Feminist Research Articles

Morbid symptoms: a feminist dialectics of global patriarchy in crisis

This article offers insights into the nature of patriarchy as a structuring condition of global order, and – significantly – the process of change that has enabled its endurance. We are, today, witnessing the emergence of multiple challenges to the existing order and the tying of the political campaigns of these challenges to an agenda of anti-feminism (what we term ‘patriarchal backlash’). We argue that current ructions cannot be understood in a linear sense of feminist progress and regression, nor can these patriarchal challenges to the existing order be understood in isolation from one another. We propose a feminist dialectical approach to theorising patriarchy as a structuring condition of global order and as a useful methodological tool to understand change and transformation. Rather than seeing feminist movements or instances of patriarchal backlash as ‘outside agitators’ to patriarchy, we view them as necessary internal contradictions within patriarchy and the driving engine for its transformation. We propose here feminist dialectics as providing the conceptual tools to understand patriarchy’s variation over time and across space and its endurance as an ordering condition of the international.

When Resisting Is Not Enough: The killing of Latin American Feminist Activists (2015–23)

ABSTRACT The article analyses an original database of 177 Latin American women activists killed that had some connection with feminist social movements from 2015 to 2023. A growing body of literature has focused on the killings of socio-environmental activists in Latin America and where they occurred. However, their activisms are under-researched, precisely because feminist social movements and activists have frequently been killed while advocating for women’s rights in the subcontinent. This article focuses on the circumstances, a few reasons portrayed in newspaper events, and the perpetrators of such violence. Based on a literature review, I argue that taking into account the recent narcodynamics of the region, it is possible to understand such violence within the context of drug-related violence, but also—and more likely—to consider those killings as political feminicides. Political feminicides are then examined largely through transfeminicides and peasant/communitarian activists.

From femcels to ‘femcelcore’: Women’s involuntary celibacy and the rise of heteronihilism

This article analyses the shifting media visibilities of femcels: women who self-identify as being involuntary celibate. It first considers the ‘original’ femcel community which emerged on Reddit in 2018, and which was based on often-despairing, even nihilistic, text-based discussion. It then considers the more recent shift to ‘femcelcore’: a social media aesthetic or ‘vibe’, communicated through short, apparently ironic videos on TikTok. We contextualise ‘original’ femceldom within the ‘femosphere’, a complex ecology of female-centric online communities that mirrors the deeply fatalistic, gender-essentialist, ‘red-pilled’ logics of the manosphere, and we situate ‘femcelcore’ within recent histories and aesthetics of ‘sad girl’ culture. Despite their differences, both iterations of mediated femceldom ostensibly reject patriarchal notions of feminine ‘perfection’; they seem to offer a critique of neoliberal feminism, and to comprise a potentially feminist online community, and as such, we consider whether this phenomenon may signal a radical break with the hegemonic postfeminism of recent decades. However, we argue that both iterations of femceldom ultimately provide a weak and highly problematic basis for collective feminism. Drawing on Robyn Marasco’s concept of ‘womanly nihilism’ we argue that, rather than pursuing a feminism of solidarity and collective strength, these mediated femceldoms are rooted in logics of pain and fatalism; they mobilise strategies of self-numbing, dissociation and irony, coupled with the rejection of social hope. They signify not a collective feminist movement, but a fatalistic, dissociative, ‘anti-hope’ retreat from transformative politics, and a turn to the individualising dynamics of TikTok ‘vibes’. Building on Asa Seresin’s notion of ‘heteropessimism’, we introduce the concept of ‘heteronihilism’ to make sense of the widespread mood of ‘giving up’ that is increasingly entwined with, and expressed through, the radicalisation of negative heterosexual experience. We therefore introduce a new theoretical lens for analysing the politics of gender, sexuality and popular media, in a context of a growing and complex backlash against ‘liberal feminism’.

Let’s keep boys out: promoting exclusion as a means to actualize feminist digital citizenship in China

ABSTRACT Although exclusion is often perceived as antithetical to civil society, many feminist activists advocate for excluding men from their spaces to prevent conflicts and create safer environments. This tension prompts a deeper exploration of exclusion’s role in civic engagement. This study aims to examines the role of exclusion in feminist digital activism through a textual analysis of how members of an online Chinese feminist community promote exclusion. The findings challenge traditional perspectives by suggesting that exclusion can be a crucial tool for feminists to participate in civic life, protect their rights, and assert their agency. This study also reveals that exclusion plays a significant role in the ongoing formation of feminist identity. While the exclusion of men may initially appear to reinforce binary gender norms, it can also serve as a catalyst for exploring and embracing the fluidity of gender and political identity.

A violência física nas relações conjugais no município de Vitória: uma análise das denúncias da delegacia especializada em atendimento à mulher em 2015

Gender violence is the result of the social relations of male domination and female submission, built, millenary, by a patriarchal system. From 1980, however, in the fervor of brazilian feminist movements, the Delegacia Especializada em Atendimento à Mulher (DEAMs) were created with the objective of combating this violence, which can occur in different ways and has become the object of study of research. aimed at improving public policies in the country. Using as a primary source the police reports registered in the DEAM of the city of Vitória in 2015, this article aimed to investigate the relation between the permanence of physical and conjugal violence and a capixaba society molded from patriarchal principles.

From Digital Satire to Feminist Counterpublic Discourse: A Study of Participatory Mashups in China During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the effectiveness of China’s state apparatus and accumulated social discontent in the first half of 2020. Aided by a creative adaptation of a popular music video, a group of Chinese feminists initiated a short-term movement on the Chinese Internet in protest of the propaganda campaign of the Communist Youth League of China. The debut of two anime characters (Jiangshanjiao and Hongqiman) amid the pandemic stirred up strong grievances which led to an online feminist movement. Utilizing mashup videos, the movement, though ephemera, delivered a powerful counter-public discourse of women’s sufferings, which resonated widely in the digital sphere. Adopting a cultural perspective of Internet memes, this study closely examined the metamorphosis of a music video from an apolitical fanatic tool to sarcastic “guichu” mashups and eventually a powerful feminist counter-public discourse. Findings from this study suggest the strong potential of participatory mashups in the articulation of counter-public narratives from grassroots Internet users.

The Existence of Indonesian Feminism Movement and The Moral Views of Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative

The feminism is becoming progressive emancipation movement in the formation of national, regional and global. Although the journey is still raises pros and cons in term of humanitarian and development communication studies, especially in moral aspects or actions relating with norms, feminism is often considered a form of deviation that does not conform to the norm. However, these efforts received some attention of various parties and organizations in Indonesia, especially Jurnal Perempuan. This research uses a qualitative approach with cultural studies from Immanuel Kant's perspective. The research results showed that Jurnal Perempuan had initiated and developed various feminist perspectives by presenting its texts and written works as an effort to advocate with broad insight and emancipation, in term of LGBT concern. At the same time, Jurnal Perempuan developed its texts and writings related to feminism, by expanding LGBT narrative and its framing in the broad of human rights as well as advocacy for gender equality. including its position on the perspective of Kant's categorical imperative in order to obtain an equal.

Intersectionality in the activity of lesbian and feminist movements in Ukraine

The article defines manifestations of the concept of intersectionality between Ukrainian feminist and lesbian movements. The research is based on the results of theoretical analysis and results of 13 semistructured in-depth interviews with 13 Ukrainian activists of feminist and lesbian movement from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Uzhhorod, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr and Kherson, who were involved in feminist and lesbian movements in different periods – from the end of the 1990s to the beginning of the 2000s, in the mid-2000s and after 2014. As a result, the patterns of intersectionality between these two movements were defined.The concept of intersectional was defined in the mid-20th century by the American researcher Kimberle Crenshaw. It involved the rethinking of the concept of identity and social inequality under the influence of diverse individual experiences and socially significant characteristics. This concept became fundamental for the activity of new social movements at the end of the 20th century, in particular lesbian and feminist ones that are interrelated due to common resistance practices, ideological aspects, and people’s potential as well as the topic of the fight for women’s rights.Ukrainian feminist and lesbian movements are not exceptions, as they have manifested this intersectionality since their establishment as public social movements in Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. This feature makes them different from the movements in countries of Western Europe and the USA, where lesbians used to be excluded from the mainstream feminist movement.After the analysis of in-depth interviews with activists of feminist and lesbian movements, it was defined that intersectionality between feminist and lesbian movements in Ukraine can be defined in ideological, thematical and practical aspects – common ideological basis, resistance practices represented in demonstrations, common actions, significant dates and topics, that prove that these 2 movements are interrelated and interconnected.

A Qualitative Cohort Analysis of Older Women in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

ABSTRACT This qualitative analysis looks at older women in recovery as members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Eleven women’s stories, taken together, encompass a white, middle-class, suburban American experience with adverse childhood events, alcohol use disorder (AUD), and membership in a women’s group of AA. Analysis focuses on the uniqueness of gender and generation (age) recognizing that this sample of women came of age at the cusp of the second wave of the feminist movement, and while considered privileged by contemporary standards, their personal narratives reflect gender-based trauma and an appreciation for a gendered approach toward recovery. Individual stories recount childhood experiences that further deepen the analysis and bring forth more intimate issues of psychological trauma and victimization in addition to their alcohol use disorder (AUD). In response, the final focus on their recovery stories includes insightful references to personal healing as contextualized by working the 12-steps of AA and by developing meaningful relationships with other women in recovery.

Nurturing Professionals: De Facto Maternal Roles in British New Woman Novels, 1880–1900

Abstract This article situates the modern ideals of female motherhood and professionalism in the fin de siècle creation of the professional New Woman in Britain, and posits that future feminist discourses would find value in identifying similar strands of commonality with underrated historical feminist movements. Presenting snapshots of nineteenth-century British novelistic plots, this article shows how altered settings and character types in early, mid, and late Victorian novels do not diminish the Western investment in marriage and procreation as the future of culture, civilization, and hegemony. The article then analyzes how late Victorian narratives reconceptualize maternity as civic duty. Consequently, the physicality of biological motherhood and the complex Victorian epistemologies about sex and sexuality are relegated to animality with distinctly classist and racist connotations. Unwanted birth, along with its discomfiting relationship with infanticide in Victorian society, is subtly pushed into the sexualized realm of the lower classes or foreign, other races. Finally, this article explores the figure of the maternal professional woman, de facto non-biological mothers to childlike figures in the interest of civic duty that emerged, fairly clearly, from the discursive construction of the proto-professional New Woman in the fin de siècle. In this way, this article argues that the ideal of the New Woman gave rise to the modern notion of female professionalism that is nurturing and maternal, and involved the rearing of both biological and non-biological children.

RESILIENCE AND LIBERATION: ANALYZING WOMEN'S RESISTANCE IN NO FOURTH RIVER THROUGH THE LENS OF LIBERAL FEMINISM

This study is aimed at analyzing the gender issues presented in a literary work by Christine Clayfield. This study explores the manifestations and impacts of women's resistance in the novel No Fourth River through the lens of liberal feminism, primarily drawing on Naomi Wolf's concept of power feminism. The analysis is centered on the main character, Christine, and her relentless struggle against patriarchal oppression. Critical forms of resistance, including desire, courage, independence, firmness, and hard work, are identified and explored in detail. Christine's journey reveals how these attributes enable her to confront and overcome systemic injustices. The findings underscore the importance of resilience and agency in women's liberation, empowering us to understand that these are the keys to significant personal and social changes, such as increased self-confidence, elevated social status, financial independence, and the fulfillment of love. This study contributes to the broader discourse on gender equality in literary studies, offering valuable insights into the ongoing struggle for women's rights and empowerment. By contextualizing Christine's resistance within the framework of liberal feminism, the research motivates us to continue the fight for gender equality, empowering us with the knowledge of the keys to personal and social changes.

The quest for a partner in the past and today: exploring trends and drivers in partner preferences and selection through new sources and approaches

ABSTRACT Society - and the way it is organized - along with families, shapes who is available and suitable as a partner, who we encounter, what traits we seek in a partner, and who we form relationships with. In turn, our partner choices impact society at large. Given this bidirectional relationship, partner selection is expected to evolve alongside broader societal changes influenced by factors such as economic shifts, wars, migration, and sociocultural transformations like secularization, feminist movements, and sexual revolutions. The central question of this special issue is how societal transformations have influenced long-term trends in partner preferences and choices. This is being explored through new sources - online genealogies, matrimonial and contact advertisements, data from marriage agencies and dating apps – and approaches.

Mothers and Wives: Representation of Women in Lawrence's Sons and Lovers and Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway

This article examines the representation of women in D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers and Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, two classic modernist novels. Second-wave feminism constitutes the conceptual framework of the paper. The paper argues that despite differences in style and subject matter, both novels critique societal expectations and constraints placed upon women in the early 20th century. Both authors highlight the agency and complexity of women while challenging patriarchal conventions through the representation of female characters. The article argues that these works are still relevant in their depiction of the ongoing struggle for the pursuit of women's liberation and gender equality.

The Influence of Development of Feminism on Creation of Suspense Novels: Analysis from the Perspective of Ecofeminism

This study focuses on the feminist interpretation of female criminal factors in suspense novels by female writers and explores the impact of the evolution of feminist thought on the creation of female writers in different eras. The research background is based on the two major factors of “castration emotion” and “patriarchal resistance” in female criminal psychology, combined with the expressions of female writers on life and death issues, taking into account the impact of the development of feminism on female writers in the era, and reflecting on the internal society Paradox emphasizes that gender equality and nature conservation are closely linked. Through text analysis, document analysis, and comparative analysis, starting from ecofeminism, the feminist thoughts on the female homicide cases in the text are analyzed. The study found that the change in narrative perspective from Agatha to Tokarczuk reflects the improvement of feminist consciousness. The evolution of female roles from male subordinates to independent individuals reflects the development of feminism. Finally, the transformation of female subject consciousness emphasizes the progress of women’s thinking as independent individuals. This study shows that the works created by female writers were influenced by the feminist movement at that time to varying degrees. The highlight of the research is to make up for the scarcity of research on ecofeminism and Tokarczuk in China. Through comparison, the comparative perspective of the texts of the two female writers is supplemented.

Public perceptions of feminicide and the feminist movement in Mexico

AbstractThe misclassification of murders results in the invisibilization and impunity of gender‐based violence. According to Observatorio Cuidadano Nacional del Feminicidio figures in 2024, of the 3408 cases of murdered women in Mexico in 2023, only 827 were classified as feminicides. Since few cases result in punishment, women have protested for justice nationwide. The current study examines the effects of media representation of feminicide cases. Participants were randomly assigned two of four fake newspaper articles about a feminicide case, which varied based on the description of the murdered woman and the intention of the crime. Participants who received the victim‐blaming article endorsed significantly more victim‐blaming attitudes compared to participants who received the non‐victim‐blaming article. Additionally, participants who received the article where the male assailant exhibited a will to harm the victim exhibited significantly more victim‐blaming attitudes. The results highlight the need for journalists to be mindful of the narratives they construct regarding feminicide cases.Related ArticlesAsal, Victor, and Mitchell Brown. 2010. “A Cross‐National Exploration of the Conditions that Produce Interpersonal Violence.” Politics & Policy 38(2): 175–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2010.00234.x.Bingham, Natasha. 2016. “Fighting for Our Cause: The Impact of Women's NGOs on Gender Policy Adoption in Four Former Soviet Republics.” Politics & Policy 44(2): 294–318. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12155.Denis, Claude. 2007. “Canadians in Trouble Abroad: Citizenship, Personal Security, and North American Regionalization.” Politics & Policy 35(4): 648–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2007.00078.x.

Language and Gender: Insights from Japanese Feminists in the 1980s

This essay examines how language contributed to the feminist movement’s decline in Japan in the 1980s, a period that witnessed major legal reforms and socioeconomic shifts. While earlier studies have linked the sluggish progress of feminism in Japan to legal deficiencies and the shortcomings of capitalist regime, this paper clarifies that few achievement in feminist campaign during this period can be mostly ascribed to the linguistic distinctions between men and women. By analyzing the works of prominent feminists Aoki Yayoi and Ide Sachiko, the essay illustrates how gendered linguistic conventions perpetuated the marginalization of women and brought the destruction of feminist progress in the 1980s. The research underscores the importance of recognizing language’s role as an obstacle in the development of feminism and proposes that changing linguistic conventions could support feminist movements in Japan and elsewhere.

Between Feminist Solidarity and “Bible-Verse-Throwers”: Catholic Feminist Activists on Social Media and Experiences of Agency

Abstract Focusing on German-speaking progressive Catholic women, the present study aims at investigating religious women’s feminist activism on social media in relation to questions of agency. It does so by focusing on women’s own experiences of approval and empowerment on the one hand and criticism and disempowerment on the other, attending to the possible role of specific social media platforms’ affordances in this context. Taking an actor-centered approach, this article draws on in-depth interviews that are analyzed through a cgt-framework. Attention is paid to how different social media ‘bubbles’ and platform-specific affordances and vernaculars impact the responses the women receive and their possibilities of reacting thereto as their content moves between different platforms beyond their control. The results are discussed against the background of theories of agency in the context of gender, religion, and digital media, arguing for an understanding of agency as relational, situated, and dispersed.

What Happens after Nora Walks Out?——Take Regret for the Past and A Room of One’s Own as Examples to Analyze Female Liberation

At the commencement of the 20th century, concurrent with the transformation of the socioeconomic structure and the augmentation of individualistic consciousness, the feminist narrative in both the Eastern and Western contexts grew increasingly assertive. The character Nora in Ibsen’s plays significantly contributed to the consciousness awakening among women. Regret for the Past can serve as a sequel to What Happens after Nora Walks Out? Delineating the roads and ultimate fate of a consciousness-awakened woman. Concurrently, the eminent Western author, Virginia Woolf, initiated an exploration of feminism within the narrative of A Room of One’s Own marking a significant juncture in the Western feminist movement’s trajectory. This scholarly work involves a meticulous exegesis of the literary texts within Regret for the Past and A Room of One’s Own, examining the diverse experiences of women’s liberation across various historical periods. Research indicates that the status of women has enhanced subsequent to societal emancipation, with women’s liberation being concomitant with their endeavor for gender equality. Subsequently, the Women’s Liberation Movement has achieved additional advancements. It is incontrovertible that research has demonstrated the necessity of social emancipation as a prerequisite for the advancement of women’s liberation. Presently, given the enhancement of women’s societal standing, when running away from home, which had been given the meaning of awakening, was no longer the only option. What contemporary avenues are available for women and what novel challenges confront the cause of women’s liberation?

Evolving Woman in Film

Throughout the time, the film industry has always mirrored the troubling issues in the society. Especially on the evolving societal norms and the uprising feminist movements. This paper examines the change in female portrayal and social critique on both Swept Away (1975) and Promising Young Woman (2021). Both films closely examine the patriarchal constraints in an contrasting directions, creating a trend from submissible to resistance. Lina Wertmüller’s Swept Away (1975) resides in the conservative 1970s, which criticizes how the social constraints enforce the submissiveness of woman. On the other hand, Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman (2021) is more current and empower woman in their ability to reject patriarchal pressure in their own advocation for justice. Through the comparative analysis, the paper highlights the transition from passive to active portrayals of woman in film and examines the evolving societal conflicts that shape and hinger woman empowerment at different times.

Feminism in the borderscape: Juarense women against injustice

This article critically examines the feminist movement in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, highlighting the struggles and activism of Juarense women against social injustices, particularly those exacerbated by machismo, the Narco War, and the manufacturing industry. The analysis explores the roots of machismo in Mexican culture, the impact of the maquiladora industry on women's lives, and the rise of feminist activism in response to these challenges. Emphasizing the intersection of gender violence and legal frameworks, the article incorporates feminist legal theory to argue for substantial legal reforms to combat the normalization of machismo and feminicide. It further discusses the resilience and determination of Juarense women, portraying their efforts as part of the broader global feminist movement.