Women in the western / edited by Sue Matheson.

Explores the changing roles of women to the Western and offers new approaches to what has been a male-centred genre. Pioneers new avenues for research on the Western and includes a bibliography of the extant criticism on women and Western to encourage further scholarship. Charts significant shifts in Hollywood's transmission of American gender values and expectations. Examines the common Western tropes of women homesteaders, soiled doves, masculinised and erotically dangerous women and female characters bent on revenge. Traditional and intertextual representations of women in the Western are considered. As Anthony Mann has pointed out, women are essential in the Western. The first collected volume devoted to women in the Western, this book charts significant shifts in the transmission of American gender values and expectations from silent films to "feminist" dusters on Netflix today. Authors from six countries examine the contributions of women homesteaders, soiled doves, masculinized and erotically dangerous women, female characters bent on revenge, rape victims to the genre. Traditional and intertextual representations of women in the Western are also considered and a bibliography of the extant criticism on women and Western concludes this collection to encourage further reading and scholarship.