Outlines the main features of major strands in contemporary second wave feminist thought, and debates the place of feminism in social, political, and personal life during the 1990s. After a retrospective of feminist thought from the 1960s through the mid-1980s, chapters present the origins of aspects of second wave feminism such as liberal, socialist, radical, lesbian, and black feminism, and discuss feminist debates in the 1980s and 1990s, men in feminism, the media and feminist superstars, and theoretical developments. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This introduction provides a critical survey of the dominant trends in Anglo-American feminist thought since 1968. From the historical roots of second-wave feminism to current debates about feminist theory and politics, it sets out the different philosophies and political positions beforerelating them to feminism in the 1990s. Chapters analyse issues such as sexuality, representation, consciousness-raising and ideology from liberal, socialist, radical, black and lesbian feminist perspectives. Current crises which threaten to divide the women's movement are discussed, such as 'men in feminism', postmodernism, and thenotion of a backlash fuelled by detractors like Camille Paglia and Kate Roiphe.

Within much contemporary feminist theory there is a tendency to forget or ignore its own historicity and consider itself as primarily oriented towards the present. This book explores the historical roots of some of feminism’s central concepts and debates, examining the philosophical conditions for feminist thought and taking as its point of departure the dynamic relationship between feminist thought and the history of philosophy. With close attention to the genealogy of key concepts such as equality, sex/gender and difference, alongside discussions of contemporary gender equality policy and contextual understandings of central figures including Wollstonecraft, Beauvoir and Irigaray, The Genealogy of Modern Feminist Thinking provides an analysis of feminism from its origins in the Early Modern period to its contemporary, post-modern forms. Shedding light on feminism as a product of Modernity and establishing it as part of the canon of European intellectual development, this book thus corrects the picture of feminism as a phenomenon that lacks historical continuity, revealing a history characterized by breaks, setbacks and forgetting, in which the forgetting itself forms part of a rich genealogy. As such, it will be of interest to philosophers, sociologists, political theorists and intellectual historians alike.

This bestselling title from Humanities-Ebooks offers an explication of the major contributions to feminist theory in the late Twentieth Century, covering Initial Articulations of the ‘Woman’ Problem (Virginia Woolf; Simone de Beauvoir), Radical Feminism (Kate Millett; Shulamith Firestone; Radicalesbians; Mary Daly), Black Feminism (Audre Lorde; Alice Walker; Patricia Hill Collins), French Feminism (Luce Irigaray; Hélène Cixous; Monique Wittig; Julia Kristeva), Materialist Feminism (Gayle Rubin; Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak), Queer Theory (Adrienne Rich; Judith Butler; Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick; Wayne Koestenbaum).

Contemporary Feminist Theories was inspired by a dissatisfaction with existing introductions, which often fail to fully track change and capture diversity within feminist thought. The volume draws on the expertise of a range of Western feminists in order to reflect the breadth of feminist theory as well as shifts within it. Each chapter maps the development of feminist thought in a particular area over time, and suggests future directions.

This stimulating text presents a concise and accessible introduction to feminist theory today. Covering all the major variants of feminist political thought, it offers a unique examination of the archive of modern feminist theory from the publication of The Feminine Mystique in 1963 to current postmodernist and legal feminist texts. It provides both an intellectual history and a political critique of contemporary feminism in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Judith Evans focuses on the divergence within, as well as between, feminist schools, and on protests from women marginalized by `the movement′ - including those who are lesbian and those who are black. Feminist Theory Today contends that the early feminist demand for radical equality has gone, contributing to its drastic undertheorization. While brilliantly reconceptualizing this concept, the author documents the changes in socialist feminism from its revolutionary origins to its current focus on modifying liberal democratic forms.

This book invites us to wrestle honestly with the issues and possibilities of contemporary feminism. Hester Eisenstein brings a persuasive optimism to her analysis of feminism, finding in the achievements of the 70's fertile ground for renewed growth. In Eisenstein's clear-sighted, empathic interpretation, the revolutionary vitality of the new feminism survives and blossoms.