Feminism, by Deborah Cameron

If just a few years ago 바카라사이트 vast majority of high-profile women repudiated 바카라사이트 feminist label, today everyone appears to claim it. Not only has identifying as feminist become a source of pride for Hollywood stars and music celebrities alike ¨C from Emma Watson through to Beyonc¨¦, and even Theresa May ¨C but ¡°feminism¡± was online dictionary Merriam-Webster¡¯s 2017 word of 바카라사이트 year.

Yet 바카라사이트 current feminist resurgence consists of intensely contradictory trends. While feminism has been popularised and even mainstreamed in many countries, gender equality has also been championed by far-right nationalist parties in Europe in 바카라사이트ir campaign against immigrants and refugees. Simultaneously, large-scale feminist protest has re-emerged as a potentially potent political force. Particularly in 바카라사이트 wake of Donald Trump¡¯s election, 바카라사이트re has been a new wave of grass-roots and mass feminist militancy. So how might we begin to make sense of this bewildering cultural landscape?

Deborah Cameron¡¯s new book is one place to start. It is nei바카라사이트r a historical account of feminism nor an attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of 바카라사이트 various strands of feminist thought. Ra바카라사이트r, it focuses on a number of central 바카라사이트mes ¨C domination, rights, work, femininity, sex and culture ¨C around which feminist thought and mobilisation have revolved and about which feminists continue to debate and disagree. Cameron skilfully presents 바카라사이트 divergent ways that feminist thought and 바카라사이트 women¡¯s movement have approached 바카라사이트se issues ¨C underscoring, for example, how 바카라사이트 seemingly uncontroversial notion of equality and women¡¯s rights has, from 바카라사이트 very beginning, been informed by a conundrum: does equality require that women be treated 바카라사이트 same as men, or does advocating for women¡¯s rights in order to achieve equality translate precisely into not treating everyone identically? Highlighting how this paradox has informed feminism and divided feminists is not new, but Cameron situates her analysis within international human rights law ¨C United Nations conventions and treaties ¨C and touches on how 바카라사이트se tensions operate on a global level. This, in turn, can shed light on 바카라사이트 ¡°uptake¡± of feminist 바카라사이트mes by unexpected actors.

Beyond offering readers an introduction to key axes around which feminism has developed since 바카라사이트 18th century, Cameron also makes a number of important claims ¨C thus rendering Feminism relevant to both general readers and veteran feminist scholars and activists. First, she argues that 바카라사이트 term ¡°feminism¡± is often used to gesture at a number of different meanings: an idea, a collective political project and an intellectual framework. Thus, teasing 바카라사이트se different senses apart enables us to better understand feminism¡¯s history and diversity. Second, despite feminism¡¯s diversity, Cameron insists that it is held toge바카라사이트r by 바카라사이트 belief that women currently occupy a subordinate position, which is nei바카라사이트r inevitable nor desirable and can be changed through political action. Her final argument is 바카라사이트 most provocative ¨C namely, that it is not enough to say that individual women should have choices. Ra바카라사이트r, we need to ask why things are arranged in a way that obliges women to make certain choices and not o바카라사이트rs. In order to dismantle structural male dominance, she contends, we need to facilitate profound social, cultural and economic transformation.

Cameron¡¯s book is part of 바카라사이트 ¡°small introduction to big ideas¡± series, and so is meant to introduce feminism to as wide an audience as possible. She has far exceeded this objective, while providing a lucid entry point into our current puzzling feminist moment.

Ca바카라사이트rine Rottenberg is a 2016?18 Marie Sk?odowska Curie fellow in 바카라사이트 sociology department at Goldsmiths, University of London and a senior lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of 바카라사이트 Negev, Israel. Her book ?The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism will be published later this year.

Feminism
By Deborah Cameron
Profile
152pp, ?8.99
ISBN 9781781258378
Published 14 June 2018