Taking Feminist Violence Seriously in Feminist International Relations

In this article we explore questions about feminism and violence to constructively complicate understandings about this relationship. Feminism is conventionally positioned as oppositional to direct and structural violences, importantly so, as this has been seen key to feminism's viability as a constructive knowledge project. Yet there are increasingly persistent concerns about epistemic, juridical and other violences circulating around feminism, which render feminism's role in the production of oppositional knowledge and politics suspect. This is especially the case where western feminist ideas have been problematically taken up in neoliberal global policy making and for militarized human rights interventions. As feminist international relations scholars troubled by such associations, we investigate – via an exploration of three provocative feminist texts – how feminism is perceived to be both violated and violating by its contemporary imbrication in the violences of neoliberalism and global governance. We further suggest that metaphors of feminized corporeality, which infuse representations of feminism in these texts (especially in its western homogenized governance form), inhibit the destabilizing potential of feminism through its harmful associations with the ‘failing’ female body. This bodily shaping of feminism, which we examine by following a ‘trail of blood’, tells us something important about the relationship between feminism and violence, about recurring discursive and theoretical closures around feminism and about the possibilities for reinventions of feminism to unsettle the violent degradations, which feminists insistently reveal and decry.     

What Makes a (Third) Wave?

The wave narrative has come to frame academic and popular discussions of western feminist activism. Yet there are overlapping and contradictory ways of interpreting “third-wave feminism,” which has resulted in much confusion surrounding its use and relevancy within western feminist praxis. Hence the need for a greater understanding of the term “third-wave feminism.” This article sets out a framework for understanding third-wave feminism, highlighting the importance of political context. The article, drawing upon interview data generated with activists in the USA and the UK, argues that while chronology is the most prevalent way in which feminist activists interpret third-wave feminism, many also cite age and intersectionality as indicators of third-wave feminism. Moreover, differing interpretations influence the extent to which it is seen as a positive development. While third-wave feminism is more developed in the USA, many within the UK recognize and use the term.     

A Feminist Response to Rothman's 'The Interweaving of Community Intervention Approaches'

This paper critiques Jack Rothman's ''The Interweaving of Community Intervention Approaches'' (this volume) from a feminist perspective. A feminist version of his intervention typology, using a wide range of exemplars, is constructed. It suggests the scope of feminism not recognized in his account. Discussion centers on the construction of this feminist typology, which illuminates problems inherent in a categorical approach to community practice, such as Rothman's. It is argued that much would be gained by recognizing the dimensions of ideology, longitudinal development, and commitment within community intervention and incorporating social movement literature into practice analyses.     

Imagining new feminist futures: How feminist social movements contest the neoliberalization of feminism in an increasingly corporate‐dominated world

Increasingly it is argued that feminism has been co‐opted by neoliberal agendas: becoming more individualistic and losing touch with its wider social change objectives. The neoliberalization of feminism is driven in part by increased corporate power, including the growing role of corporations in governance arenas, and corporate social responsibility agendas. However, we turn to social movement theory to elucidate strategies that social movements, including feminist social movements, are adopting in such spaces. In so doing, we find that feminist activists are engaging with new political opportunities, mobilizing structures and strategic framing processes that emerge in the context of increasingly neoliberal and privatized governance systems. We suggest that despite the significant challenges to their agendas, far from being co‐opted by neoliberalism, feminist social movements remain robust, existing alongside and developing new strategies to contest the neoliberalization of feminism in a variety of innovative ways.     

INTERFACING FEMINISM AND CULTURAL STUDIES IN HONG KONG: A CASE OF EVERYDAY LIFE POLITICS

Cultural studies, as a cultural and political re-articulation of common sense, knowledge and community practices, aims at opening up new cultural space for criticisms, reflections and action. Originating from the women' movement and later flourishing in the academy as well, feminism espouses similar aims to cultural studies. Both cultural studies and feminist/gender studies have a strong sense of intervening into everyday life politics. This paper is an attempt to discuss how feminism and cultural studies interface with each other, largely based on examples of gender-related everyday life politics taken from the feminist movement in Hong Kong. It will examine issues concerning the conflict of consumption and female subjectivities, the reconceptualization of home and housewives, and the representation of everyday life for women and history writing. It is argued that by blurring, negotiating or deconstructing the boundary or division between positions, identities and domains–such as subject and object, housewives and workers, private and public, personal and political, consumption and production–the re-articulation of knowledge about ‘victim’, ‘exploitation’, ‘home’ and ‘history’ in the feminist movement will not only provide the movement with new impetus and insight to reconsider its strategies in fighting for more cultural, social and economic space for women and other marginal groups at large in Hong Kong, but will also ‘metabolize’ the newly developed discipline of cultural studies in Hong Kong by providing a platform to strengthen the dynamic arm of cultural studies education and research. Based on her feminist and teaching experiences in Hong Kong, the author has highlighted activism and pedagogy as the two important dimensions of feminism and cultural studies in this paper.     

Why the personal remained political: comparing second and third wave perspectives on everyday feminism

Everyday feminist practices are located in the personal lives of feminists, therefore, third wave feminists frequently use the slogan the personal is political to emphasise the political value of such practices. Often, second wave feminists do not agree with this interpretation of the famous feminist catchphrase, which initially meant to call for collective political responses to personal experiences of gender inequalities. This article investigates this dispute that is symbolic of the broader relationship between second and third wave feminism. It compares both perspectives on everyday feminism by relating arguments for and against the political value of everyday feminism to empirical findings of a qualitative study. Based on 40 interviews with second and third wave feminists in New Zealand, I argue that the dispute is based on a number of misunderstandings between the opposing perspectives. Disentangling those misunderstandings, I conclude that although everyday feminism as a manifestation of ‘the personal’ works towards ‘small’ political aims, it is a political practice.     

A feminist look at social psychology / Una mirada feminista a la psicología social

This theoretical revision starts from the consideration that the gender perspective constitutes a critical, explanatory and alternative vision that comes from feminism and generates an analysis framework that takes into consideration and pays attention to the differences and inequalities between women and men in any activity or area of social development, research or public policies. The objective of this revision is to provide clues to understanding what gender or feminist social psychology is. To this end, firstly, we briefly describe feminist theoretical assumptions and the gender or feminist perspective, which constitute its starting point, and secondly, we analyse what it means to integrate these principles into psychology.     

Turning the Gendered Politics of the Security State Inside Out?

The essay ‘Eco/Feminism, Non-Violence and the Future of Feminism’ takes on an important issue within ecofeminism and feminist theory generally – the relationship between maternalism, pacifism, ecofeminism, and essentialism – arguing for new ways of reading ‘eco/feminist’ activism as an engaged mode of theory. Ironically, even though the purpose of the peace camp in Clayoquot Sound was to protest the logging of the rainforest, this essay does not examine the meaning of nature or environmentalism for the protestors. Nature becomes a mere background for the gendered human drama that unfolds. It is crucial that we interrogate the grounds, purposes, and consequences of linking environmentalism and feminism, by analyzing specific articulations within particular places and contexts. Whether or not it is beneficial to merge feminism and environmentalism remains an open question.     

Shulamith Firestone

Shulamith Firestone was a foundational second-wave feminist thinker. Firestone's radical feminism argued for a future where technology was used to eliminate sexism by freeing women from childbirth and liberating both men and women from the patriarchal nuclear family. In many important ways, Firestone's work is the precursor for contemporary cyberfeminist writing, especially the work of Donna Haraway. This paper examines Shulamith Firestone and her contribution to the information age.     

Women,Employment and Feminism in the Czech Republic

Following the collapse of state socialism in Eastern Europe, one feature of the newly emerging ‘post-communist’ societies which disturbed many feminists was the apparent antipathy to western feminist thinking which characterized men and women alike. In attempting to explain this situation, commentators in Eastern Europe have argued that in Eastern Europe, women’s experiences have been shaped by ‘state paternalism’, rather than specifically masculine exclusionary practices. Drawing upon material from a cross-national study, this paper examines the employment and domestic life experiences of women bankers and doctors in the Czech Republic. This evidence suggests that women in these occupations are fully conscious of, and resent, both masculine exlusionary practices within employment as well as inequalities in the domestic division of labour. These findings are supported by evidence from a national attitudinal survey which reveals that Czech women are more progressive in their attitudes to gender roles than Czech men. A number of parallels can be drawn between the contemporary experiences and attitudes of Czech women and those of British women of twenty years ago (i.e. before the impact of ‘second-wave’ feminism). This suggests that if and when feminism develops in Eastern Europe, it will engage with these direct masculine exclusionary practices, and not just ‘state paternalism’.     

Feminist social theory needs time. Reflections on the relation between feminist thought,social theory and time as an important parameter in social analysis1

This paper explores the relation between feminist concerns, social theory and the multiple time aspects of social life. It is suggested that while feminist approaches have been located in classical political philosophy, the same imposed classification has not occurred with respect to social theory perspectives. Rather than seeing this as an academic gap that needs filling, it was taken as an opportunity to take note of the wide variety of feminist approaches to methodological and theoretical issues and to relate these to concerns arising from a focus on the time, temporality, and timing of social life. It is argued that a feminist social theory, as an understanding of the social world through the eyes of women, is not only complemented by such a focus on time but dependent on it for an opportunity to transcend the pervasive vision of the ‘founding fathers’.     

Trafficking in Women

This article examines the new United Nations "Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children', which opened for signature in December 2000. This article presents a feminist analysis of the Trafficking Protocol and of the feminist discourse involved in its development. I begin with an examination of the re-emergence in the 1980s and 1990s of significant feminist concerns about trafficking and prostitution. The two main theoretical positions advanced at this time are explored - radical feminism and sex work feminism. I argue that radical feminist approaches to prostitution and trafficking are fundamentally flawed and that a sex work feminist approach has significant discursive and practical usefulness in advancing the position of both sex workers and victims of trafficking. From this perspective, I then present a feminist critique of the United Nations Trafficking Protocol and conclude that it has some strengths but also some major weaknesses.     

Motherhood and the Construction of Feminist Identities: Variations in a Women's Movement Organization

This paper examines the relationship between feminism and motherhood as it plays out in the construction of feminist identities. Through a qualitative analysis of two grassroots chapters of the National Organization for Women (NOW), I examine how members'understandings and experiences with motherhood and their community context and organizational environment shape the construction of shared feminist identities. Central to this study is the conception of motherhood as a historically constructed ideology that provides a gendered model of behavior for women. In the organizations studied, I find that motherhood is interpreted two ways: as a social status with political ramifications and as the act of caring and taking responsibility for relationships. These interpretations are incorporated into "frames" extended to potential recruits and shape the group's actions. As a result these two ideologically similar liberal feminist organizations construct distinct feminist identities.     

Becoming Butlerian: On the Discursive Limits (and Potentials) of Gender Trouble at Ten Years of Age

This essay locates Judith Butler's Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity with respect to the historical moment of its publication in 1990 and its influence on the evolution of gender studies and queer theory in the 1990s. It also discusses Butler's place in feminism and feminist theory, and interrogates the relationship between popular culture, activism, and work in the academy.     

Insider-allies: The precarious politics of men in identity-fluid feminism

Academic and activist conversations about the position of men in feminism often operate under the assumption that women are the movement's key beneficiaries and men are privileged outsiders lending their support. I use 59 interviews from a broader project on feminist and LGBTQ+ activism in the United States to illustrate how men's orientation to feminism is shaped by whether social movement organizations adopt what I call woman-centered or identity-fluid politics. While woman-centered politics treat men as allies whose intentions must be vetted by women, identity-fluid feminism imagines men as insiders with their own independent investment in the movement. I argue that the tension between these two models of identity politics gives men a liminal “insider-ally” position within feminism. Although feminist men are given a tentative authority to speak for the movement, the persistence of woman-centered understandings of feminism means men's insider status is contested, especially when they dominate feminist spaces, compromise women's sense of safety, and seek leadership.     

The Language of Globalization,Transnationality and Feminism

This article considers recent feminist actions in the Asia-Pacific region, which have involved transnational collaboration. This provides a site for a discussion of the relationship between language, discourse, cultural practices, political economy, activism and social transformation. It is argued recent examples of transnational feminist collaboration have either been based on a logic of similarity and affiliation or on a recognition of mutual imbrication in structures of inequality.     

What does the ‘Fourth Wave’ Mean for Teaching Feminism in Twenty-First Century Social Work?

There is no straightforward definition of feminism today. In spite of this, scholars and researchers who describe themselves as ‘feminist’ continue to produce work that both interrogates the specific and general conditions of women's lives and explores the more ubiquitous construct of ‘gender’, and in social work, feminist understandings remain central to practice, theory and research. This may, in large part, be reflective of the continuing over-representation of women as providers and users of social work services. It may also echo social work's broader emancipatory, ‘social justice’ aspirations. Whichever is the case, we are currently witnessing a resurgence of interest in feminism across the world, with a claim that we are experiencing a ‘fourth wave’ in the global North that has its birthplace primarily on the Internet. Given that this is so, this paper asks: what (if any) is the impact or possible influence of fourth wave feminism on teaching social work today?     

Guerrilla USA: The George Jackson Brigade and the Anticapitalist Underground of the 1970s

The purpose of this profile is to address the Spanish 15M movement from a gender perspective, focusing, on the one hand, on the role played by feminist demands within it and, on the other, on how feminism may have contributed to the 15M, its internal debate and its further developments unfolding in the current Spanish political context. In order to do that, we first explore how feminist demands were initially received in the camps and the reactions they raised among the media and citizenship. Second, we tackle how this case of overlap between a larger group and feminist groups is different from previous collaborations and confrontations. Finally, we focus on how the 15M movement has transformed (or not) as a result of feminism and the implications of this process towards rethinking the role of feminism within contemporary Spanish politics.     

Perspective in Africana Feminism; Exploring Expressions of Black Feminism/Womanism in the African Diaspora

This paper discusses perspectives in Africana feminist thought. While, not an exhaustive review of the entire diaspora, three regions are discussed: Africa, North America, and the Caribbean. Despite great cultural diversity between and within these geographies, there are, too, great commonalities in Africana women’s lived experience under colonialism and slavery. It is these shared experiences that helped shaped and develop this distinct brand of feminism, which is universally concerned with the ways women manage and challenge multiple oppressions. Additionally, the feminism that emerged out these experiences is fundamentally commissioned with the task of breaking down and deconstructing racist and sexist ideologies that devalue their humanity. This brand of feminism is, likewise, charged with the duty of transforming societies through both intellectual and pragmatic approaches. Across Africa and her diaspora, Africana women share a rich and powerful history of resistance, despite attempts to silence and make them invisible.