On loving feminism: Disagreements, politics, and the feminist future

About the event

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Why are so many feminists ambivalent about feminism? What accounts for the “I’m not a feminist, but…” tone of demurral and reluctance to identify? In this talk, longtime feminist scholar and activist, Suzanna Walters, addresses this bewitching dilemma and argues for a robust embrace of the uniqueness of feminism and its potential to radically reorganise the social world. Loving feminism with passion and fervour - with all her faults and frailties - needs no apology.

Suzanna Danuta Walters is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Northeastern University where she also serves as Editor of the feminist journal Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Her work centers on feminist theory and politics, sexuality, and popular culture and she is a frequent commentator on these issues for the media, including the Washington Post, Ms, the Nation, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Her last book, The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions are Sabotaging Gay Equality (NYU Press), explored how notions of tolerance limit the possibilities for real liberation and deep social belonging. Walters’ previous book, All the Rage: The Story of Gay Visibility in America (University of Chicago Press, 2001), examined the explosion of gay visibility in culture and politics over the past 15 years and raised pressing questions concerning the politics of visibility around sexual identity.

Her other works include books on feminist cultural theory (Material Girls: Making Sense of Feminist Cultural Theory), mothers and daughters in popular culture (Lives Together/Worlds Apart: Mothers and Daughters in Popular Culture) and numerous articles and book chapters on feminist theory, queer theory and LGBT studies, and popular culture.

Introduced by Dr Finn Mackay, UWE Bristol Bristol Sociology. The event is a UWE Bristol Social Sciences Research Group event.