Wave Feminism Research Articles

Feminist Histories

Feminist Histories

Afterword

This essay provides a synthetic overview of the preceding articles in this special issue on Feminist Histories, situating them within the historical literature that helped shape the field of U.S. women’s history. Drawing out recurrent ideas across topics, the afterword identifies how the authors both build upon and innovatively expand the overlapping concepts of “the personal is political” and intersectional identities. They raise new questions about authorial experience, the inseparability of race, gender, and sexual politics, and the complexity of historical interpretation.

Notes from the Field

This essay highlights the author’s methodology for taking a feminist approach to doing oral history at a large university—particularly her efforts to involve the wider university community in the project of creating an inclusive and multi-perspectival institutional history. This essay is part of a PHR forum on the theme of “Personal Reflections on Feminist Historical Methods,” with additional essays by Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, Y. Yvon Wang, and Natalia Mehlman Petrzela. The forum is part of a larger PHR special issue, Feminist Histories.

Wo∼Men and Leadership: Re-Thinking the State of Research on Gender and Leadership Through Waves of Feminist Thinking

Feminist thinking has contributed to changing views of women in society and in leadership positions. Yet women are still underrepresented in leadership, especially in key roles and at higher organizational ranks. In this commentary we examine the past, present, and future of leadership theories through a gendered lens, by considering them against the backdrop of feminist theory evolution. We first organize existing leadership theories according to four main feminist waves— gender reform feminism or “fixing the women” which corresponds with liberal feminism; gender resistance feminism or “the female advantage,” reflecting radical feminism; the gender rebellion feminism or “how is a wo(man) defined,” according to postmodern and intersectionality theories, and gender digital feminism or “hashtag and clicktivism revolution” that focuses on social media, cyber activism, sexual violence, and complex intersectionality. We further examine the implications and research findings of these theories for women and men in leadership. Second, we review the publications on gender and leadership in two exemplary journals publishing leadership research in the field between 2019 and 2022 and explore to which feminist wave the published works relate. We show that themes related to the first two waves of feminist thinking continue to be dominant in current leadership research and encourage moving into new terrains, utilizing current feminist thinking, in the study of leadership and gender. Finally, we raise awareness that in a gendered society, leadership theories may reproduce and reconstruct the existing social order and gendered arrangements, as well as map novel directions for future research.

Charting Gender Difference in Contemporary Romanian Feminist Poetry

The aim of this paper is to investigate the assertion of gender difference and gender identity in contemporary Romanian feminist poetry, taking the works of Medeea Iancu, Iuliana Lungu, Mădălina Oprea, and Nóra Ugron as its starting point. This study will underline recurring thematic patterns, highlighting the priority awarded, within these poetry collections, to matters pertaining to textuality, as well as to the peripheral position of women writers within the literary field. As a result of the uneven development of Eastern Europe’s women’s movement(s) during the post-communist transition, Romanian feminism can be described as a synthesis between Second- and Third Wave feminist themes (Miroiu), namely as having haphazardly imported both issues pertaining to “difference-” and to intersectional feminism. The emphasis local feminist poets place on positing difference, as well as on embracing a fluid identity, has motivated the usage of a theoretical framework based on the concepts of “sexual/gender difference”, and justified the attempt of linking these literary projects to the tradition of so-called “French post-structuralist feminism”. Lastly, this study proposes an overview of the possible political relevance that “neomaterialist” (Braidotti) strands of feminism may hold today, as well as an outline of some of the limitations that they pose.

State feminism, global feminist waves and democratic backsliding: global and cross-national perspectives

State feminism, global feminist waves and democratic backsliding: global and cross-national perspectives

Marital Discord and Pursuit of Gender Equality in Manju Kapur’s Custody Novel

The landscape of Indian literature has never been found to be equal in contribution from both the genders. It has always been dominated by male writers. It is very fair to say that the aspirations and expectations of Indian women have been largely confined to the ambit of moral and social commitments prevailing in our country. By and large, the Indian women writers in English have come from higher social strata and they do not have felt experience regarding reality of life in India. Despite it, they have started questioning the wisdom of prominent old patriarchal domination and they are no longer willing to play a subservient role to men. They have proved their mettle in literature both qualitative and quantitative wise. In the modern English fiction, the emergence of women centred or feminist approaches have been major developments. For establishing their identity, several Indian women writers have been delving deep into female subjectivity. The image portrayed by these writers regarding women has undergone a complete change. It is due to a paradigm shift in the attitude of the Indian women writers in portraying women as self -sacrificing persons to strong individuals trying to establish their identity. Among the prominent Indian women writers, Manju Kapur has carved a niche for herself by highlighting issues pertaining to patriarchy, family bonding, male –female bonding, inter religious marriage and co -existence of past and present. In 20th century, the works of Indian women writers have been considered as powerful equipment for making modernist and feminist statements. Feminism in India became an accepted doctrine and it was able to gradually set aside the male supremacy prevailing in the society. In fact, the history of feminism in India can be considered in three different phases. The first phase started when the British initiated steps against evil Sati practice. The next co-related with Quit India movement and the third took place after independence when there was a clamour for fair treatment from feminine gender after marriage. This article explains the part played by feminine gender at the domestic front and their willingness to be economically and socially independent and the challenges faced by them in attaining independence in a male dominated society.

Biting Back at Society

The myth of the lesbian vampire spiked in popularity throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, inspiring erotic horror films, like Roy Ward Baker’s The Vampire Lovers (1970). While the easing censorship regulations allowed the film to depict more overt scenes of sex and violence, it was the second wave of feminism that allowed the film to be as erotic as it was (Baker 556), as the traditional gender role of men was called into question. Protesting for bodily autonomy, the right to express their sexual identities and overall looking for equal opportunities to their male counterparts, the traditionally superior man was under threat by female bonding. Lesbian vampires like Mircalla were unchained to a male figure and were able to liberate other women through their mental strength, physical beauty and by providing deeper emotional connections than men could. The lesbian vampire presented a reality where women could receive everything from a female partner, rendering the male useless.

Intersectional Differences in Perceptions of Feminism and Implications for Activism

Despite the centrality of activism to the feminist movement, societal stigma, and misunderstanding of feminism’s goals have led to difficulty in eliciting united activism. Furthermore, much of the historical feminist and women’s studies literature has failed to account for the perspectives of individuals with multiple, diverse intersecting identities (e.g., race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic class, and education level), contradicting the values of equality and inclusivity for which the movement stands. The present study took an intersectional approach in measuring feminist identity development, self-labeling, and engagement in activism, using a range of demographic questions and assessing experiences of sexual harassment and informal education. Results indicated that increased feminist self-identification and endorsement of feminist attitudes and values predicted increased engagement in activism. Additionally, a qualitative approach was used to investigate updated, diversified perceptions of feminism. Content analysis highlighted the need to emphasize the centrality of intersectionality and inclusion within feminist research as well as the Westernized feminist movement.

Challenges of Conflicting Memories in Oral History Narratives: A Conversation with Troy Phili on Building Charlotte Maxeke’s Biography

This paper is presented in the form of an interview, encompassing the key voice of Troy Phili, the former Unit Manager for Burial Grounds and Graves, at South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) between 2005-2013. The paper aims to highlight the distortions in the profiling of Charlotte Maxeke and how this could lead to misrepresentations of her unique role in the struggle. From an oral history perspective, an interview with Troy Phili contributes to the correction of such distortions. Thus, the paper is embedded in this oral testimony. The interview emphasized oral history as a means of correcting historical distortions, as was the case of Troy while working towards the declaration of Maxeke’s gravesite as a national heritage site. This paper also relied on desktop analysis of both primary and secondary sources of data. The authors perceive these tendencies not as seeking to downplay Maxeke’s catalytic life, but how oral history as methodology and technique can be used to rectify historical misrepresentations. The paper contributes to the correction of distortions of representations of Maxeke during the declaration of her gravesite. This adds to the understanding of the historical declaration of gravesites in historicizing the role played by individuals such as Maxeke in South Africa. Keywords: Charlotte Maxeke, Conflicting Memories, Oral History, Liberation History, SAHRA, Social History, Phili Troy

“I Thought I Was Going to Die like Him”: Racial Authoritarianism and the Afterlife of George Floyd in the United States and Brazil

This paper offers a brief yet comprehensive comparative analysis of historical and contemporary racial authoritarian violence in the United States and Brazil. Utilizing Black feminist historian and literary scholar Saidiya Hartman’s theorization of the “afterlife of slavery” and Michael Dawson’s linked fate, I examine how the processes of racialization and the racial logics of subordination have and continue to shape the contours of Black life in the United States and in Brazil. Moreover, in this work, I interrogate the afterlife of George Floyd and the afterlives of Black Brazilian victims and survivors of racial authoritarian violence; the political, transnational, and symbolic impacts of Floyd’s death; and Diasporic understandings of linked fate on racial authoritarian violence between Black communities in the United States and in Brazil.

A room of their own: White lesbian coming outs and second wave feminism

While the concept of “coming out” is relatively well-critiqued, few of these critiques trouble the way a near exclusive focus on disclosure positions sexuality as an essential identity. Based on life history interviews with 18 lesbian, pansexual, and queer women elders (ages 65+), I find coming out did not describe disclosing or even acknowledging same-gender desire, but, rather, choosing to act on it. For participants, coming out is the process of forming desire into a coherent identity (lesbian woman), a process that required continued interactions with lesbian existence; contrary to essentialist understandings, desire alone did not enable participants to become lesbians. In this article, I describe the two paths participants followed while becoming lesbians and consider how the historical context in which participants came out, specifically the second wave feminist movement, uniquely facilitated coming out for white women. Ultimately, I argue lesbian sexuality is a richly constructed social identity formed in community and defined by resistance to compulsory heterosexuality. By viewing sexual identity as based on shared political commitments formed in community, this article both corrects an essentializing tendency in the coming out literature and offers a potential point of repair between older and younger generations of lesbians.

Resistance Through Repurposing

This paper provides a historical overview of the contemporary philosophy of Xenofeminism, and assesses how it theorises the intersections between feminism, technology, and futurity. By approaching 21st century feminist theory through the central tool of ‘repurposing’, Xenofeminism is established through its ability to adapt past feminist ideology for use in the present day. This paper will firstly evaluate how technologies developed as part of second wave feminism and ideologies of 1990’s cyberfeminism can be seen as key precursors to Xenofeminism; the paper will also consider the value and adaptability of past movements for contemporary notions of feminism as an intersectional practice. An overview of the three central lines of enquiry of Xenofeminism – ‘techno-materialism’, ‘anti-naturalism’ and ‘gender abolition’ – shall be situated within Helen Hester’s indispensable and explanatory text, Xenofeminism (2018). Ultimately this paper will contribute to the slowly emerging academic enquiry into Xenofeminism, identifying it as a productive and inclusive philosophy which remains grounded to the prevailing enquiry into the potential technology has to liberate women from systems of oppression.

Out of Apartheid’s (Racial) Corner: One Man’s Journey from Bare-Fists to Bible-Puncher

Raymond Mentor tells the story of personal transformation, from being a feared gangster to a preacher, through the sport of boxing. Placing boxing in the context of South Africa’s history of forced displacements, Mentor’s relationship with the sport gives us rare insights into how uprooted communities (re)built their lives while negotiating questions of racial and more localised identities. The reading of Mentor’s life through boxing, against the background of the internal configurations of daily life under apartheid, provides a counter to the broad brush of liberation history that privileges the struggle against apartheid while also highlighting ways of living that allowed imaginative negotiation of the violent street culture of apartheid’s newly constructed racial communities.

Feminism: A Fight for Equality

Feminism has been given importance and has evolved since the 1900’s. This paper aims to explore the themes, debates, and traits of feminism throughout the years. Feminism is a movement that fights for gender equality and has changed a lot over time. This article looks at the history of feminism, starting with the fight for women's voting rights in the 19th century and going through different stages up to today's diverse approaches. The research highlights important moments and changes in feminist thinking. The article also looks at current challenges for the feminist movement, internal disagreements, and the combination of gender with other identities such as race and class. Through a review of academic literature, historical records, and modern sources, this study gives a complete overview of feminism's past achievements and current struggles and offers ideas for its future direction and potential growth.

Trauma as Cultural Capital: A Critical Feminist Theory of Trauma Discourse

Abstract This essay theorizes a problem for feminism posed by a particular form of trauma discourse. Feminists have played an important role in developing cultural and clinical conceptions of trauma, but one result of the destigmatization of trauma has been that trauma discourse is sometimes used as a form of cultural capital to reinforce existing hierarchies. In a novel application of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of distinction, we show how, when instrumentalized as cultural capital, trauma discourse can be used to reinforce patriarchy and other systems of oppression. We trace a critical feminist history of the struggle to understand and treat trauma. Using examples from contemporary US popular culture, we illustrate the appropriation of trauma discourse to entrench existing structures of gender, class, and racial oppression. First, the misuse of trauma discourse as cultural capital can encourage the instrumental use of trauma claims for cultural power, ultimately reinforcing patriarchy. Second, it might erode the legitimacy of trauma, a conceptual tool pioneered by feminists and still essential to their political claims. This discussion has important implications for not only mental health practitioners and trauma survivors but also feminist theorists, trauma studies scholars, and those interested in deconstructing structural injustice and relations of inequality.

History, Nationalism, and Lesbian Cabaret

Abstract This article, entitled “History, Nationalism, and Lesbian Cabaret: Agnieszka Weseli ‘Furja’ and Maria Konopnicka,” traces the role that nineteenth-century Polish Positivist author Maria Konopnicka has played in the twenty-first century Polish LGBT rights movement, as well as the backlash against her newfound status as an LGBT icon from nationalist factions. More specifically, I examine how activist-historian and performance artist Agnieszka Weseli-Furja has reimagined nineteenth-century queer and feminist history through her performances as Konopnicka as part of the lesbian cabaret troupe Barbie Girls. Through my analysis of her sketches collectively titled “From the Album of Maria Konopnicka,” I argue that Furja utilizes a form of feminist revisionist historiography to navigate the historical Konopnicka's ambiguous sexuality and her association with twentieth- and twenty-first-century Polish nationalism (often hostile to the LGBT community). Through these performances, Furja attempts to decouple patriarchy and heteronormativity from Polish national belonging, producing an alternative vision of Polish patriotism based in feminist community and same-sex desire.1

EDNA’S AWAKENING: A JOURNEY FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM AND TO DESTRUCTION

The oppressed and suppressed female figure in a male-dominated society has been a case of debate since the beginning of human history. Although it is unfortunate that women and men experience the imposed duties inevitably, what and why they are obliged to do is a topic of controversy. Traditionally, men go to work, earn money, whereas women stay at home, take care of the house, and look after of children. The reason why such daily routines are regarded as a customary task is religious morality and culture in the background of society. Kate Chopin deals with the situation of the female figure in The Awakening. There, Edna Pontellier, the female protagonist of the novel, is depicted as a dynamic character, who gradually becomes aware of the dictates of the society represented by her husband and family institution. She has children to look after, a husband to satisfy, a house to take care of, and a patriarchal society to serve. In this article, the case of Edna is examined with a view to gender roles, especially defined according to Third Wave Feminism.

Untimely Women: Radically Recasting Feminist History, by Jason Barrett-Fox

Untimely Women: Radically Recasting Feminist History, by Jason Barrett-Fox

Sartrean Insights on Understanding the Repercussions of Rape Trauma in the Gripping Narratives of Roxanne Gay and Neesha Arter

Women have been subjugated to violence from time immemorial. One of the most horrific forms of violence is sexual violence and rape. Their voice was not heard until the rise of second wave feminism which began around 1970. Women started to write about their experiences in the form of memoirs to bring to light the atrocities of rape and the implications of trauma and its impact. Sexual assault inflicts profound psychological and emotional wounds that give rise to a condition referred to as ‘Rape Trauma”. Rape Trauma Syndrome includes of a wide range of physical and psychological signs such as insomnia, nightmare, flashbacks, anxiety, and depression and so on and they last for a long period of time in one’s life. The research uses two memoirs written by American women, Roxanne Gay’s Hunger: A Memoir of my Body (2017) and Neesha Arter’s Controlled: The worst Night of my Life and its Aftermath (2015). The research uses Sartre’s perspective on embodiment, freedom, self to analyse rape trauma. The research uses Jean Paul Sartre’s concept to analyse the immense effects of rape trauma on the lives of the two women as documented in their memoirs. Using the framework provided by Constance L. Mui, the research delineates how rape trauma destroys the fundamental project of the protagonists and how rape trauma annihilates an individual from her own body and isolates her from the world.