Wave Feminism Research Articles

How Triple Talaq Violates Fundamental Rights of Muslim Women

Generally human rights are equated with more freedom and progress. However it becomes pertinent to note that conferring rights do not always result in emancipation. The major reason behind this exclusionary nature of human rights is the universal assumption on which it is based. The darker side of human rights most apparently manifests itself in case of women as they are caught at the intersection of community identity and the narrative of modernity. One such universalistic subject is the image of a thoroughly victimised Muslim women who is in need of protection through the liberal rights discourse. The current debate around triple talaq, centred on the Sharaya Bano and several batches of petitions as well as Supreme courts own suo moto PIL considers certain aspects of Islamic personal laws which amount to gender discrimination and hence violates the constitution misses the point of intersectionality. As per the liberal understanding of rights for empowerment of women we need to subordinate the category of religion and culture. However constitutional rights would remain a dead letter if we do not understand the manner in which identity politics unfolds especially in case of women. The whole triple talaq issue has become a battleground for the culture versus mordernity debate. It is important to realize that women’s experiences cannot be understood in these reductive binaries as “she” is produced from the very power relations which subordinate them. In this paper the author deals with the question of triple talaq in the light of the recent petition filed in the Supreme Court for declaring such talaq invalid. The author argues that there is an already existing legal precedent established by the apex court with respect to triple talaq which should be followed instead of resorting to a confrontational approach which may become hegemonic to Muslim women themselves. The author shall advocate that taking cue from third wave feminism, the identity of Muslim women must be understood at the intersection of gender and religion.

Weaving in the Threads

Weaving in the Threads

The Use of Thread and Fabric in Feminist Zines

The Use of Thread and Fabric in Feminist Zines

Crafts in the Time of Coronavirus

Crafts in the Time of Coronavirus

Stitchers of Instagram

Stitchers of Instagram

Crime in the Context of Philosophy of History

Methodological foundations for improvement of criminological science involve the expansion of its interdisciplinary connections, including its connections with philosophy and history. This makes it possible to study crime as a certain social process taking place in the general logic of the development of society and subordinate to it. The classical philosophy of history offers several options for understanding the meaning and driving forces of the historical process that predetermine competing views on the history of crime. Theology and Marxism, fundamentally differing in their view of the mechanism of history, provide an understanding of crime as a linearly developing process that has its origins in the past, but inevitably disappears in the future as the «end of history» is reached. Cyclical concepts of the historical process allow us to look at crime as an eternal, indestructible phenomenon that changes its basic forms as historical cycles change and in accordance with the basic parameters of this cycle itself. The concepts of multifactorial historical development determine an emphatically sociological explanation of crime, within which its state can be assessed outside the context of the past and future. The postmodern challenge to universal classical historiosophical concepts has actually destroyed their explanatory significance and methodological value. At the same time, postmodernism creates favorable opportunities for understanding the process of crime as an integral part of many parallel and overlapping histories: the history of liberalism, the history of economics, the history of preserving national identity, etc. In this case, crime stories (plural) appear in place of crime history (singular). And only such a multi-layered view of the processes of crime development and its connection with social processes can provide adequate methodological support for criminological research. In this regard, the results of the study can be considered as a contribution to the development of historical criminology, which is gaining relevance.

Making realism work, from second wave feminism to extinction rebellion: an interview with Caroline New

ABSTRACT Caroline New is an energetic activist who has interpolated critical realist ideas into the front-line of political activism. In this wide-ranging interview, she begins by reflecting on her life and how she became a realist and her account is illustrated with personal anecdotes recalling memories of well-known philosophers and activists from the time. She discusses how her position set her apart from other feminists and she examines the interacting threads of longstanding debates on the political left, as well as longstanding debates within critical realist circles, such as the relative importance of quantitative methods in social research and the scope for agency as a source of intentional change. Finally she brings some of her ideas to bear on contemporary issues. This engaging interview notably provides some of the social context in which critical realism developed, while also pointing towards its future potential.

An Analysis of Novel Writing Styles of Ismat Chugtai

The research work focuses on analyzing Ismat Chughtai writing styles. From the analysis it was deduced that Ismat used humor in the plots, and casual communications between the novel characters to strike a sarcasm on the societal malpractices with needed instant eradication. The popularity of Ismat Chughtai’s work could be credited to her plain and simple language and the exact representation of the society especially the plight of women in the society post-independence. Chughtai began her writing in the second wave of feminism and therefore she hampered the progress of patriarchy in society. The research work presents vivid aspects of Chughtai’s writing skill and concludes that Chughtai is nothing but a trailblazer of feminism in independent India.

Das Ich in der Geschlechterforschung

Abstract This article calls for a turn in gender studies by giving attention to the corporeal and felt experience of being gendered. The first part recaptures experience as a decisive force in the history of feminism, queer and trans studies. In the second – and larger – part we focus on theoretical and empirical evidence how the experience of gender as a way of being oneself and feeling at home (or not feeling at home) in one’s own body may transgress the normative boundaries of gender and, in the long run, transform the gendered order of a given society. Based on sociological and literary studies, the article provides examples and theoretical models to overcome the well-known divide between a (de-)constructive view on gender performativity and the insistence on the given and inescapable materiality, existence and experience of gendered human beings.

Schreibende Frauen zwischen Ausschluss, Teilhabe und Sichtbarkeit

Abstract This article deals with the feminist history of research on female authorship and its entanglements with the development of Gender Studies. It argues that new impulses of research in literary Gender Studies have been affected by literature itself which may also help today to develop new perspectives on female and diverse concepts of authorship and writing.

Feminist alliances against precarity or capitalism? A continuation of the Butler–Fraser debate

The relation between different forms of oppressive structures has been an object of dispute throughout the history of feminism. One of the most influential debates devoted to this issue is the one between Judith Butler and Nancy Fraser during the 1990s. Although the debate attracted a great deal of attention, and both thinkers have subsequently developed their theories by introducing novel concepts to describe oppression as well as the conditions of contemporary emancipatory movements, they have not continued to engage in each other's work. This article offers a critical reading of the positions that Fraser and Butler took in the 1990s debate, as well as an identification of shifts in their thinking ensuing from the debate. A particular interest of the article is their conceptualisations of the grounds for political alliances among groups with distinct experiences of oppression. The article not only offers a critique of both Butler's and Fraser's positions in the 1990s debate but also argues that the way in which Fraser's trajectory has come to directly address the issue of the capitalist social order, and which can also be read as an implicit self-critique, is more satisfactory than Butler's later work on precarity.

Archiving the Past, Painting the Present

This paper focuses on the representations of diversity and feminism in the French fi lm Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fi lle en feu, 2019), directed by Céline Sciamma. Set in the 18th century, this fi lm addresses numerous contemporary issues through a feminist lens. This paper views Portrait of a Lady on Fire as a visual archive in the history of feminist and queer cinema, creating dialogues between the past and present. Concurrently, using Céline Sciamma as an entry point, the paper also explores the female authorship in the 21st-century French cinema.

Digital Humanities, Citizen Science and Feminist History: The Promise and Limits of Digital Mapping

Abstract: One of the co-editors of this special issue of Histoire sociale / Social History, Marc Calvini-Lefebvre, is currently running a digital mapping project which seeks to crowdsource information about the sites of memory dedicated to the suffrage movement around the world and geolocate them on an open-software map. His initiative is one of many digital mapping projects launched by historians of feminism around the world as a means of spreading knowledge about the feminist past to ever-wider audiences but also of exploring new research questions via the methods of the digital humanities. To discuss the promise and limits of digital mapping, Histoire sociale / Social History invited Lucy Delap (University of Cambridge), Sarah Richardson (then University of Warwick, now University of Glasgow), and Marc Calvini-Lefebvre (Aix-Marseille Université) to participate in a forum chaired by Claire Sorin-Delpuech (Aix-Marseille Université). The conversation was edited by Marc Calvini-Lefebvre. L’un des co-rédacteurs de ce numéro spécial d’Histoire sociale / Social History, Marc Calvini-Lefebvre, dirige actuellement un projet de cartographie numérique dont le but est de rassembler des informations sur les lieux de mémoire dédiés au mouvement pour le droit de vote des femmes dans le monde entier et à les géolocaliser sur une carte en logiciel libre. Son initiative est l’un des nombreux projets de cartographie numérique lancés par des historiennes et historiens du féminisme à travers le monde afin de diffuser les connaissances sur le passé féministe auprès d’un public de plus en plus vaste, mais aussi pour explorer de nouvelles questions de recherche à l’aide de méthodes propres aux humanités numériques. Pour discuter des promesses et des limites de la cartographie numérique, Histoire sociale / Social History a invité Lucy Delap (Université de Cambridge), Sarah Richardson (à l’Université de Warwick au moment du forum mais désormais à l’Université de Glasgow), et Marc Calvini-Lefebvre (Aix-Marseille Université) à participer à un forum présidé par Claire Sorin-Delpuech (Aix-Marseille Université). La conversation a été éditée par Marc Calvini-Lefebvre.

Gender Critique of The Scientific and Medical Construction of the Female Body in Women’s Artworks

In this paper I will develop a gender critique of scientific and medical idealizations of the human body and its health, which was performed out of gender and feminist studies, pointing also to women’s art. In the discourses of medicine, healthy and beautiful human – and especially the female human – body is revealed as an ideological construction, an affective agent and a biopolitical ideal that controls and regulates gender differences. My intention is to demonstrate that the discourses of medicine, feminism, and art are in a dialogue historically in relation to these topics. Following Tasha N. Dubriwny’s discussion of medical discourse and practice, I will map three phases in the development of Western medical discourses and point to the fact that they are in dialogue with feminist discourses and with the way how art treats and represents beautiful bodies, and/or sick bodies, with particular focus on female bodies. Discussion of the first phase of medical development points to the fact that visual art and photography were used to performatively help doctors to construct the female body as sick and deviant, as Didi Huberman showed. The second phase was the medicalization era, in which human bodies are expected to adhere to a standardized norm. In this period, within the framework of second wave feminism, feminist health activists appeared, forming the women's movement for health. Special attention will be directed to the third phase, the biomedicalization era or inclusion-and-difference paradigm, in which postfeminist discourses appeared and in relation to which I will discuss artworks by Hannah Wilke, Katarzyna Kozyra, and Orlan.

“Feminism Passed Her By”: A Feminist Critique on Penelope Lively’s Moon Tiger and The Photograph

Penelope Lively is a female British novelist whose novel Moon Tiger won the Booker Prize in 1987. Scholar Mary Moran argued that Moon Tiger is “a feminist history”. Challenging this argument, this article analyzes the characterization and plot in Moon Tiger and The Photograph, arguing that the two novels do not show enough feminist consciousness, but convey the support for male hegemony and misogyny complex instead.

Beauvoir and Lorde confront the honorary man trope: Toward a feminist theory of political resistance

Feminist historians of political resistance have drawn attention to the ‘honorary man’ tradition—the belief women resisters must overcome their feminine bodies and act like their male counterparts to be taken seriously in resistance movements. Yet they have not fully explored the resources of feminist theory to counter it. Building a bridge between history and theory, we address this gap by turning to the work of Simone de Beauvoir and Audre Lorde. We highlight their shared understanding that resistance is embodied and situated in social contexts shot through by oppressive gender, race, and class norms. We sketch out a view of feminist resistance that reveals that women resisters have novel possibilities for action, confront gendered vulnerabilities, and encounter difficult dilemmas that have no easy answers. Our paper deepens our understanding of the failures of the honorary man tradition, and it offers conceptual tools for scholars and activists to think beyond it.

The Female Man ve The Left Hand of Darkness Romanlarında İkinci Dalga Feminizmin Yansıması

Women science fiction writers of the 60s and 70s reflected second wave feminist ideologies in their fictional works. The distinctive narrative techniques of science fiction genre brought out various aspects of feminist ideas in different ways. Issues related to gender and sex were embedded in the elements of science fiction such as parallel universes, androgynies, intersex, mindreading, planets, aliens, and inventions. Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and Joanna Russ’s The Female Man (1975), through these elements, raise questions about gender equality, body politics, ethics, and social constructions. These science fiction novels have themes that are closely related to the central texts debated among second wave feminists such as Simon de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique (1963). Le Guin and Russ apply feminist theories to unconventional lives and societies, whose uniqueness or oddity helps readers think outside of the box. By presenting alternative societies, they unfold how male domination can cause sexual objectification and gender inequality, and anatomic differences in science fiction worlds creates an awareness concerning constructed gender roles. Moreover, the second wave feminists’ emphasis on sexual freedom, birth control, and marriage are illustrated through the multi-faceted outcomes of these multi-directional utopic and dystopic societies. This paper aims to bring together second wave feminist ideas and science fiction through an examination of two works, The Left Hand of Darkness and The Female Man, both of which present resisting interpretations of traditional gender issues. Unorthodox approaches to gender, the peculiar structure of the societies, and body politics will be analyzed through the narratives and elements of science fiction. Further-more, this paper will illustrate how these novels challenge conventional definitions of gender and sex in the light of second wave feminism.

Pas de statue pour Hubertine: Quand notre mémoire d’une pionnière du suffragisme fait des vagues

In 1914, the death of Hubertine Auclert, who had dedicated her life to the feminist cause, stirred great emotion. The idea of erecting a statue in her honour was considered, but never materialized. Auclert’s memory is thus preserved in more confidential sites of remembrance. We have identified three moments, each associated with a different place. Until 1930, the suffragist’s tomb was a place of feminist pilgrimage. The following years appear to have been a low point in the history of her memory, but it was then that activist Marie-Louise Bouglé collected Auclert’s archives for safekeeping in her library, preserving them from destruction. However, while Auclert gained a degree of recognition in the wake of the second wave of feminism, the Panthéon remains closed to her. In this respect, she is emblematic of women, and even more so of feminists, who occupy a place of secondary importance in France’s national memory.

Parched: An Archetypal and Cinematic Representation of Sisterhood

Thesis. The current paper deals with the idea of sisterhood which has been represented in a Bollywood movie named Parched. The movie manifests sisterhood as a way to find solace and to get rid of confinement from the oppressive and suffocating society that tries to confine women within the four walls of the house. Concept. Sisterhood is an association, group, society, or community of women who are linked by common interests. This alliance became popular during the second wave of feminism. A single woman cannot combat the oppressors. Only necessary solidarity and collective efforts would result in the desired improvements. Results and Conclusion. In our society, the term ‘brotherhood’ is used to designate camaraderie among men, but no term is used to denote companionship among women. In fact, it is assumed that women hate each other and this legacy of ‘women-hating’ is proved to be unfounded. Therefore, necessary solidarity is required to correct the patriarchal assumptions about women, and the idea of sisterhood is one effort in this direction.

Neither ‘incel’ nor ‘volcel’: Relational accounts of UK women's sexual abstinence

Amidst a proliferation of popular and academic interest in the celibacy and abstinence practices of men, women's sexual abstinence has not received the same attention. This paper is one of the only papers to empirically address women's sexual abstinence, and the first in almost thirty years. I provide a context of how, in early feminist thought, women's sexual abstinence had been theorised - and practiced - as liberatory, which is frequently left out of feminist histories of sexuality. However, my findings highlight how for the women in this research, sexual abstinence was seen as a necessity borne from surviving an aggressive and violent hetero-patriarchal milieu. Understanding gender as inherently relational, I also juxtapose the women's accounts with the accounts of men who took part in my research, and discuss their very differences experiences of abstinence, including how ‘control’ was conceptualised, and the gendered ways in which sexual abstinence was encountered and negotiated interpersonally. I argue that the women's accounts also show us how we must problematise the distinction too easily made between ‘involuntary’ and ‘voluntary’ celibacy, and that focusing on women's accounts of their sexual abstinence starkly illuminate the workings of hetero-patriarchy in a way that must remain urgent to feminist thought.