Individualized femininity and feminist politics of choice

Abstract

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Authentic feminist? Authenticity and feminist identity in teenage feminists’ talk

“…More generally, we have sought to produce an open‐ended consideration of how feminist identities and politics might operate in conjunction with an authenticity ideal. Authentic feminism could certainly be kin to the ‘neoliberal’ and ‘choice’ feminisms that attract critique for their hollow and depoliticizing celebrations of agency (Baker, ; Budgeon, ; Rottenberg, ). And yet, our analysis illuminates how a coming‐together of feminism and authenticity discourse can, in some circumstances, take a more politicized, transformative shape.…”

“…Feminist demands for self‐determination, and feminist politics more generally, seem to gain traction when attached to liberal common sense wherein individuals ought to be free to live their lives without interference and external constraints. While the momentum generated by this coming‐together of feminism and individualized liberal selfhood is generating optimism in some quarters, others are far less optimistic, pointing to the politically destructive potential of ‘neoliberal’ and ‘individualized’ feminisms (Budgeon, ; Fraser, ; Rottenberg, ).…”

Härifrån till framtiden : Om gränslinjer, aktörskap och motstånd i tjejers vardagsliv

“…I Storbritannien finns en hel del kritiska feministiska forskningsbidrag som studerar konstruktionen av tjejer och unga kvinnor som individualiserade subjekt (se t.ex. Harris 2004;Ringrose 2007;Gill 2008;McRobbie 2009;Gonick et al 2009;Budgeon 2015). Flera av dessa studier problematiserar diskursen om den unga kvinnan som "vinnare" i den nyliberala tidseran.…”

“…Som jag tidigare påpekat visar forskning på hur just unga kvinnor framställs som de framgångsrika, kreativa och vinnande subjekten inom vår individualiserade och nyliberala samtid (se t.ex. Harris 2004;Ringrose 2007;Gill 2008;Gonick et al 2009;McRobbie 2009;Budgeon 2015). Den individualiserade femininiteten framstår som ett ideal (Harris 2004;Ringrose 2007;Ringrose 2008; Budgeon 2015) men genererar prestationskrav och stress hos unga kvinnor i dag (Wiklund et al 2013).…”

The Personal is Political: Assessing Feminist Fundamentals in the Digital Age

“…Understanding how gendered subjects come into being through various cultural forms and representational practices has been at the centre of this orientation and is central to approaching postfeminism as an object of analysis (Gill 2008a;Gill 2017). A concern with the production of gendered subjects, in combination with a cultural landscape which selectively incorporates feminist values, has led to the study of new forms of femininity that emphasise choice, independence, and self-empowerment (Budgeon 2015;Gill and Scharff 2011;Gonick 2006;Harris 2004;Ringrose 2007). As argued by Rogan (2018, p. 1), against the contemporary backdrop of postfeminism and neoliberalism, women have gained 'symbolic equality' in 'which they seemingly achieve socio-cultural, political, and economic parity not through collective action or fundamental political change, but through individualised participation in the (free) market, undergoing extensive "body projects" .…”