Femininity, Masculinity, and Sexuality in Morocco and Hollywood

Book excerpt: This book is the first to formulate an ideology of emancipation for women in Morocco. Beginning with constructs of the body, femininity and masculinity, it analyzes the central role played by the sociopolitical writing of sexuality in creating gender hierarchy. The author focuses on Morocco, while drawing parallels with Hollywood cinema, one of the great producers of femininity and masculinity, and conducts an exhaustive examination of constructs of femininity and masculinity in language, social practices, cultural productions and legal texts. The objectives of this project are tripartite: it exposes the dynamics that devalue women’s humanity; it charts the schemas of their sexual, economic and sociopolitical exploitation; and it advances concrete solutions for re-establishing women’s human dignity.