Intense engagement: Young women in Israel forging feminist subjectivities

Abstract

This article on young feminist activists in Israel explores the formation of feminist subjectivities using in-depth interviews and focus groups. Findings reveal identifications with, alongside re-articulations of, existing feminist norms and values, exposing a productive tension between “the personal” and “the political”. Beside decisive motivation to act for social change, women use the movement as a supportive setting for identity work. This entails a fair amount of emotional boundary maintenance to mitigate out-group hostility to feminism, and in-group expectations to toe the collective line. The article outlines issues that preoccupy young activists and puts them in a broader context of Israeli feminism and of local cultural expectations regarding the management of forbidden emotions. We argue that the process of boundary maintenance that is implied in the activists' standpoints and experiences has a paradoxical effect of reinforcing feminism's attachment to the cultural surroundings that the movement is initially set to oppose.