Postfeminisms: Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms Seeks to Situate and Investigate the Relationship Between Second Wave Feminism and Postfeminism

POSTFEMINISMS Once seen as synonymous with ‘anti-feminist’ postfeminism is now understood as the theoretical meeting ground between feminism and anti-foundationalist movements such as postmodernism, post-structuralism and post-colonialism. In this clear exposition of some of the major debates, theorists and practitioners, Ann Brooks shows how feminism has moved away from its foundations in the liberal humanist models of the Western Enlightenment since the period of the Second Wave and how the challenges of subaltern discourses have forced it to redefine itself and to become more responsive to a range of political and ethical challenges. Individual chapters look at postfeminism in relation to • feminist epistemology • Foucault • psychoanalytic theory and semiology • postmodernism and post-colonialism • cultural politics • popular culture • film and media • sexuality and identity. For all students looking for guidance through the sometimes murky waters of contemporary feminist theory, this book will provide a reassuring first port of call. Ann Brooks is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Massey University, New Zealand. POSTFEMINISMS Feminism, cultural theory and cultural forms ANN BROOKS London and New York First published 1997 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 ©1997 Ann Brooks All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Postfeminisms: feminism, cultural theory, and cultural forms /Ann Brooks. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Feminist theory. 2. Culture. 3. Feminism-Political aspects. I. Title. HQ1190.B764 1997 96–47498 305.42-dc21 CIP ISBN 0-203-42889-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-73713-X (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-11474-8 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-11475-6 (pbk) CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii INTRODUCTION 1 Part I Challenging and fragmenting the consensus of the ‘second wave’ 1 CONSENSUS AND CONFLICT IN SECOND WAVE FEMINISM: ISSUES OF DIVERSITY AND ‘DIFFERENCE’ IN FEMINIST THEORISING 13 Part II Feminism’s ‘turn to culture’—a paradigm shift in feminist theorising? 2 CHALLENGING THE BASIS OF THE FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGICAL PROJECT 29 3 FOUCAULT AND POSTFEMINISM: DISCOURSE, POWER AND RESISTANCE 47 4 PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY, SEMIOLOGY AND POSTFEMINISM 69 5 THE ‘LANDSCAPE OF POSTFEMINISM’: THE INTERSECTION OF FEMINISM, POSTMODERNISM AND POST-COLONIALISM 92 Part III Postfeminism and cultural form 6 POSTFEMINISMS AND CULTURAL POLITICS: FEMINISM, CULTURAL DIFFERENCE AND THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF THE ACADEMY 117 v CONTENTS 7 POSTFEMINISM AND POPULAR CULTURE: REPRESENTATIONS AND RESISTANCE 135 8 POSTFEMINIST VARIATIONS WITHIN MEDIA AND FILM THEORY 163 9 POSTFEMINISMS AND CULTURAL SPACE: SEXUALITY, SUBJECTIVITY AND IDENTITY 189 CONCLUSION 210 Notes 212 Bibliography 218 Index 234 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the support and enthusiasm of a number of people in this project. I would particularly like to thank Chris Rojek for his commitment to the initial project. At Routledge, Mari Shullaw’s clarity of vision and careful judgement were invaluable to the success of the project. The enthusiasm of my postgraduate students to the course Tostfeminism and Cultural Forms’ at Massey University has been a constant source of encouragement. I would also like to thank Dr Lynne Star, Dr David Schlect, Dr Philip Barker and Professor Gregor McLennan for their encouragement and humour. I owe a debt to Stephanie Brennan for her incisive editorial skills and helpful and constructive criticism. A very special thanks to Heather Hodgetts, in the Department of Sociology at Massey University, for her patience, expert assistance and advice in all aspects of the production of this text. Wendy Lees at Routledge made the production process efficient and effortless. vii INTRODUCTION Postfeminism, as an expression of a stage in the constant evolutionary movement of feminism, has gained greater currency in recent years. Once seen, somewhat crudely, as ‘anti-feminist’, the term is now understood as a useful conceptual frame of reference encompassing the intersection of feminism with a number of other anti-foundationalist movements including postmodernism, post-structuralism and post-colonialism. Postfeminism represents, as Yeatman (1994:49) claims, feminism’s ‘coming of age’, its maturity into a confident body of theory and politics, representing pluralism and difference and reflecting on its position in relation to other philosophical and political movements similarly demanding change. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POSTFEMINISM, POSTMODERNISM AND POST-COLONIALISM The relationship between postfeminism, postmodernism and post-colonialism is an important one when understanding some of the central issues considered in the debates outlined in the following chapters. The concept of ‘post’ common to all three discourses can be the subject of misconception in the popular interpretation of the terms. Postfeminism as in the case of post-colonialism and postmodernism is often used to signal a complete break in a previous range of usually ‘oppressive’ relations. ‘Post’ as used in these instances often implies that these relations have been overcome and replaced and in this context the emphasis is on a new range of temporal, political and cultural relations. This use of the concept of ‘post’ is highly problematic. As it is understood in this book the concept of ‘post’ implies a process of ongoing transformation and change. As Spoonley (1995a: 49) comments, post-colonialism can be seen as marking ‘a critical engagement with colonialism, not to claim that colonialism has been overturned’. In the same way, postfeminism can be understood as critically engaging with patriarchy and postmodernism as similarly engaged with the principles of modernism. It does not assume that either patriarchal or modernist discourses and frames of reference have been replaced or superseded. 1 INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS POSTFEMINISM? As Spoonley (1995a:53) notes: ‘The “post” of post-colonialism refers to a “continuous engagement with the effects of colonial occupation”’ (Thomas, 1993:8). Postfeminism also occupies a similar ‘critical’ position in regard to earlier feminist frameworks at the same time as critically engaging with patriarchal and imperialist discourses. In doing so it challenges hegemonic assumptions held by second wave feminist epistemologies that patriarchal and imperialist oppression was a universally experienced oppression. As Gunew and Yeatman maintain, there is a need to organise around local allegiances in order to dismantle once again the universal models which however benign they may appear, work ultimately to confirm the old power structures, whether these be partriarchies or neo-imperialisms. (Gunew and Yeatman 1993:xiv) Postfeminism, as with post-colonialism, ‘represents one interesting possibility within the politics of difference that have emerged as an important site of political mobilisation…’ (Spoonley 1995a:64). THE EMERGENCE OF POSTFEMINISM The use of the concept of postfeminism is problematic for two reasons, which need to be clarified: first, the widespread ‘popular’ conception of postfeminism as a result of the appropriation of the term by the media; and second, the uneven development of postfeminism as a movement expressing change, and the resulting chronological and geographical distinctions that can be made. Alice (1995) claims that Postfeminism, (usually written as ‘post-feminism’) was coined in the period between the achievement of women’s suffrage in the U.S. and the rise of ‘second-wave’ feminism during the 1960s. It denoted the successful outcome of struggles by women for the right to vote, hold public office and the choice to occupy many more personal spheres. (Alice 1995:7) There appears to be little in this definition of postfeminism to anticipate the way ‘postfeminism’ has become understood in the popular consciousness in the late 1980s and early 1990s where, as Alice contends, ‘“postfeminism” has new currency, which is often hostile and directed towards feminists in particular’ (ibid.). One of the key proponents of this popular conception of ‘postfeminism’ is Susan Faludi, in her book Backlash (1992). Faludi draws on Brenda Polan writing in the Guardian to establish the credentials of her claim. Polan maintains that ‘Post- feminism is the backlash. Any movement or philosophy which defines itself as post whatever came before is bound to be reactive. In most cases it is also reactionary’ (Faludi 1992:15). 2 INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS POSTFEMINISM? Faludi claims that, whereas the media introduced ‘the backlash to a national audience’ in the 1980s through the use of terms such as ‘the man shortage’, ‘the biological clock’, ‘the mommy track’ and ‘post-feminism’ (ibid.: 101), in fact the press were expressing anti-feminist views much earlier. Faludi contends that: Post-feminist sentiments first surfaced, not in the 1980s media, but in the 1920s press. Under this barrage, membership of feminist organizations soon plummented, and the remaining

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