Pushing the boundaries: Weeds, Motherhood, Neoliberalism and Postfeminism

Abstract

Weeds (2005-2012) ran for eight seasons. It is a U.S television comedy-drama which centres on Nancy Botwin, who is a mother, widow and drug dealer. Dealing in drugs can be seen as a departure from her life as a stay-at-home mother which removes her from the conservative, patriarchal suburban norms of middle-class suburbia, and its expectations of women and mothers. Throughout the seasons there is a dissident portrayal of motherhood as Nancy through her willfulness, entrepreneurial plans, overt sexuality and feminine tactics becomes a successful businesswoman. Weeds deals with taboo issues related to gender, sexuality and morality. I consider how in Weeds, Nancy’s transgressive nature situates her within a postfeminist neoliberal discourse. Weeds presents a world in which a woman can achieve success by embracing masculine, capitalist, individualistic endeavours whilst still adhering to feminine behaviours.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

2016

Location of the Work

Australia

Publisher

University of Western Australia

School

School of Arts and Humanities / Centre for Research in Entertainment, Arts, Technology, Education and Communications

RAS ID

22527

Comments

Allmark, P. (2016). Pushing the boundaries: Weeds, Motherhood, Neoliberalism and Postfeminism. Outskirts: Feminisms along the Edge, 35(November), 1-23. Available here.

Copyright

free_to_read

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