Intersectionality and Fourth-Wave Feminism in Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other

Abstract

From the 2010s the feminist movement has gained new impetus through widespread transnational activism, fierce resistance to continuing misogyny and sexual violence as well as by fresh currents in feminist thought. Thus, journalists and scholars characterize the proliferation of both grassroots activism and renewed discourses on women’s rights in the media and in academic, political and public discussions as the emergence of a fourth wave of feminism. As a highly thought-provoking literary manifestation of these renewed discourses, Bernardine Evaristo’s verse novel Girl, Woman, Other (2019) narrates the experiences of twelve (mainly) Black women in all stages of life, from young adulthood to late life. It highlights their concerns with issues of feminism, intersectionality and intergenerational relations and sets them in a historical-comparative perspective. By interweaving the experiences and memories of several generations of women and their repeated encounters with sexual harassment and gender discrimination throughout different times and places, the novel exposes the persistence of misogyny and sexism as a systemic problem. It is especially these intersectional and intergenerational perspectives that draw attention to deep-rooted structural inequalities. Thereby, and in opposition to any post-feminist stances, Evaristo’s writing gives momentum to the present, transnational feminist movement and can be considered one of the foundational literary texts of the fourth wave of feminism.