Feminist Identity Research Articles

Does being a ‘bad feminist’ make me a hypocrite? Politics, commitments and moral consistency

AbstractA ‘bad feminist’ is someone who endorses feminist ideals and values but finds themselves falling short of them. Since bad feminists exhibit an inconsistency between what they say and what they do, this can generate worries about hypocrisy. This article investigates whether and when members of political movements with certain ideals ought to worry they are being hypocritical. It first provides a diagnosis of why worries about hypocrisy seem common in the political arena. I argue that accusations of hypocrisy are apt when one is in insufficiently committed to the values entailed by one’s pronouncements. It is particularly hard to assess what constitutes sufficient commitment in politics because many issues are multi-factorial, overdetermined, and involve numerous competing considerations, making it difficult to assess how genuine commitments to values should manifest in behaviour. Since there are many ways that one can act inconsistently with their pronouncements, mere inconsistency is not a signal of hypocrisy, particularly if one is disposed to take on costs to further that movement’s ends. I also consider and respond to a number of considerations against calling out hypocrisy, including worries about our accuracy, worries about the effects such accusations have on discourse, and worries about how accusations incentivise particular kinds of behaviour.

Divided Devotion: A Historical Exploration of Bismarck's Kulturkampf and its Impact on German Society

This study examines the Kulturkampf, a major 19th-century German event in which Otto von Bismarck fought to limit Catholic influence in politics. Catholicism remained a powerful influence in German society despite Bismarck's efforts, posing a difficult challenge to the mid-1800s political scene. Start with the Kulturkampf, the Catholic Church's fight to adapt to liberal ideals, democracy, nationalism, socialism, and the industrial revolution. Liberal Catholicism's answer to modernity is analyzed, focusing on Ignaz von Dollinger, who strove to reconcile faith with intellectual currents. The paper discusses the First Vatican Council in 1870, which introduced papal infallibility, and liberal Catholicism's downfall. Germany is highlighted because Catholicism suffered ideological struggles and gained academic support as a secular, Protestant-influenced religion. Bismarck's Catholicism onslaught from 1853-54 to the Kulturkampf of the 1870s is examined. Bismarck's fears of Catholic violence and a Catholic plot are examined in the study. The issue deepened in 1873 when the May Laws sought state control over the Catholic Church. The Prussian bishops' resistance to the May Laws led to incarceration, penalties, and institution closures. Bismarck's authoritarianism failed to suppress Catholicism despite overwhelming opposition. Conclusions highlight the Kulturkampf legislation' impact on church-state relations and the reduction of anti-Catholic measures. This paper analyzes historical events to reveal Bismarck's political maneuvers, the Catholic Church's struggles, and the Kulturkampf's lasting effects on 19th-century Germany's religious and political landscape.

Теоретические и методологические аспекты регионализации многополярного мира

The article considers some theoretical and methodological aspects of the multipolar world regionalization which is determined by the right of states to create ‘great spaces’ and the compatibility of national political systems due to the common or adjacent geopolitical identity. The distributed type of culture, primarily conservative, as well as of liberal identity opens up prospects for the formation of new types of geopolitical subjectivity, which correlate with new regional systems, blocs and alliances of states in a multipolar world. Diversification of the processes of political globalization aimed, on the one hand, at the sovereignization of states claiming key positions in a multipolar world, and, on the other hand, at strengthening the complex influence and control in the territories representing the zone of their geopolitical interest, creates prospects for the institutionalization of the Russian world, global China, the Islamic world, the Indo-Pacific, African, Latin American autarchies, as well as the reorganization of the Anglo-Saxon world and the European Union in accordance with the principles of multipolarity.

The challenges and complexities of negotiating normative femininities and creating safe spaces in all-girl settings

Contemporary culture is increasingly characterised by postfeminist and neoliberal sentiment, presenting a very complex, and contradictory context for young women to navigate. Schools represent one of the key places in which young people can learn, enact and potentially resist sociocultural norms and inequalities in relation to gender. For young women these spaces provide opportunities to negotiate and challenge essentialist ways of ‘doing’ gender. Informed by social constructionism and feminist poststructuralist understandings, the current paper draws on findings of an ethnographic study conducted within an all-girls secondary school. This study explored the everyday practices and discourses related to normative femininities and successful girlhood embedded within this setting. Data was collected from eleven students (8 semi-structured interviews; one focus group) and three teachers (semi-structured interviews). Field notes and archival data were also collected. The safe space concept was used to interrogate and discuss the opportunities and limitations school settings present for young women in their negotiation of normative femininities. It was found that the girls-only context, the promotion and presence of feminist ideals and the valuing of student voice characterised this school setting as a potential safe space for at least some students. Findings also highlighted that the prevalent reinforcement of normative femininities and the focus on academic achievement had implications for the ways in which students participated within this space. The opportunities, challenges and limitations of educational settings as safe spaces for young women will be interrogated.

In the Castle of My Skin: (Re)Inscribing an African “Feminist” Identity in Changes and Faceless

ABSTRACT The analysis of African feminism in literary works is now a well-established area in literature. Most of the research on Changes and Faceless focuses on a thematic or stylistic study of the text. An often-underexplored area is how these two authors utilize the element of characterization to (re)inscribe the boundaries of African-centered feminist identities. To fill this gap, this article comparatively analyses the portrayal of “feminist” identity in Aidoo’s Changes (1994) and Darko’s Faceless (2003). The article reaffirms the stance assumed by Nigerian theorists like Nnaemeka, Ogundipe-Leslie, and Akachi that the feminist in Africa is accommodative, compromising, and collaborative. Using negofeminism (No ego feminism) theory as an analytical framework, this article reveals that in Faceless, the female characters who survive and thrive are those who live out the very tenets of the theory. In Changes, Esi is isolated in the end because she chose individualism over communalism. Consequently, this article extends the scholarship on literary representation of African feminism in women-authored novels. This validates the conclusion that African feminism as portrayed by Aidoo and Darko is truly representative of indigenous societies.

‘We Thought We were the Only Lesbians in the World’: 1971 Vancouver and the Rise of Lesbian and Transnational Feminist Identities Between Canada and the USA

AbstractLesbian feminists in Vancouver cite the 1971 Vancouver Indochinese Women's Conference (VIWC) as a critical moment in the formation of solidarity networks and community building. In the months leading up to, and during the 1971 VIWC, lesbians forged long‐lasting connections with one another across regional and international borders. As a result of these efforts, these early lesbian feminists developed meaningful lesbian support networks that would continue for over fifty years. The VIWC was a watershed event for lesbians across the North American West.

Differences among feminist and non-feminist women on weight bias internalization, body image, and disordered eating

BackgroundResearch yields mixed results on whether feminist beliefs or self-identification are protective against body image disturbance and eating pathology in non-clinical populations. Further, no studies have examined feminism among those with diagnosed eating disorders. Additionally, previous studies have not examined the relationship between feminist identity and weight stigma. This study investigated these relationships and if there are differences in body image, eating pathology, and weight stigma among feminist identity types in women with eating disorders and college women using ANCOVAs.MethodsParticipants completed self-report measures and were women with eating disorders (N = 100) and college women (N = 240).ResultsSixty-four percent of the women with eating disorders and 75.8% of the college women identified as a feminist. An independent samples t-test found a significantly higher weight bias internalization in the clinical eating disorder sample than in the college women sample. No significant interactions were found between sample type and feminist identity for body image or weight bias internalization. Results were consistent when using a dichotomous feminist identity item and a seven-item continuous feminist identity item.ConclusionsDespite the clear impacts of the intersection of weight status and gender, results from this study suggest that identifying as a feminist is not sufficient to combate weight stigma. Findings highlight the need for further research investigating weight bias internalization within eating disorder prevention efforts and interventions.

Women’s Endorsement of Heteronormative Dating Scripts is Predicted by Sexism, Feminist Identity, A Preference for Dominant Men, and A Preference Against Short-Term Relationships

Heteronormative dating scripts involve expectations for women and men to enact different behaviours in romantic contexts with one another, such as men paying on dates and making marriage proposals. While previous research has shown that sexism and feminist identity predicts the endorsement of these scripts, there is a lack of research on other potential predictors relevant to women’s personal preferences for partners and relationships. We examined these novel predictors in three online samples of single women in Australia (N1 = 112, N2 = 157, N3 = 189). Hierarchical regressions and an integrative meta-analysis identified that women’s endorsement of heteronormative dating scripts was predicted by higher benevolent sexism, higher hostile sexism, and lower feminist identity, as well as a greater preference for dominant men as partners and a lower preference for short-term relationships. In addition, path modelling suggested that a greater preference for male partner dominance partially explained the association between women’s benevolent sexism and the endorsement of these scripts. Overall, women’s endorsement of heteronormative dating scripts was more strongly related to their sexist attitudes than their partner or relationship preferences, suggesting that traditional romantic prescriptions are interconnected with gender inequalities, despite the relevance of personal preferences beyond sexism.

How Identity Impacts Bystander Responses to Workplace Mistreatment.

Integrating a social identity approach with Cortina's (2008) theorizing about selective incivility as modern discrimination, we examine how identification-with an organization, with one's gender, and as a feminist-shapes bystanders' interpretations and responses to witnessed incivility (i.e., interpersonal acts of disrespect) and selective incivility (i.e., incivility motivated by targets' social group membership) toward women at work. We propose that bystanders with stronger organizational identification are less likely to perceive incivility toward female colleagues as discrimination and intervene, but female bystanders with stronger gender identification are more likely to do so. Results from two-wave field data in a cross-lagged panel design (Study 1, N = 336) showed that organizational identification negatively predicted observed selective incivility 1 year later but revealed no evidence of an effect of female bystanders' gender identification. We replicated and extended these results with a vignette experiment (Study 2, N = 410) and an experimental recall study (Study 3, N = 504). Findings revealed a "dark side" of organizational identification: strongly identified bystanders were less likely to perceive incivility as discrimination, but there were again no effects of women's gender identification. Study 3 also showed that bystander feminist identification increased intervention via perceived discrimination. These results raise doubts that female bystanders are more sensitive to recognizing other women's mistreatment as discrimination, but more strongly identified feminists (male or female) were more likely to intervene. Although strongly organizationally identified bystanders were more likely to overlook women's mistreatment, they were also more likely to intervene once discrimination was apparent.

‘Go to Oxbridge, get an education, start a career. Do all the right things’: the ‘low value’ arts degree and the neoliberal university

ABSTRACT Departments of Arts and Humanities globally face increasing financial threat from falling enrolment, rising costs, and ‘strategic realignment’ at university level. In the UK, in particular, cuts to the Arts and Humanities sector are becoming endemic, with complex ramifications for prospective students as well as academic and professional staff. In light of these structural and ideological challenges, this paper proposes a revisiting of the philosophical work of Richard Rorty. Rorty has argued compellingly for the morally educative importance of the arts as well as the distinct gift of a liberal education more generally. Ultimately, however, we argue that Rorty’s liberal ideals are radically threatened in the present context of neoliberalism and that they have been particularly problematised in philosophical and literary work since Rorty’s death in 2007. The theoretical writings of Lauren Berlant as well as the literary fiction of Nicole Flattery and Natasha Brown are our key exemplars here. Through our analysis of these texts, we interrogate what we might desire of education beyond the liberal paradigm underpinning Rorty’s thought; and we sketch a framework for the Arts and Humanities perhaps more responsive to the crises of our contemporary age.

Negative family body talk and negative emotional eating among Chinese adolescent girls and young adult women: The role of body dissatisfaction and feminism consciousness

Negative emotional eating has been increasingly a prominent disordered eating and public health problem among young women, especially during COVID-19. Although previous studies have attempted to explain the relationship between body talk and negative emotional eating, limited studies focused on examining the potential mechanisms, especially the potential protective mechanism. Thus, the current study aimed to examine the relationship between negative family body talk (NFBT) and negative emotional eating, as well as its underlying mechanism - the mediating role of body dissatisfaction (BDIS) and the moderating role of feminism consciousness (FC). A cross-sectional study was employed among a sample of Chinese girls and young women (n = 813, Mage = 19.4 years) from a junior college in central China. Participants completed surveys assessing NFBT (Adapted Body Talk Scale), BDIS (Body Image State Scale), negative emotional eating (Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire), and FC (Synthesis Subscale from Feminist Identity Composite). A moderated mediation analysis was conducted. The results showed that: (1) after controlling for age and BMI, NFBT was positively associated with negative emotional eating, and BDIS could significantly mediate this relationship (mediating effect = 0.03, 95% CI [0.02, 0.06]); (2) FC significantly moderated both the direct relationship between NFBT and negative emotional eating and the relationship between NFBT and BDIS. Specifically, these two associations were not significant for participants with higher FC (+1SD above average). This study deepens our understanding of the relationship between NFBT and negative emotional eating, as well as the protective role of FC. If future studies demonstrate causal relationships, this evidence could point to a need for programs to prevent negative emotional eating in young women by increasing their level of feminism consciousness.

From Colonial India to Semi-Colonial Republican China: Imaginaries and Realities of Civil Service and State-Building in Salt Administration, 1912–45

This article studies the Sino-Foreign Salt Inspectorate, which was imposed upon a weak Chinese government by an international consortium from 1913 till 1949. The founder of the Salt Inspectorate was Sir Richard Dane, a high-level civil servant in the Indian Civil Service with long experience in salt tax administration in India. This article charts the development of the Salt Inspectorate, considering how it maintained its organisational integrity in a hostile policy environment through core strategies of simplification, bureaucratisation and insulation. The Salt Inspectorate stands as an exemplar of liberal imperial order in its replication of the Indian Civil Service and classic British liberal ideals of political economy, operating in the midst of a dangerous policy environment of civil war, rising nationalism and foreign invasion.

The Limits of Cis Compassion: The sad trans experience and its others in contemporary Turkish theatre

In the last decade, dramatic literature and theatre productions about trans women have become a significant part of Turkey's alternative theatre scene. These performances, pioneered by trans women, have been both celebrated and appropriated, with cis theatre makers often reshaping them within melodramatic conventions. Since the political ramifications of these theatrical productions are intricately linked to their narrative styles and genres, the employment of melodramatic portrayals presents emergent challenges for trans individuals, thereby culminating in a nuanced ‘transploitation’ of their narratives. While the melodramatic representations tell the stories of trans women's suffering and often end with the main character's death, the playwrights, actors, and the rest of the cast are almost always cisgender. Despite their popularity as well as aesthetic, social, and political significance, these plays have received limited scholarly attention. Moreover, the limited scholarship and public debates on them tend to treat their affective politics uncritically and even celebrate it. In the context of Turkey's liberal identity politics, these plays about trans women appear to challenge cis-heteropatriarchal oppression but ultimately reinforce cisnormative perspectives. In contrast, one-actor plays by transfeminist performers and playwrights challenge these melodramas. Characterized by themes of hope and resistance, transfeminist performances offer a contrast to mainstream portrayals of trans experience. These plays challenge the prevalent sadness in mainstream narratives about trans women, offering more empowering and representative portrayals. This juxtaposition sheds light on how sadness facilitates the experience of compassion, which both legitimizes and limits the performances about trans women.

Feminism within parties: Implications for political elite evaluations and policy attitudes

Although gender-related attitudes have played an increasingly larger role in recent U.S. elections, the implications of feminist identity beyond electoral politics remain largely understudied. This paper examines how the interaction of feminist and party ID impacts political elite evaluations and policy attitudes that are not gender-based by relying on an original survey fielded as part of the 2020 CES and the 2016 ANES. Our analyses show that feminists of both parties give the highest feminist ratings to co-partisan elites. However, while Democratic feminists rate Democratic elites as more feminist than Republican elites, Republican feminists rate the two similarly. Furthermore, within both parties, feminist self-labeling is associated with increased support for policies that advance social equity and inclusion. This gap in policy preferences between feminists and non-feminists largely persists across ideologies—among liberal, moderate, and conservative members of both parties. These findings suggest that feminist identifiers constitute a distinct group within each party, and fostering feminism across political leanings may strengthen public support for more equitable and inclusive policy goals and outcomes.

The Role of Women Characters in the Select Novels of Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie, a postmodernist immigrant, is considered as one the greatest novelist of the 20th century. His apt use of magical realism, incorporates mythology, religion, history, fantasy, and humor into the real world. He narrates his life story and relates it to the national history of India. Rushdie uses the magical realist technique to deal about the postcolonial people of India, and various postcolonial issues. His writing focuses on India’s history, politics, and identity as seen through his narrators. There is a blending of fantasy and reality with his fantastical fiction. Salman Rushdie presents women as strong characters to break free from their oppressive roles through his works. He develops strong female characters who face life with great fortitude and strength rather than meek personality. This research article critically investigates the role of women characters in selected novels by the acclaimed author, Salman Rushdie. A corpus of three major works—Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses, and Shame—has been selected for detailed analysis. The study aims to illuminate the varying dimensions of women’s representation, their influence, and the evolution of their roles in these narratives, serving as mirrors to the sociopolitical realities of their time. The article applies a combined theoretical framework of feminist literary criticism and postcolonial discourse to unpack the intricate characterizations and their wider implications. Findings reveal that Rushdie’s women characters are often depicted as multi-dimensional, complex individuals who actively influence the plot and resist conforming to traditional roles. They embody strength, resilience, and liberation in the face of cultural, political, and religious adversities, breaking the mold of passive feminine stereotypes. Despite being enmeshed within patriarchal societal structures, these characters often subvert normative constraints, highlighting the intersection of gender, power, and resistance in Rushdie’s novels. Through the use of magical realism, Rushdie juxtaposes reality with the fantastical, further challenging conventional expectations of women in literature. Rushdie’s depiction of women provides significant insights into the complexities of postcolonial feminist identities, societal norms, and cultural heritage. His novels, while being grounded in their specific contexts, resonate on a universal scale, enriching the discourse around the representation of women in literature.

Exploring the Complexity of Feminist Beliefs: Gender, Education, and Mother's Work Status as Predictors

This study examines how age, education, gender, and mother's employment position affect feminist ideals, gender equality in political leadership, gender stereotypes, and women's political engagement. Higher education levels indicate stronger feminist views, indicating that education shapes feminist beliefs. Working mothers are more likely to support feminist principles than housewives. Moreover, the findings revealed that women are more likely than males to oppose gender conventions and pursue gender balance in political leadership and institutions. However, relationships may not always be statistically significant, therefore further study is needed to understand the reasons and frequency of these attitudes across both genders. This study illuminates feminist attitudes' complexity, impacted by education, gender, and the mother's job position. The findings highlight the need for further research into the relationship between gender norms, cultural expectations, and feminist ideas, as well as the potential influence of political motivations on individuals' engagement with feminist concepts.

Racism and Capitalism: A Contingent or Necessary Relationship?

Abstract Anti-racist debate today remains polarised between ‘class reductionist’ (any attempt to address racial disparities reinforces capitalist class relations) and ‘liberal identity’ (disparities in racial representation can be resolved without questioning class inequality) politics. Both positions share a common perspective – racial oppression and class exploitation are the products of distinctive social dynamics whose relationship is historically contingent. This essay is an initial step toward characterising a structurally necessary relationship between capitalism and racial oppression. The essay draws upon Anwar Shaikh and Howard Botwinick’s elaboration of Marx’s political economy, and Ellen Wood’s analysis of the specificity of capitalist imperialism.

Touria Nakkouch: A Moroccan Vociferous Poetess Spelling Out her Gendered Voice Anew

Few are those Arab poetesses whose voices have made an outreach beyond their locale. Touria Nakkouch, an outspoken Moroccan poetess from the city of Agadir, and a university professor of comparative literature, is one of them. In her maiden collection of poems entitled The Dance of the Moon, published in Casablanca in 2009, professor Nakkouch braves the traditional, worn-out Establishment of Morocco and the Arab World by initiating a disquieting feminist monologue in search of a constructive dialogue with the other gender in a world punctuated by masculine hegemony. She redefines her own gender and feminist identity in a reluctant discourse embedded in an internal monologue which seems to transmit various messages addressed to the powerful other. This paper looks at the discursive features of one of her poems entitled “Musings Before Birth”, in which she ascribes to herself the voice of a stubborn fetus resisting to be born into a world a female newborn is almost unwelcome as a guest. To this effect, the paper uses a discourse analysis approach, informed by positioning theory, to uncover the multi-layered feminist message implied in the text to create a gender-focused understanding of the audience. Keywords: Nakkouch, establishment, discourse, positioning, dialogue, monologue, feminist

The Spanish Enlightenment and Happiness Economics. The case of Seville’s Economic Society of Friends of the Country and its project to trade meat salting with Buenos Aires Province (1778)

The Enlightened Movement in Spain is widely known for its modernizing effort and its economic and social reform projects in Spain in the 18th and 19th centuries. In line with the European Enlightenment, the ideals of classical liberalism and utilitarianism began to spread hand in hand with the enlightened intellectuals as a paradigm towards the well-being of the people. The anthropocentric turn of the Enlightenment brought with it not only the struggle for the rights of man and the consequent evolution of European absolute monarchies towards enlightened despotism, but also the evolution of the very perception of wealth, well-being and happiness of the society. Thanks to the works of Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus or Jeremy Bentham, the roots of the Happiness Economics can be traced back to the 18th century through the association they made between the economic development of society and the level of happiness. This paper analyzes the project of the Royal Sevillian Economic Society of Friends of the Country for the salted meat trade with the province of Buenos Aires as a case study of the connection between economic development, well-being and happiness in the Spanish Enlightenment through the study of the transcripts of sessions collected in the Libro de Actas No. 1 (1775-1780) and the copies of letters collected in the Book of Correspondence of the Society, as well such as the loose papers available in the Municipal Archive of Seville.

Anti-mobile placemaking in a mobile world: rethinking the entanglements of place, im/mobility and belonging

In this article I revisit debates about the socio-cultural importance of place and permanence in a hypermobile world order. I zoom in on everyday practices in a small municipality located in the Austrian Nock mountains region which is at once characterized by a history of cross-border mobilities and pronounced support for nativist ideas and parties. I shed light on the experiences and perspectives of village inhabitants who detest liberal ideals about cosmopolitan forms of belonging, instead insisting on tropes of indigeneity and place attachment (Heimatverbundenheit). I argue that rather than writing such sentiments off as backward, traditionalist ways of relating to the world, social scientists need to pay attention to them. They make visible a deepening chasm between scholarly imaginaries about mobile, cosmopolitan identities and people’s lived experiences in an increasingly fragmented global political arena. Taking the lived antagonisms of a hypermobile world order seriously, I aim critically to examine ideas of movement, place and cosmopolitanism pervading modern thought.