Violent Femmes Women as Spies

The female spy has long exerted a strong grip on the popular imagination, most notably in the form of Mata Hari, but also in more recent fictional representations, such as Nikita (in film and television versions) and Sydney Bristow in the television series Alias . This study proposes that the figure of the female spy constitutes a nexus of contradictory ideas about femininity, power, and sexuality in British and American culture.Fictional representations of women as spies have long traced the dynamic of women's changing roles in British and American culture. Employing the central trope of women who work as spies, the book examines cultural shifts during the twentieth century regarding the role of women in the professional workplace. Beginning with an examination of the male spy in twentieth-century popular fiction, White's revealing book then moves on to examine female spies, focusing on the various manifestations of Mata Hari, and comparing and contrasting numerous female spies in investigative case studies of The Bionic Woman, Modesty Blaise and Purdey from The New Avengers amongst others.The fascinating book addresses active/violent women in fiction and on screen, arguing that such figures refract ongoing debates about the limits of femininity. Here, spies are examined as representations of woman which test the boundaries of gender. Useful for a wide range of courses on women, gender, film, popular and culture studies, this book will appeal to students from undergraduate level upwards, and is a much needed addition to a field currently lacking in academic material.White, Rosie is the author of 'Violent Femmes Women as Spies' with ISBN 9780415370776 and ISBN 0415370779.