? By acknowledging her innate female agency, and replacing obsessions over external appearance with trust for her body, instincts, intuition, and dream wisdom. Search, the eyes urge, for female rogue-models through time, and scour history for lies and blank spaces. Reject the biggest lie of all: sin wallpapers female bodies.

Rogue is her passion and soul. "Be fierce," rogue commands. "I am your body, soul, intellect, and self." Jacquelyn says yes. The eyes have it.

Review Quotes

"A beautiful writer, a shaper of words and dreams. The whimsy and logic and history, both personal and book learned, take my breath away. You have a winner here."--Susan Fifer Canby, Vice President Emeritus, National Geographic Society

"Both brilliant and embodied, Jackson has a voice that's desperately needed and instantly relatable. Jackson's work is so needed and so critical to add to the growing chorus that believes as she does--that actually it's good to be human, innately good; from soul to skin, from bones to breath."--Meggan Watterson, feminist theologian, MDIV, MTS, Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Mary Magdalene Revealed

"Jacquelyn Jackson's memoir offers a full-throated, fully human, fully divine voice that brings to life the opportunity to reclaim the truth of our beauty."--Jeanne Marie Mudd, Founder and CEO, Watershed Ways

"Jacquelyn's journey to claim her rogue traces centuries of female sexualization and subservience that women continue to experience today. This beautifully written memoir reminds us that the stress and grief we carry is handed down through generations. The Female Rogue urges us to reject this collective trauma by claiming our inner rogue."--Ellen McDonnell, retired executive director of NPR news programming

"Jacquelyn's quest to claim the truth of her own body, while also digging into truths of female history too long buried, inspires all of us to go rogue. Fiercely and now."--Laura Munson, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author and founder of the acclaimed Haven Writing Retreats

About the Author

Jacquelyn L. Jackson is a writer, clinical social worker, and yoga instructor whose career has focused on female body issues. Her essays have been aired on NPR and she has published articles and op eds in the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, the Arizona Republic, and Arizona Daily Star. She completed a Winter Course at the Jungian Institute in Zurich and incorporates dream analysis in her clinical practice. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.