Postmillennial cancer narratives: feminism and postfeminism in Eve Ensler’s In the Body of the World

Abstract

In the context of a new wave of women’s activism for equality, the body is once again at the centre of the discussion today, in the USA and globally. Analysing American discourses about health and illness at the turn of the twenty-first century, Tasha Dubriwny has argued that the current narratives are dominated by neoliberal and postfeminist philosophies that have thrived in a framework of biomedicalisation and self-surveillance. What happens, then, when a successful feminist artist is diagnosed with uterine cancer? How does Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day, face the fact that her life may have a painful ending? How does a woman so aware of her physical and psychological self come to terms with illness? Is she willing to put her political project aside to become a patient? Through a close reading of Ensler’s uterine cancer memoir In the Body of the World, and focusing particularly on its structure and narrative strategies, this article situates her work within the corpus of female literature about health and illness in the twenty-first century, exploring her meaning-making process in the light of the current tensions between feminism and postfeminism.

Identity tensions of women with two leadership positions in India

“…Nevertheless, these limitations also present directions for future research. Additionally, women’s activism in many parts of the world is increasingly challenging the standpoints of postfeminism and neoliberalism (Fernández‐Morales, 2019). Future research could illustrate this critical stand by exploring how women from well‐to‐do families in the developing world might be instrumental in leading social movements and addressing gender issues.…”