- Table View
- List View
Feminism and the Making of a Child Rights Revolution: 1969–1979
by Isobelle Barrett MeyeringWhen Australian women's liberationists challenged prevailing expectations of female domesticity, they were accused of being anti-mother and anti-child. Feminism and the Making of a Child Rights Revolution provides a much-needed reassessment of this stereotype. Drawing on extensive archival research and personal accounts, it places feminists at the forefront of a new wave of children's rights activism that went beyond calls for basic protections for children, instead demanding their liberation. Historian Isobelle Barrett Meyering revisits this revolutionary approach and charts the debates it sparked within the women's movement. Her examination of feminists' ground-breaking campaigns on major social issues of the 1970s-from childcare to sex education to family violence-also reveals women's concerted efforts to apply this ideal in their personal lives and to support children's own activism. Feminism and the Making of a Child Rights Revolution sheds light on the movement's expansive vision for social change and its lasting impact on the way we view the rights of women and children.
Feminism and the Politics of 'Resilience': Essays on Gender, Media and the End of Welfare
by Angela McRobbieIn this short and provocative book, cultural studies scholar Angela McRobbie develops a much-needed feminist account of neoliberalism. Highlighting the ways in which popular culture and the media actively produce and sustain the cultural imaginary for social polarization, she shows how there is substantial pressure on women not just to be employed, but to prioritize working life. She fiercely challenges the media gatekeepers who shape contemporary womanhood by means of exposure and public shaming, and pays particular attention to the endemic nature of anti-welfarism as it is addressed to women, thereby reducing the scope for feminist solidarity. In this theoretically rich and deep analysis of current cultural processes, McRobbie introduces a series of concepts including 'visual media governmentality' and the urging of women into work as 'contraceptive employment'. Foregrounding a triage of ideas as the 'perfect-imperfect-resilience' McRobbie conveys some of the key means by which consumer capitalism attempts to manage the threats posed by the new feminisms. She proposes that 'resilience' emerges as a compromise, as hard-edged neoliberalism proffers the option of a return to liberal feminism.A lively and devastating critique, Feminism and Neoliberalism offers a much-needed wake-up call. It is essential reading for students and scholars of cultural studies, media, sociology, and women's and gender studies.
Feminism and the Power of Law (Sociology of Law and Crime)
by Carol SmartIn this now established text the author presents her analysis of the power of law and argues for a feminist post-structuralist approach. She comments on pornography, as well as discussing recent research on rape trials and abortion legislation.
Feminism and the Power of Love: Interdisciplinary Interventions (Routledge Advances in Feminist Studies and Intersectionality)
by Adriana García-Andrade Lena Gunnarsson Anna G. JónasdóttirThe power of love has become a renewed matter of feminist and non-feminist attention in the 21st century’s theory debates. What is this power? Is it a form of domination? Or is it a liberating force in our contemporary societies? Within Feminism and the Power of Love lies the central argument that, although love is a crucial site of gendered power asymmetries, it is also a vital source of human empowerment that we cannot live without. Instead of emphasizing "either-or", this enlightening title puts the dualities and contradictions of love center stage. Indeed, by offering various theoretical perspectives on what makes love such a central value and motivator for people, this title will increase one’s understanding as to why love can keep people in its grip - even when practiced in ways that deplete and oppress. In light of such analyses, the contributions within Feminism and the Power of Love present new perspectives on the conditions and characteristics of non-oppressive, mutually enhancing ways of loving. Bridging the gap between Feminist Affect Studies and Feminist Love Studies, this book will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students, including postdoctoral researchers, interested in fields such as women’s and gender studies, sociology, political science, philosophy, cultural studies and sexuality studies.
Feminism and the Religious Significance of Laughing Bodies
by Nicole GrahamThis book identifies the significance of the body through a feminist reconceptualisation of laughter as a means of insight.It positions itself within the emerging scholarship on religion and humour but distinguishes itself by moving away from the emphasis on humour and instead focuses on the place and role of laughter. Through a feminist reading of laughter, which is grounded in the philosophical and psychological works of William James, this book emphasises the importance of the body to offer an exploration of laughter as a means of insight. In doing so, it challenges the classificatory orders of knowledge by recognising and arguing for the value of the body in the creation of knowledge and understanding. To demonstrate the centrality of the body for insight laughter, and thus the creation of knowledge, this book engages with laughter within three thematic areas: religious experience, gendered experiences of laughter, and the ethics of laughter.This book will be of interest to students and researchers in religious studies, theology, gender studies, humour studies, philosophy, and the history of ideas.
Feminism and the Women's Movement in Malaysia: An Unsung (R)evolution (Routledge Malaysian Studies Series #Vol. 2)
by Cecilia Ng Maznah Mohamad tan beng HuiCombining both personal and academic insights into the Malaysian women’s movement, this study provides an in-depth account of the multiple struggles of the Malaysian women’s movement, from securing gender equality in a patriarchal society to achieving unity among members of a multi-ethnic society that are further divided along class and religious lines. Most historical versions of national struggles have created icons out of male figures. The authors of this book have provided a corrective to this. They detail the importance of the role of the women’s movement, led by numerous unsung personalities in promoting social change in Malaysia. The book centres on a crucial argument: that in the context of an ethnically fragmented post-colonial, authoritarian society, an autonomous woman movement, which began in the early eighties had actually achieved significant political success. However the study observes that by the late 1990s, feminist issues were also readily appropriated by the state and the market, and also suggests that the emergence of ‘market feminism’ poses specific challenges for the future of the Malaysian women’s movement. This thorough and engaging account of feminism and the women’s movement in Malaysia will capture the interest of scholars, policy makers and activists.
Feminism at the Movies: Understanding Gender in Contemporary Popular Cinema
by Hilary Radner Rebecca StringerFeminism at the Movies: Understanding Gender in Contemporary Popular Cinema examines the way that contemporary film reflects today’s changing gender roles. The book offers a comprehensive overview of the central issues in feminist film criticism with analyses of over twenty popular contemporary films across a range of genres, such as chick flicks, teen pics, hommecoms, horror, action adventure, indie flicks, and women lawyer films. Contributors explore issues of femininity as well as masculinity, reflecting on the interface of popular cinema with gendered realities and feminist ideas. Topics include the gendered political economy of cinema, the female director as auteur, postfeminist fatherhood, consumer culture, depictions of professional women, transgender, sexuality, gendered violence, and the intersections of gender, race, and ethnic identities. The volume contains essays by following contributors: Taunya Lovell Banks, Heather Brook, Mridula Nath Chakraborty, Michael DeAngelis, Barry Keith Grant, Kelly Kessler, Hannah Hamad, Christina Lane (with Nicole Richter), JaneMaree Maher, David Hansen-Miller (with Rosalind Gill), Gary Needham, Sarah Projansky, Hilary Radner, Rob Schaap, Yael D Sherman, Michele Shreiber, Janet Staiger, Peter Stapleton, Rebecca Stringer, Yvonne Tasker, and Ewa Ziarek.
Feminism for Women: The Real Route to Liberation
by Julie Bindel'Timely, necessary and important' J.K. Rowling'[This book is] guaranteed to remind us what we have still to fight for. I can't think of a single person who wouldn't benefit from reading it' ObserverFeminism is a quest for the liberation of women from patriarchy. Feminism strives for a world in which women are not oppressed. Feminism prioritises exposing and ending male violence towards women and girls.This is Julie Bindel's feminism, a definition born of 40 years at the front line of the feminist movement. Why then, she asks, is feminism the only social justice movement in the world that is expected to prioritise every other issue before pursuing its own objective of women's liberation? Why does the movement appear to be moving backwards, accommodating the rights and feelings of men and leaving women in the cold? Women make up half the global population yet why is feminism still treated as a minority movement?In this searing and ground-breaking book, Bindel deconstructs the many pervasive myths about feminism - Do women really want what men have? Can men be feminists? Are women liberated by sexual violation? - assessing whether feminism has achieved its goals and debunking theories that second wave feminism is irrelevant and one-dimensional.Bindel shines a light on the most important issues, including pornography, sexual violence and prostitution. Drawing on Bindel's own experiences, as well as countless interviews with women and girls of all ages and backgrounds (as well as contributions from commentators such as Gloria Steinem and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie), Feminism for Women presents a clear-sighted view of why feminism is a proud social movement that every woman on the planet benefits from.The invisible forces of misogyny affect us all.This book is a call to arms to reclaim feminism for all women.Only together can we resist and overcome.
Feminism for Women: The Real Route to Liberation
by Julie Bindel'Timely, necessary and important' J.K. Rowling'[This book is] guaranteed to remind us what we have still to fight for. I can't think of a single person who wouldn't benefit from reading it' Observer'Bindel is a rock star of second-wave feminism . . . an important, courageous book' The Times'Bindel delivers a robust call to arms in every chapter . . . this book could not be timelier . . . As a young feminist who has finally seen the light, I consider it essential reading' The CriticFeminism is a quest for the liberation of women from patriarchy. Feminism strives for a world in which women are not oppressed. Feminism prioritises exposing and ending male violence towards women and girls.This is Julie Bindel's feminism, a definition born of 40 years at the front line of the feminist movement. Why then, she asks, is feminism the only social justice movement in the world that is expected to prioritise every other issue before pursuing its own objective of women's liberation? Why does the movement appear to be moving backwards, accommodating the rights and feelings of men and leaving women in the cold? Women make up half the global population yet why is feminism still treated as a minority movement?In this searing and ground-breaking book, Bindel deconstructs the many pervasive myths about feminism - Do women really want what men have? Can men be feminists? Are women liberated by sexual violation? - assessing whether feminism has achieved its goals and debunking theories that second wave feminism is irrelevant and one-dimensional.Bindel shines a light on the most important issues, including pornography, sexual violence and prostitution. Drawing on Bindel's own experiences, as well as countless interviews with women and girls of all ages and backgrounds (as well as contributions from commentators such as Gloria Steinem and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie), Feminism for Women presents a clear-sighted view of why feminism is a proud social movement that every woman on the planet benefits from.The invisible forces of misogyny affect us all.This book is a call to arms to reclaim feminism for all women.Only together can we resist and overcome.
Feminism for Women: The Real Route to Liberation
by Julie Bindel'Timely, necessary and important' J.K. Rowling'[This book is] guaranteed to remind us what we have still to fight for. I can't think of a single person who wouldn't benefit from reading it' Observer'Bindel is a rock star of second-wave feminism . . . an important, courageous book' The Times'Bindel delivers a robust call to arms in every chapter . . . this book could not be timelier . . . As a young feminist who has finally seen the light, I consider it essential reading' The CriticFeminism is a quest for the liberation of women from patriarchy. Feminism strives for a world in which women are not oppressed. Feminism prioritises exposing and ending male violence towards women and girls.This is Julie Bindel's feminism, a definition born of 40 years at the front line of the feminist movement. Why then, she asks, is feminism the only social justice movement in the world that is expected to prioritise every other issue before pursuing its own objective of women's liberation? Why does the movement appear to be moving backwards, accommodating the rights and feelings of men and leaving women in the cold? Women make up half the global population yet why is feminism still treated as a minority movement?In this searing and ground-breaking book, Bindel deconstructs the many pervasive myths about feminism - Do women really want what men have? Can men be feminists? Are women liberated by sexual violation? - assessing whether feminism has achieved its goals and debunking theories that second wave feminism is irrelevant and one-dimensional.Bindel shines a light on the most important issues, including pornography, sexual violence and prostitution. Drawing on Bindel's own experiences, as well as countless interviews with women and girls of all ages and backgrounds (as well as contributions from commentators such as Gloria Steinem and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie), Feminism for Women presents a clear-sighted view of why feminism is a proud social movement that every woman on the planet benefits from.The invisible forces of misogyny affect us all. This book is a call to arms to reclaim feminism for all women. Only together can we resist and overcome.
Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto
by Nancy Fraser Cinzia Arruzza Tithi BhattacharyaNamed one of Vogue’s “Most Anticipated Books of 2019” <P><P>This is a manifesto for the 99 percent <P><P>Unaffordable housing, poverty wages, inadequate healthcare, border policing, climate change—these are not what you ordinarily hear feminists talking about. But aren’t they the biggest issues for the vast majority of women around the globe? <P><P>Taking as its inspiration the new wave of feminist militancy that has erupted globally, this manifesto makes a simple but powerful case: feminism shouldn’t start—or stop—with the drive to have women represented at the top of their professions. It must focus on those at the bottom, and fight for the world they deserve. And that means targeting capitalism. Feminism must be anticapitalist, eco-socialist and antiracist.
Feminism for the Americas: The Making of an International Human Rights Movement (Gender and American Culture)
by Katherine M. MarinoThis book chronicles the dawn of the global movement for women's rights in the first decades of the twentieth century. The founding mothers of this movement were not based primarily in the United States, however, or in Europe. Instead, Katherine M. Marino introduces readers to a cast of remarkable Latin American and Caribbean women whose deep friendships and intense rivalries forged global feminism out of an era of imperialism, racism, and fascism. Six dynamic activists form the heart of this story: from Brazil, Bertha Lutz; from Cuba, Ofelia Domingez Navarro; from Uruguay, Paulina Luisi; from Panama, Clara Gonzalez; from Chile, Marta Vergara; and from the United States, Doris Stevens. This Pan-American network drove a transnational movement that advocated women's suffrage, equal pay for equal work, maternity rights, and broader self-determination. Their painstaking efforts led to the enshrinement of women's rights in the United Nations Charter and the development of a framework for international human rights. But their work also revealed deep divides, with Latin American activists overcoming U.S. presumptions to feminist superiority. As Marino shows, these early fractures continue to influence divisions among today's activists along class, racial, and national lines. Marino's multinational and multilingual research yields a new narrative for the creation of global feminism. The leading women introduced here were forerunners in understanding the power relations at the heart of international affairs. Their drive to enshrine fundamental rights for women, children, and all people of the world stands as a testament to what can be accomplished when global thinking meets local action.
Feminism in America: A History
by William L. O'NeillWilliam L. O'Neill's lively history of American women's struggle for equality is written with style and a keen sense for the variety of possible interpretations of 150 years of the feminist movement, from its earliest stirring in the 1830's to the latest developments in the 1980s.O'Neill's most controversial thesis is that the feminist movements of the past have largely failed, and for reasons that remains of deep concern; the movements have never come to grips with the fact that marriage and the family are the chief obstacles to women's emancipation. O'Neill also holds that the sexual revolution of the 1920s, far from liberating women, actually undermined their role in American life.O'Neill treats seriously the ideas of the great feminist leaders and their organizations. His was the first book to deal directly with the failure of feminism as a social force in American society; to tie together the scattered people and events in the history of American women; and to examine seriously feminist experience in the twentieth century. Since the women's agenda is hardly complete, the women's movement remains active, often militantly so. In this new revised edition, O'Neill interprets and illumines not only the history of feminism, but aspects of feminism that still trouble us today.O'Neill's book was widely heralded upon its initial publication. Elizabeth Janeway, writing for Saturday Review, calls it "a truly intelligent discussion...an extraordinary perceptive analysis." Carl Degler, in the Magazine of History calls A History of American Feminism "the most challenging and exciting book on the subject of women to appear in years." And Lionel Tiger, writing for the NewRepublic, says that "O'Neill has turned his mastery of a wide range of historical sources into a lively, engaging, and almost faultlessly sensible book."
Feminism in Coalition: Thinking with US Women of Color Feminism
by Liza TaylorIn Feminism in Coalition Liza Taylor examines how US women of color feminists’ coalitional politics provides an indispensable resource to contemporary political theory, feminist studies, and intersectional social justice activism. Taylor charts the theorization of coalition in the work of Bernice Johnson Reagon, Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, the Combahee River Collective, Gloria Anzaldúa, Cherríe Moraga, and others. For these activist-scholars, coalition is a dangerous struggle that emerges from a shared political commitment to undermining oppression and an emphasis on self-transformation. Taylor shows how their coalitional understandings of group politics, identity, consciousness, and scholarship have transformed how activists and theorists build alliances across race, class, gender, sexuality, faith, and ethnicity to tackle systems of domination. Their coalitional politics enrich current discussions surrounding the impetus and longevity of effective activism, present robust theoretical accounts of political subject formation and political consciousness, and demonstrate the promise of collective modes of scholarship. In this way, women of color feminists have been formulating solutions to long-standing problems in political theory. By illustrating coalition’s vitality to a variety of practical and philosophical interdisciplinary discussions, Taylor encourages us to rethink feminist and political theory.
Feminism in Finnish Print Media, 1968-1985 (Genders and Sexualities in History)
by Heidi KurvinenThis book focuses on the discussion of the women’s liberation movement and feminism in Finnish print media between 1968 and 1985. By analysing this topic, the book demonstrates that a relatively well-developed state of gender equality in a society does not necessarily result in fertile ground for feminist activism. On the contrary, it may hinder the success of more radical claims presented by feminists, and mass media serves as a central player in this. Consequently, the book enhances our understanding of the mechanisms that prevent societies from reaching complete equality, and it shows how cultural specificities influence the ways in which transnational ideas of feminism are adopted in a local context. This is shown by analysing the dialogic relationship between journalists and feminist activists as well as the mediated negotiations of the meanings of feminism within the women’s movement.
Feminism in Greek Literature: From Homer to Aristotle (Routledge Revivals)
by F. A. WrightFirst published in 1923, Feminism in Greek Literature explores the representation of women in ancient Greek literature. It provides an in-depth analysis of various works of literature and examines how women were portrayed in these works. The book also discusses the role of women in Greek society and the ways in which literary representations of women may have reflected or influenced social attitudes towards women. It brings themes like early epic; the Ionians and Hesiod; Athens in the fifth century; Euripides and the four feminist plays; Socratic circle; and Plato, Attic Orators and Aristotle. This is an important historical reference work for scholars and researchers of Greek literature, Greek history, and feminist literature.
Feminism in Minutes (In Minutes)
by Shannon WeberWHAT DOES FEMINISM REALLY ENTAIL?200 KEY IDEAS, MOVEMENTS, AND FEMINISTS, EXPLAINED IN AN INSTANTHaving an understanding of feminism is more important now than ever. But what really is feminism--in all its forms? Who were the key feminists, and what are their beliefs? What do feminists think about abortion, sex, religion, pornography, and beauty? And have women achieved equality--or is there still much to do?Feminism in Minutes is the quickest, easiest way to understand the big ideas and history of feminism, from its ancient roots to the #MeToo movement today.Contents include: Basic Concepts; Schools of Feminism; Marriage and Motherhood; Sex, Power, and Sexuality; Activism and Justice; Gender, Religion, War; Women's Achievements in Science and Medicine; Feminism in the Arts; as well as the ideas of essential feminists such as Simone de Beauvoir, Emmeline Pankhurst, Sojourner Truth, Germaine Greer, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Pussy Riot, and Malala Yousafzai, among many others.
Feminism in Public Debt: A Human Rights Approach (Business, Finance and International Development)
by Diane Elson Julieta Rossi Diane Perrons Lena Lavinas Ariel Wilkis Christina Laskaridis Penelope Hawkins Laura Pautassi Iolanda Fresnillo Alicja Paulina Krubnik Marina Zucker Marques Francisco Cantamutto Agostina Constantino Patricia Miranda Camila Villar Duran Maria Nieves Rico Corina Rodríguez Enriquez Florencia Paternio Verónica Serafini Geoghegan Flavia Marco Navarro Leia Achapong Ulrike Marx Dorothy Estrada Tanck María Cristina Perceval Magalí BrosioEPDF and EPUB available open access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. As many developing countries are facing increasingly higher levels of debt and economic instability, this interdisciplinary volume explores the intersection of sovereign debt and women's human rights. Through contributions from leading voices in academia, civil society, international organizations and national governments, it shows how debt-related economic policies are widening gender inequalities and argues for a systematic feminist approach to debt issues. Offering a new perspective on the global debt crisis, this is an invaluable resource for readers who seek to understand the complex relationship between economics and gender.
Feminism in the News
by Kaitlynn MendesAn exploration of therepresentations of the women's movement, its members, and their goals between 1968 and 2008 in the British and American press. Examining over 1100 news articles, the book analyses the nuanced ways feminism has historically been supported, marginalized and debated in the mainstream press. "
Feminism in the United States: A Concise Introduction
by Alison Dahl CrossleyFeminism in the United States: A Concise Introduction presents readers with the key debates and ideas central to contemporary US feminism. With a focus on intersectionality, the book highlights the goals, tactics, and varieties of feminism.This engaging, clear, and accessible text includes current examples, case studies, profiles of key figures in the movement, and opportunities/resources to gather more information. The reader will learn how to employ a feminist lens as an informed conversationalist, social media user, news consumer, and if so desired, activist. Readers will learn about the varieties of contemporary US feminism and how different strands of feminism emerge; the heterogeneity of the movement as it endures over generations in both hospitable and inhospitable climates; and the inequalities addressed and tactics used by feminists to create lasting social change.Feminism in the United States is ideal for undergraduate students, particularly those enrolled in introductory classes in feminist, gender, and sexuality studies and related programs, as well as for the anyone seeking to explore feminism for the first time.
Feminism or Death: How the Women's Movement Can Save the Planet
by Francoise d'EaubonneThe passionately argued, incendiary French feminist work that first defined &“eco-feminism&”—now available for the first time in English Originally published in French in 1974, radical feminist Francoise d&’Eaubonne surveyed women&’s status around the globe and argued that the stakes of feminist struggle was not about equality but about life and death—for humans and the planet. In this wide-ranging manifesto, d&’Eaubonne first proposed a politics of ecofeminism, the idea that the patriarchal system's claim over women's bodies and the natural world destroys both, and that feminism and environmentalism must bring about a new &“mutation&”—an overthrow of not just male power but the system of power itself. As d&’Eaubonne prophesied, &“the planet placed in the feminine will flourish for all.&” Never before published in English, and translated here by French feminist scholar Ruth Hottell, this edition includes an introduction from scholars of ecology and feminism situating d&’Eaubonne&’s work within current feminist theory, environmental justice organizing, and anticolonial feminism.
Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity
by Chandra Talpade MohantyBringing together classic and new writings of the trailblazing feminist theorist Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Feminism without Borders addresses some of the most pressing and complex issues facing contemporary feminism. Forging vital links between daily life and collective action and between theory and pedagogy, Mohanty has been at the vanguard of Third World and international feminist thought and activism for nearly two decades. This collection highlights the concerns running throughout her pioneering work: the politics of difference and solidarity, decolonizing and democratizing feminist practice, the crossing of borders, and the relation of feminist knowledge and scholarship to organizing and social movements. Mohanty offers here a sustained critique of globalization and urges a reorientation of transnational feminist practice toward anticapitalist struggles. Feminism without Borders opens with Mohanty's influential critique of western feminism ("Under Western Eyes") and closes with a reconsideration of that piece based on her latest thinking regarding the ways that gender matters in the racial, class, and national formations of globalization. In between these essays, Mohanty meditates on the lives of women workers at different ends of the global assembly line (in India, the United Kingdom, and the United States); feminist writing on experience, identity, and community; dominant conceptions of multiculturalism and citizenship; and the corporatization of the North American academy. She considers the evolution of interdisciplinary programs like Women's Studies and Race and Ethnic Studies; pedagogies of accommodation and dissent; and transnational women's movements for grassroots ecological solutions and consumer, health, and reproductive rights. Mohanty's probing and provocative analyses of key concepts in feminist thought--"home," "sisterhood," "experience," "community"--lead the way toward a feminism without borders, a feminism fully engaged with the realities of a transnational world.
Feminism's Empire
by Carolyn J. EichnerFeminism's Empire investigates the complex relationships between imperialisms and feminisms in the late nineteenth century and demonstrates the challenge of conceptualizing "pro-imperialist" and "anti-imperialist" as binary positions. By intellectually and spatially tracing the era's first French feminists' engagement with empire, Carolyn J. Eichner explores how feminists opposed—yet employed—approaches to empire in writing, speaking, and publishing. In differing ways, they ultimately tied forms of imperialism to gender liberation. Among the era's first anti-imperialists, French feminists were enmeshed in the hierarchies and epistemologies of empire. They likened their gender-based marginalization to imperialist oppressions. Imperialism and colonialism's gendered and sexualized racial hierarchies established categories of inclusion and exclusion that rested in both universalism and ideas of "nature" that presented colonized people with theoretical, yet impossible, paths to integration. Feminists faced similar barriers to full incorporation due to the gendered contradictions inherent in universalism. The system presumed citizenship to be male and thus positioned women as outsiders. Feminism's Empire connects this critical struggle to hierarchical power shifts in racial and national status that created uneasy linkages between French feminists and imperial authorities.
Feminism's New Age: Gender, Appropriation, and the Afterlife of Essentialism
by Karlyn CrowleyFinalist for the 2011 ForeWord Book of the Year in the Women's Issues CategoryCrystals, Reiki, Tarot, Goddess worship—why do these New Age tokens and practices capture the imagination of so many women? How has New Age culture become even more appealing than feminism? And are the two mutually exclusive? By examining New Age practices from macrobiotics to goddess worship to Native rituals, Feminism's New Age: Gender, Appropriation, and the Afterlife of Essentialism seeks to answer these questions by examining white women's participation in this hugely popular spiritual movement. While most feminist approaches to the New Age phenomenon have simply dismissed its adherents for their politically problematic racial appropriation practices, Karyln Crowley looks honestly at the political shortcomings of New Age beliefs and practices while simultaneously reckoning with the affective, political, and cultural motivations which have prompted New Age women's individual and collective spiritualities. New Age spirituality is in fact the dynamic outgrowth of a long-standing tradition of women's social and political power expressed through religious writings, art, and public discourse, and is key to understanding contemporary women's history and religion's role in modern American culture alike. Crowley offers a new and provocative assessment of the significance of the New Age movement, seen through a feminist and critical race studies lens.
Feminism's Progress: Gender Politics in British and American Literature and Television since 1830 (SUNY series in Feminist Criticism and Theory)
by Carol ColatrellaFeminism's Progress builds on more than fifty years of feminist criticism to analyze narrative representations of feminist ideas about women's social roles, gender inequities, and needed reforms. Carol Colatrella argues that popular novels, short stories, and television shows produced in the United States and Britain — from Little Dorrit and Iola Leroy to Call the Midwife and The Closer — foster acceptance of feminism by optimistically illustrating its prospects and promises. Scholars, students, and general readers will appreciate the book's sweeping introduction to a host of concerns in feminist theory while applying a gender lens to a wide range of literature and media from the past two centuries. In exploring how individuals and communities might reduce bias and discrimination and ensure gender equity, these fictions serve as both a measure and a means of feminism's progress.