The Social Sex: A Cultural History of Female Friendship from the Bible to Bridesmaids

• Books & Literature
• Legal, Politics & Economics

In today’s culture, the bonds of female friendship are taken as a given.

But only a few centuries ago, the idea of female friendship was unacknowledged, as only men, it was assumed, had the emotional and intellectual depth to develop and sustain these meaningful relationships. Acclaimed historian Marilyn Yalom and co-author, Theresa Donovan Brown examine shifting attitudes towards female friendship in history, literature, philosophy, religion and pop culture to demonstrate how women have been able to co-opt the public face of friendship throughout the years. Chronicling shifting attitudes toward friendship from the Bible and the Romans to the Enlightenment to the women’s rights movements of the ‘60s up to “Sex and the City” and Bridesmaids, they reveal how the concept of female friendship has been inextricably linked to the larger social and cultural movements that have defined human history.