Pop Feminist Narratives

This volume explores the recent phenomenon of 'pop-feminism' and pop-feminist writing across North America, Britain, and Germany and examines what feminist politics look like in the twenty-first century.

In Pop-Feminist Narratives, Emily Spiers explores the recent phenomenon of 'pop-feminism' and pop-feminist writing across North America, Britain, and Germany. Pop-feminism is characterised by its engagement with popular culture and consumerism; its preoccupation with sexuality and transgression in relation to female agency; and its thematisation of intergenerational feminist discord, portrayed either as a damaging discursive construct or as a verifiable phenomenon requiring remediation. Central to this volume is the question of theorising the female subject in a postfeminist neoliberal climate and the role played by genre and narrative in the articulation of contemporary pop-feminist politics. The heightened visibility of mainstream feminist discourse and feminist activism in recent years—especially in North America, Britain, and Germany—means that the time is ripe for a coherent comparative scholarly study of pop-feminism as a transnational phenomenon. This volume provides such an account of pop-feminism in a manner which takes into account the varied and complex narrative strategies employed in the telling of pop-feminist stories across multiple genres and platforms, including pop-literary fiction, the popular 'guide' to feminism, film, music, and the digital.

According to Molly Hite, a number of influential contemporary women novelists—notably Jean Rhys, Doris Lessing, Alice Walker, and Margaret Atwood—attempt innovations in narrative form that are more radical in their implications than the dominant modes of fictional experimentation characterized as postmodernist. In The Other Side of the Story, Hite makes the point that these innovations, which distinguish the genre she calls contemporary feminist narrative, are more radical precisely because their context is the critique of a culture and a literary tradition apprehended as profoundly masculinist.

Feminist Theory and Pop Culture synthesizes feminist theory with modern portrayals of gender in media culture. This comprehensive and interdisciplinary text includes an introductory chapter written by the editor as well as nine contributor chapters of original content. Included in the text: • Historical illustration of feminist theory • Application of feminist research methods for the study of gender • Feminist theoretical perspectives such as the male gaze, feminist standpoint theory, Black feminist thought, queer theory, masculinity theory, theories of feminist activism and postfeminism • Contributor chapters cover a range of topics from Western perspectives on Belly Dance classes to television shows such as GIRLS, Scandal and Orange is the New Black, as well as chapters which discuss gendered media forms like “chick lit”, comic books and Western perspectives of non-Western culture in film • Feminist theory as represented in the different waves of feminism, including a discussion of a fourth wave • Pedagogical features • Suggestions for further reading on topics covered • Discussion questions for classroom use Feminist Theory and Pop Culture was designed for classroom use and has been written with an eye toward engaging students in discussion. The book’s polished perspective on feminist theory juxtaposes popular culture with theoretical perspectives which have served as a foundation for the study of gender. This interdisciplinary text can serve as a primary or supplemental reading in undergraduate or graduate courses which focus on gender, pop culture, feminist theory or media studies. “This excellent anthology grounds feminism as articulated through four waves and features feminists responding to pop culture, while recognizing that popular culture has responded in complicated ways to feminisms. Contributors proffer lucid and engaging critiques of topics ranging from belly dancing through Fifty Shades of Grey, Scandal and Orange is the New Black. This book is a good read as well as an excellent text to enliven and inform in the classroom.” Dr. Jane Caputi Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Communication & Multimedia at Florida Atlantic University “Feminist Theory and Pop Culture is destined to be as popular as the culture it critiques. The text plays up the paradoxes of contemporary feminism and requires its readers to ask difficult questions about how and why the popular bring us pleasure. It is a contemporary collection that captures this moment in feminist time with diverse analyses of women’s representations across an impressive swath of popular culture. Feminist Theory and Pop Culture is the kind of text that makes me want to redesign my pop culture course. Again.” Dr. Ebony A. Utley, Assistant Professor of Communication at California State University-Long Beach, author of Rap and Religion Adrienne Trier-Bieniek, Ph.D. is a professor of sociology at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. She is the author of Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos (Scarecrow 2013) and the co-editor of Gender & Pop Culture: A Text-Reader (Sense 2014). www.adriennetrier-bieniek.com

This book offers a novel, detailed and sensitive exploration of women's engagement with feminism. Centred on the themes of generations, hope, emotions and belonging, each chapter attends to the specific and particular practices of 'becoming feminist' via a series of accessible case studies. Adopting a theoretical and methodological focus on narrative and memory, this original and absorbing work analyses the various and complex ways in which feminism and its histories are received and processed by some feminist women today. Its focus on the specificity of experience disrupts overarching narratives of feminism and its histories, whilst acknowledging that such narratives are often used to sustain, defend and maintain a secure feminist identity. In doing so, it develops a growing body of work concerned with the relationships women forge to feminism’s pasts, presents and futures, with a distinct focus on the stories feminist women tell about their lives. It will appeal to students and scholars of sociology, psychosocial studies, gender studies, women's studies and cultural studies.

A timely and impassioned exploration of how our society has commodified feminism and continues to systemically shut out women of color—perfect for fans of White Fragility and Good and Mad. Join the important conversation about race, empowerment, and inclusion in the United States with this powerful new feminist classic and rousing call for change. Koa Beck, writer and former editor-in-chief of Jezebel, boldly examines the history of feminism, from the true mission of the suffragettes to the rise of corporate feminism with clear-eyed scrutiny and meticulous detail. She also examines overlooked communities—including Native American, Muslim, transgender, and more—and their difficult and ongoing struggles for social change. In these pages she meticulously documents how elitism and racial prejudice has driven the narrative of feminist discourse. She blends pop culture, primary historical research, and first-hand storytelling to show us how we have shut women out of the movement, and what we can do to course correct for a new generation—perfect for women of color looking for a more inclusive way to fight for women’s rights. Combining a scholar’s understanding with hard data and razor-sharp cultural commentary, White Feminism is a witty, whip-smart, and profoundly eye-opening book that challenges long-accepted conventions and completely upends the way we understand the struggle for women’s equality.

Robyn R. Warhol's goal is to investigate the effects of readers' emotional responses to formulaic fiction of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries on gendered subjectivity. She argues that modern literary and cultural studies have ignored nonsexual affectivity in their inquiries. The book elaborates on Warhol's theory of affect and then focuses on sentimental stories, marriage plots, serialized novels, and soap operas as distinct genres producing specific feelings among fans. Popular narrative forms use formulas to bring up familiar patterns of feelings in the audiences who love them. This book looks at the patterns of feelings that some nineteenth- and twentieth-century popular genres evoke, and asks how those patterns are related to gender. Soap operas and sentimentalism are generally derided as "effeminate" forms because their emotional range is seen as hyperfeminine. Having a Good Cry presents a celebration of effeminate feelings and works toward promoting more flexible, less pejorative concepts of gender. Using a psychophysiological rather than a psychoanalytic approach to reading and emotion, Warhol seeks to make readers more conscious of what is happening to the gendered body when we read.