Postfeminism, popular feminism and neoliberal feminism? Sarah Banet-Weiser, Rosalind Gill and Catherine Rottenberg in conversation

Abstract

In this unconventional article, Sarah Banet-Weiser, Rosalind Gill and Catherine Rottenberg conduct a three-way ‘conversation’ in which they all take turns outlining how they understand the relationship among postfeminism, popular feminism and neoliberal feminism. It begins with a short introduction, and then Ros, Sarah and Catherine each define the term they have become associated with. This is followed by another round in which they discuss the overlaps, similarities and disjunctures among the terms, and the article ends with how each one understands the current mediated feminist landscape.

Theorizing postfeminist communities: How gender‐inclusive meetups address gender inequity in high‐tech industries

“…The unviable legal pathway for addressing gender discrimination, I argue, helps to buttress the postfeminist community organizing model. Postfeminist communities are organized by subjects that are distinct from the neoliberal feminist subject who ‘accepts full responsibility for her own well‐being and self‐care’ (Banet‐Weiser, Gill, & Rottenberg, 2020, p. 7). Participants in postfeminist communities articulate a shared responsibility for one another's wellbeing.…”

Introduction to special issue: Exploring the emergence of moderate feminism(s) in contemporary organizations

“…For an in‐depth consideration of the relationship between postfeminism, neoliberal feminism and popular feminism, please consult Banet‐Weiser, Gill, and Rottenberg ().…”

The Language of Mainstream Feminism in Media: An Analysis of the FREEDA MEDIA and LOLA Facebook Pages

“…Pop culture shares the "popular" ground with pop feminism, which exploits practices and topics that are available to a wide audience (Banet-Weiser, Gill and Rottenberg, 2019): the specificity of this kind of feminism is to deal with easy matters and themes, issues that can be consumed by users quickly in a context that nowadays possesses characteristics more and more similar to the ones of the market. Zeisler (2014:XII) in fact, associates pop feminism with another successful description, "marketplace feminism".…”

“…Rosalind Gill (2007Gill ( , 2019 mentions three approaches to the concept: postfeminism has been considered as a historical shift after second wave feminism, as a new kind of feminism in itself, and as a backlash against feminism. Most scholars consider postfeminism negatively, as it seems to imply that feminism is no longer needed: authors like Susan Faludi (1992) argue that postfeminism is a backlash for the movement caused by a conservative response to the achievements of feminism, as it changed the definition of feminism after the second wave and blamed feminism for women's problems in the end of the 1980s.…”

“…When it interlaces with feminism, neoliberalism "emphasises professional and economic success but not at the expense of the family" (Banet-Weiser, Gill and Rottenberg, 2019), in a newly-found ethic of work-family balance. It was Catherine Rottenberg who coined the term "neoliberal feminism", which is a new form of feminism that acknowledges gender inequality while at the same time ignoring the existence of socio-economic and cultural structures that are present in everyone's life (Banet-Weiser, Gill and Rottenberg, 2019).…”