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Feminism is one of the most recent ideologies to emerge, although its origins can be traced far back into history. We examine its historical roots and identify and discuss the different forms of feminism that have developed over the last two centuries. We then link feminism with other ideologies and conclude with a critique and assessment of feminism in the modern world
9 Feminism in popular culture This chapter brings together debates about the relationships between feminism and popular culture in the 1980s and 1990s which explored how feminism was envisaged within popular culture. These debates are organised around concepts such as 'backlash', 'post-feminism', 'celebrity feminism' and 'popular feminism', and attempt to get to grips with the question 'where has feminism gone?' As will become clear, there has been considerable disagreement about how feminism has figured within the popular and about how to theorise the
1 Second-wave feminism and femininity This chapter examines how some of the key ideas introduced in this book have their roots in what has become known as 'secondwave feminism', the ideas and practices associated with the women's movements of the 1960s and 1970s. While it might seem unnecessary to turn back to this period of feminist struggle, there are a number of important reasons for doing so. First, for many students of feminism today, myself included, second-wave feminism is seen as a product of the past. Therefore, this chapter aims to give, albeit
This book introduces some of the key ideas which have their roots in what has become known as 'second wave feminism', the ideas and practices associated with the women's movements of the 1960s and 1970s. While it might seem unnecessary to turn back to this period of feminist struggle, there are a number of important reasons for doing so. A major concern of the book is the ways in which popular culture and femininities need to be studied historically. For this reason, it is also necessary to understand feminist identities as the product of specific historical contexts. The book explores some themes in the history of second-wave feminism and has inevitably sacrificed complexity in the interests of brevity by placing greater emphasis on feminisms in the US. It discusses one form of feminism which sees femininity as inferior to masculinity: that is, that equality between men and women might be achieved if women rejected feminine values and behaviour in favour of masculine values and behaviour. The book also demonstrates that understanding of popular culture has been central to many feminists whose work has been informed by cultural studies. One of the main arguments and themes throughout the book is that what it means to be a woman is not something fixed for all time but is subject to transformation, contestation and change.
This book studies a distinctive brand of women's rights that emerged out of the Victorian Secularist movement, and looks at the lives and work of a number of female activists, whose renunciation of religion shaped their struggle for emancipation. Anti-religious or secular ideas were fundamental to the development of feminist thought, but have, until now, been almost entirely passed over in the historiography of the Victorian and Edwardian women's movement. In uncovering an important tradition of freethinking feminism, the book reveals an ongoing radical and free love current connecting Owenite feminism with the more ‘respectable’ post-1850 women's movement and the ‘New Women’ of the early twentieth century.
The Secularist movement was home to a distinctively Freethinking brand of feminism, which viewed Christianity as the primary cause of women’s oppression. Freethought ideology prompted a re-definition of womanhood which could lead to far reaching and radical suggestions for transforming woman’s role in society. Secularists’ renunciation of religion necessarily entailed a rejection of the notion of
2 Feminism, cultural studies and popular culture This chapter explores the movement of feminism into academic life in general and the study of popular culture in particular. Given that the women involved in feminist struggles in the US, and to a slightly lesser extent in the UK, were often highly educated, middle-class women, it is perhaps not surprising that feminist concerns made inroads into academic disciplines relatively quickly. However, this was not a straightforward process: feminism's impact on different disciplines was uneven and feminist perspectives
This book makes the case for an inclusive form of socialist feminism that will benefit both individuals and societies, and that puts multiply disadvantaged women at its heart. It argues that developing a feminist vocabulary is a key part of feminist politics, and it demystifies some key terms, including patriarchy and intersectionality. The book’s longest chapter engages with fierce disputes between some feminists and some trans women, and suggests possible compromises and ways forward. It argues throughout that the analysis of gender cannot be isolated from that of class or race, that patriarchy is inexorably entangled with capitalism, and that the needs of most women will not be met in an economy based on the pursuit of profit. In making these arguments, it explains why capitalism is not meeting human needs and it highlights the flaws in the ideologies that sustain it; it also shows how the assumptions of neoliberalism are incompatible with anything other than a narrow, elitist form of feminism that has little relevance for most women. Throughout, the book asserts the social, economic and human importance of the unpaid caring and domestic work that has been traditionally done by women, and the need to redistribute this and value it properly. It concludes that the combination of some policy trends, the increased presence of feminists in positions of influence and a rise in all kinds of grassroots activism give grounds for optimism about a future that could be both more feminist and more socialist.
M410 HARRIS TEXT.qxd 20/7/06 11:35 AM Page 34 Phil's G4 Phil's G4:Users:phil:Public 2 The end(s) of feminism(s)? From Madonna to Ally McBeal Defining terms: the feminine, feminist, postmodern feminism and postfeminism In an overview of the field since the 1970s, the editors of Feminist Television Criticism state that ‘feminist television criticism has not adequately conceptualised its own meanings for feminism, but instead has mirrored the “common sense” meanings of feminism that circulate in both popular and academic cultures’. As they indicate, this
7 Nationalism and feminism I remember that period as very, very rich. You share, you debate . . . We were very young, very brazen . . . We talked about the issue of sexuality, and within sexuality, the issue of masturbation . . . And we made posters, and put them up in the neighbourhood. I’m amazed! The things we did! [laughter]. (#10, b. 1957) I think all the women in the nationalist left are feminists. And all the new generations what are joining are feminist women. But I think we still haven’t found the main point. This is unfinished business. (#16, b. 1958