A radical reassessment of the causes of sexual inequality, ‘The Playful Self’ argues that, with its emphasis on the workplace, modern feminism has ignored one crucial factor: a woman’s right to play.
A man has a God-given right to play football on a Sunday morning; a child cannot survive without two hours’ frenetic activity in the park. What does the woman in their life do? Make the lunch.
Women are going to work in increasing numbers; at the same time they are shouldering most of the responsibility for housework and childcare. The result is that the sum total of women’s work is going up while the overall quality of their lives is going down. Work is not the answer to women’s problems- instead, they need to resurrect the inclination and the ability to play; they need to make time, and take time, for play. Some of the answers lie in society – the way it structures and restrains women’s leisure; others lie within women themselves. Based on nationwide interviews with women of all ages and backgrounds, THE PLAYFUL SELF is not just a theoretical breakthrough, it is grounded in the lives of real women.
