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11th out of 34 books
—
17 voters
Red Nails, Black Skates: Gender, Cash, and Pleasure on and off the Ice
by
Erica Rand
In her forties, Erica Rand bought a pair of figure skates to vary her workout routine. Within a few years, the college professor was immersed in adult figure skating. Here, in short, incisive essays, she describes the pleasures to be found in the rink, as well as the exclusionary practices that make those pleasures less accessible to some than to others. Throughout the boo...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
April 13th 2012
by Duke University Press Books
(first published March 12th 2012)
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Erica Rand, AM'81, PhD'89
Author
Erica Rand, a self-identified middle-aged figure-skating dyke college teacher, took up figure skating at age 43. As she became increasingly immersed in the world of adult competition (she participated in the Gay Games and the Adult Nationals), she found herself focusing her research on the world of skating. Here in a series of short, witty, and incisive essays, she reflects on the sexualization of female skaters, the hairdos and costumes, racial bias in movement ge...more
Author
Erica Rand, a self-identified middle-aged figure-skating dyke college teacher, took up figure skating at age 43. As she became increasingly immersed in the world of adult competition (she participated in the Gay Games and the Adult Nationals), she found herself focusing her research on the world of skating. Here in a series of short, witty, and incisive essays, she reflects on the sexualization of female skaters, the hairdos and costumes, racial bias in movement ge...more
I won a pre-published copy of Red Nails, Black Skates: Gender, Cash, and Pleasure on and off the Ice by Erica Rand from Goodreads last spring. The cover is enticing, as is the title, and I was looking forward to the read. Unfortunately the book didn't grab me, the way I hoped it would, and I openly admit that was due to me and not due to the book. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I found between the covers. What I did find interesting were many of Rand's personal exp...more
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Overall I thought this was an interesting book. I'm always interested in the different ways that gender roles affect people, and this book certainly dealt with a lot of unusual experiences revolving around figure skating. There were funny parts, serious parts, and parts that made you think.
That said, it did feel like maybe the information included didn't need to be an entire book. Some of the essays seemed to really repeat themselves. It was set up in 8 different sections, and there was an intro...more
That said, it did feel like maybe the information included didn't need to be an entire book. Some of the essays seemed to really repeat themselves. It was set up in 8 different sections, and there was an intro...more
I won this in a goodreads giveaway.
The gendered roles within figure skating are apparent to anyone that has watched the Olympics, but reading about those roles from the perspective of a queer adult figure skater made for an interesting read. There was also something really enjoyable about someone finding their athletic passion later in life. So often people feel like after they've hit their athletic prime that there's no real point in trying, but this book is a clear reminder that that's not the...more
The gendered roles within figure skating are apparent to anyone that has watched the Olympics, but reading about those roles from the perspective of a queer adult figure skater made for an interesting read. There was also something really enjoyable about someone finding their athletic passion later in life. So often people feel like after they've hit their athletic prime that there's no real point in trying, but this book is a clear reminder that that's not the...more
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Erica Rand is a writer, critic, activist, and Professor of Art and Visual Culture and of Women and Gender Studies at Bates College in Lewiston, ME. She also serves on the editorial board of the journal Radical Teacher. Her book, The Ellis Island Snow Globe, won the Alan Bray Memorial Book Award from the Modern Language Association's GL/Q Caucus.
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