Without a Net

The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class

Author: Michelle Tea
ISBN: 1580051030

While many recent books have thoughtfully examined the plight of the working poor in America, none of the authors of these books is able to claim a working-class background, and there are associated methodological and ethical concerns raised when most of the explicatory writing on how poverty affects women and girls is done by educated, upper-class journalists. It was these concerns that prompted indie icon Michelle Tea--whose memoir, The Chelsea Whistle, details her own working-class roots in gritty Chelsea, Massachusetts--to collect these fierce, honest, tender essays written by writers who can't go home to the suburbs when their assignment is over. These wide-ranging essays cover everything from stealing and selling blood to make ends meet; to "jumping" class; how if time equals money, then being poor means waiting; surviving and returning to the ghetto; and how feminine identity is shaped by poverty. Contributors include Dorothy Allison, Diane Di Prima, Terri Griffith, Daisy Hernan

Publisher: Seal Press
Publish Date: 2003

Subjects: Social Science / Women's Studies, Social Science / Essays

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Women's Center (Location: Class/Economics)