By Tess GC All around Substack, Youtube, and various social medias, I’ve been seeing the question directly and indirectly asked – what is the state of feminism in 2024? This summer in the United States, a celebration and commentary on femininity swirled around in pop culture. Barbie premiered, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé toured the country, Olivia Rodrigo released a new album – it was a summer of sparkles, metallics, and pink in pop culture. This fall and winter have been distinctly gray toned, at least in my online world, mostly influenced by the genocide in Gaza, and its interconnections with imperialism, capitalism, and climate change. I mean,
Thank you as always Tess! I've studied feminist theory pretty intensely (my degree is in Women, Gender and Sexuality studies) and so I'd just like to add to this conversation that feminism was never inherently a coherent movement. "Liberal feminism"- the barbie, pink washed kind, with a history in the first wave voting movement centered in white supremacy- has always dominated in the mainstream because it's center left, making it pretty close to center right, so lots of people upholding status quo are happy with it. But radical feminism as a theory (which although I define as someone with radical viewpoints, I don't identify with radical feminism, because I don't actually agree with many of the theory's perspectives- a major one from Andrea Dworkin being that all heterosexual sex is r*pe) exists alongside socialist/marxist feminism, black feminism, ecofeminism-which is what I mostly identify with-, etc... I think a lot of people who don't really understand feminism see the barbie stuff and go "oh yeah, that's feminism", but it's such a grain of sand on the beach. The book "Feminist Thought" by Rosemarie Purnam Tong presents a good analysis of all this, for anyone interested. <3
Thanks Elizabeth! It's really interesting to bring this knowledge of feminism from a studied, academic lens alongside how pop culture , and especially the next generation are interacting with feminism. Interested to hear your perspectives as I get into some thoughts on a more class conscious feminism next.
Do you think that the overturning of Roe, losing bodily autonomy in many states, travel bans for pregnant people, increased homicide rates for pregnant people and people who just gave birth, etc etc etc are going to push people towards a more robust understanding of feminism and more radical political action? Christian extremist seem surprised by how strong, albeit underprepared, the resistance by voters and the culture has been to the most recent assaults on reproductive rights.
You know, it's interesting, these are such huge topics in conversations about where feminism is, and I think they of course do matter a lot, especially in states where people are already feeling the affects of heavier abortion restrictions, etc. But I do think some of these issues have the most mobilizing affect when combined with other consciousnesses - like race and class alongside these issues. I think a feminist lens needs to come at these issues from a place that matches the rising class consciousness of working people (understanding how issues of choice in particular are more restrictive for working class people, many people of color etc) more so than discussing these issues separately from those problems. I really think a more grounded, class conscious feminism has to be foregrounded in those conversations. It's a hard question though, and those are just my initial thoughts. I'm sure you have some thoughts as the question-poser -- what do you think?
Absolutely but I think conversation on bodily autonomy and reproductive rights has been led since 2016 by intersectional feminists continually illustrating how these issues disproportionately affect people of color and low income and working class communities. Class consciousness in the country has a long way to go but this is the most I've ever seen nationwide discussions of class, labor rights, and feminism in my lifetime. The general fluency on these topics among teens and early twenty somethings is so much higher than it was in the early 2000's. Basically I have a lot of hope.
Now if people were more willing to speak out against Christian nationalism and extremists in the government who are leading the charge against bodily autonomy and reproductive rights, we might actually get there. That's just me though. Loved this piece and I can't wait to read more from you!
Yeah it is a period worthy of a lot of hope, young people are seeing through bullshit quicker and quicker. Thanks for engaging, glad to be in conversation.
Great article. Without even realizing it, I have been part of this turning away from consumption and critiquing of individuals. I even wrote about that shift in a piece I published this morning, that I realized a few years ago that by being angry with neuro"typical" people for my suffering and exclusion as a neuro"divergent" person, I was not laying the blame at the feet of the capitalist systems and structures that actually deserve it.
I stopped shaving my legs and armpits about a year ago for the first time in roughly 35 years, which was a months-long head trip because I was like, "I feel weird about my body hair, but feeling weird feels weird, too, because it's natural and I know, intellectually, that women were sold this idea of body hair removal by the marketing industry so the manufacturers could sell more razors, shaving cream, lotion, chemicals, electrolysis, laser hair removal, an ever escalating and more expensive product to satisfy my supposed "desire."
How can I ever know what I truly desire when from the moment of my birth I've been told by patriarchal capitalism, reinforced by the adults I relied on for my survival, by media, and by advertisers, and everyone else that smooth legs and hairless armpits is what I desire?!
love this post! just wanted to mention that you list some youtubers speaking about choice feminism as "young women" but shanspeare is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.
I claim my God-given patriarchal right to call attention that Post-Modern Feminism (a newly minted term of my own devising that has probably already been appropriated by someone) has neglected to move on from the historical problem of the subjugation of women to the contemporary, non-theoretical problem—what the hell to do with men?
Women are convincingly outcompeting men on every measure in which competition is conducted on a "weight-class" basis. The example of Caitlin Clark's record is the best example. Height normalize competition so that like athletes and teams are compared, the "girls" teams and stars are every bit as good. In academics, it's not even up for discussion except for a few corners of the academy that haven't yet fallen. More under grads, more grad students. The population of men wasn't ready for a level playing field and a lot of us have fallen under the event horizon of competitiveness. (In my own field of in-house counsel, I was advised, without a hint of resentment or irony, that my chances of rising to general counsel anywhere were decidedly lower then than they would have been 20 years earlier.)
This is part of the deferred confrontation of Irina Dunn's framing of the ultimate issue: "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle."
At the time (1970), I thought that was clever. She was right, with contraception, the role of breadwinner and protector (mainly against the competition) was obsolete and from our perspective, women in the abstract became disposable. Getting preggers was a choice, not a destiny. Hooray, no more shotdun weddings. I was then married for two years and have been but for a brief interruption since. What I didn't anticipate was that women who did affirmatively choose to have children would be able to make a go of it without the help of the old pater familiis. Bad call on my part. It seems that as a class women are much more formidable than I imagined. In fact, discount for height and upper body strength, and a guy should not want to mess with them as they would engage in Ken-type dominance displays with another male.
Fact is, us XY types are biologically redundant to a great extent. My Just So™️ explanation is that once humanity went through a Y-chromosome chokepoint around 10,000 BCE or so (maybe) resulting in all of us being descended from a multitude of maternal ancestors but only a relative handful of paternal, a beneficent natural selection providence "decided" to diversify its bets by the social construct of formal monogamy with unacknowledged but effective excursions. Who knows, Jake Barnes?
Anyway, long wind up for a softball: Isn't the real problem confronting contemporary feminism figuring out what to do to admit men to equal status as full humans?
Thank you as always Tess! I've studied feminist theory pretty intensely (my degree is in Women, Gender and Sexuality studies) and so I'd just like to add to this conversation that feminism was never inherently a coherent movement. "Liberal feminism"- the barbie, pink washed kind, with a history in the first wave voting movement centered in white supremacy- has always dominated in the mainstream because it's center left, making it pretty close to center right, so lots of people upholding status quo are happy with it. But radical feminism as a theory (which although I define as someone with radical viewpoints, I don't identify with radical feminism, because I don't actually agree with many of the theory's perspectives- a major one from Andrea Dworkin being that all heterosexual sex is r*pe) exists alongside socialist/marxist feminism, black feminism, ecofeminism-which is what I mostly identify with-, etc... I think a lot of people who don't really understand feminism see the barbie stuff and go "oh yeah, that's feminism", but it's such a grain of sand on the beach. The book "Feminist Thought" by Rosemarie Purnam Tong presents a good analysis of all this, for anyone interested. <3
Thanks Elizabeth! It's really interesting to bring this knowledge of feminism from a studied, academic lens alongside how pop culture , and especially the next generation are interacting with feminism. Interested to hear your perspectives as I get into some thoughts on a more class conscious feminism next.
Do you think that the overturning of Roe, losing bodily autonomy in many states, travel bans for pregnant people, increased homicide rates for pregnant people and people who just gave birth, etc etc etc are going to push people towards a more robust understanding of feminism and more radical political action? Christian extremist seem surprised by how strong, albeit underprepared, the resistance by voters and the culture has been to the most recent assaults on reproductive rights.
You know, it's interesting, these are such huge topics in conversations about where feminism is, and I think they of course do matter a lot, especially in states where people are already feeling the affects of heavier abortion restrictions, etc. But I do think some of these issues have the most mobilizing affect when combined with other consciousnesses - like race and class alongside these issues. I think a feminist lens needs to come at these issues from a place that matches the rising class consciousness of working people (understanding how issues of choice in particular are more restrictive for working class people, many people of color etc) more so than discussing these issues separately from those problems. I really think a more grounded, class conscious feminism has to be foregrounded in those conversations. It's a hard question though, and those are just my initial thoughts. I'm sure you have some thoughts as the question-poser -- what do you think?
Absolutely but I think conversation on bodily autonomy and reproductive rights has been led since 2016 by intersectional feminists continually illustrating how these issues disproportionately affect people of color and low income and working class communities. Class consciousness in the country has a long way to go but this is the most I've ever seen nationwide discussions of class, labor rights, and feminism in my lifetime. The general fluency on these topics among teens and early twenty somethings is so much higher than it was in the early 2000's. Basically I have a lot of hope.
Now if people were more willing to speak out against Christian nationalism and extremists in the government who are leading the charge against bodily autonomy and reproductive rights, we might actually get there. That's just me though. Loved this piece and I can't wait to read more from you!
Yeah it is a period worthy of a lot of hope, young people are seeing through bullshit quicker and quicker. Thanks for engaging, glad to be in conversation.
Great article. Without even realizing it, I have been part of this turning away from consumption and critiquing of individuals. I even wrote about that shift in a piece I published this morning, that I realized a few years ago that by being angry with neuro"typical" people for my suffering and exclusion as a neuro"divergent" person, I was not laying the blame at the feet of the capitalist systems and structures that actually deserve it.
I stopped shaving my legs and armpits about a year ago for the first time in roughly 35 years, which was a months-long head trip because I was like, "I feel weird about my body hair, but feeling weird feels weird, too, because it's natural and I know, intellectually, that women were sold this idea of body hair removal by the marketing industry so the manufacturers could sell more razors, shaving cream, lotion, chemicals, electrolysis, laser hair removal, an ever escalating and more expensive product to satisfy my supposed "desire."
How can I ever know what I truly desire when from the moment of my birth I've been told by patriarchal capitalism, reinforced by the adults I relied on for my survival, by media, and by advertisers, and everyone else that smooth legs and hairless armpits is what I desire?!
I desire to have my head left the fuck alone!!!!
Don’t have time at moment to write anything of substance except to express gratitude for these words.
love this post! just wanted to mention that you list some youtubers speaking about choice feminism as "young women" but shanspeare is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.
Oh, I see, I'll change that
I claim my God-given patriarchal right to call attention that Post-Modern Feminism (a newly minted term of my own devising that has probably already been appropriated by someone) has neglected to move on from the historical problem of the subjugation of women to the contemporary, non-theoretical problem—what the hell to do with men?
Women are convincingly outcompeting men on every measure in which competition is conducted on a "weight-class" basis. The example of Caitlin Clark's record is the best example. Height normalize competition so that like athletes and teams are compared, the "girls" teams and stars are every bit as good. In academics, it's not even up for discussion except for a few corners of the academy that haven't yet fallen. More under grads, more grad students. The population of men wasn't ready for a level playing field and a lot of us have fallen under the event horizon of competitiveness. (In my own field of in-house counsel, I was advised, without a hint of resentment or irony, that my chances of rising to general counsel anywhere were decidedly lower then than they would have been 20 years earlier.)
This is part of the deferred confrontation of Irina Dunn's framing of the ultimate issue: "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle."
At the time (1970), I thought that was clever. She was right, with contraception, the role of breadwinner and protector (mainly against the competition) was obsolete and from our perspective, women in the abstract became disposable. Getting preggers was a choice, not a destiny. Hooray, no more shotdun weddings. I was then married for two years and have been but for a brief interruption since. What I didn't anticipate was that women who did affirmatively choose to have children would be able to make a go of it without the help of the old pater familiis. Bad call on my part. It seems that as a class women are much more formidable than I imagined. In fact, discount for height and upper body strength, and a guy should not want to mess with them as they would engage in Ken-type dominance displays with another male.
Fact is, us XY types are biologically redundant to a great extent. My Just So™️ explanation is that once humanity went through a Y-chromosome chokepoint around 10,000 BCE or so (maybe) resulting in all of us being descended from a multitude of maternal ancestors but only a relative handful of paternal, a beneficent natural selection providence "decided" to diversify its bets by the social construct of formal monogamy with unacknowledged but effective excursions. Who knows, Jake Barnes?
Anyway, long wind up for a softball: Isn't the real problem confronting contemporary feminism figuring out what to do to admit men to equal status as full humans?
I am Not an Island
I'm not an island
I'm a woman
I'm a lover, I am a giver
I have sisters
I'm a woman
I'm not an island
I am not a piece of property
That you can or can't afford
I am not your trader's favorite stock
But I'm not to be ignored
I am strong within my boundaries
I am not your fair absurd
I'm the fount of our salvation
And I will have the final word
I'm not an island
I'm a woman
I'm a lover, I am a giver
I have sisters
I'm not an island
I'm a woman
I'm a lover, I am a giver
I have sisters
I'm a woman
I'm not an island
I am the mighty hurricane
That will beat upon your shores
I am a resurrection
I am knocking on your doors
Do you think that I am kidding
Do even think at all
While you play your favorite pastimes
And throw your favorite balls
I'm not an island
I'm a woman
I'm a lover, I am a giver
I have sisters
I'm a woman
I'm not an island
I am thriving in the sunlight
I am living my ballet
I will harken to that music
As I hear my sisters play
With one step for the future
And one for all mankind
We shall weave this dance together
And advance in pace and kind
I'm not an island
I'm a woman
I'm a lover, I am a giver
I have sisters
I'm a woman
I'm not an island
Malcolm J McKinney 2023