Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet: Women in Proverbs from around the World

In cultures throughout the world, sex and gender issues have been expressed in proverbs, the world's most concise literary genre. Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet provides revealing insights into the female condition across centuries and continents, as recorded in thousands of vivid and earthy proverbs about women.  Mineke Schipper explores the similarities, differences, and contradictions that coexist in cultural norms about gender from hundreds of languages and over 150 countries. Grouping the sayings into such categories as the female body, love, sex, childbirth, and female power, she finds stunning patterns in ideas about women—and men. This cross-cultural study and critical analysis of proverbs about women is a unique and intriguing resource to dip into again and again.  ''A fine contribution to the cosmopolitan conversation that ought to come about globalization.''—K. Anthony Appiah, Princeton University  ''A fascinating analysis of more than 15,000 proverbs. . . . Engrossing.''—Carolyne Larrington, Times Literary Supplement (20060501)