View / Open Strait Oregon 0171A 12876.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
OCCUPYING A THIRD PLACE: PRO-LIFE FEMINISM, LEGIBLE POLITICS, AND THE EDGE OF WOMEN’S LIBERATION by LAURA STRAIT A DISSERTATION Presented to the School of Journalism and Communication and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2020 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Laura Strait Title: Occupying a Third Place: Pro-Life Feminism, Legible Politics, and the Edge of Women's Liberation This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the School of Journalism and Communication by: Gretchen Soderlund Chairperson Carol Stabile Core Member Biswarup Sen Core Member Michael Allan Institutional Representative and Kate Mondloch Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded September 2020 ii © 2020 Laura E Strait This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Laura Strait Doctor of Philosophy School of Journalism and Communication September 2020 Title: Occupying a Third Place: Pro-Life Feminism, Legible Politics, and the Edge of Women's Liberation This dissertation reads pro-life feminism as a break from traditional public perceptions of feminist thought. Through a variety of methodological analyses, it engages three case studies to answer (1) How does pro-life feminism persist as a movement and idea? And (2) What does the existence of pro-life feminists mean for the discursive boundaries of pro-choice feminism? This project included archival research on major feminist, anti-feminist, and pro-life feminist organizations, as well as long-form interviews with founding members of the pro-life feminist organizations. First, a critical discourse analysis of the 2017 Women’s March on Washington in regard to the removal of pro-life feminist group New Wave Feminists’ publicized removal as march organizers reveals discursive boundaries of contemporary feminist activism. Next, an evaluation of pro-life feminism’s coopting of “feminist foremothers,” Susan B. Anthony in particular, concludes that pro-life feminists utilize iv the mechanisms of producing history through commemoration to sustain a shared internal history that diverges from professional historical accounts of the suffragette. Finally, a cross-platform analysis of pro-life feminism’s online social life points to the future of fringe social organization through social media and the writable web. The study concludes with a discussion on the social space between public and private spheres (as theorized by Arendt, Habermas, Benhabib, and Butler) as the locus for pro-life feminism to persist while simultaneously undermining and constituting the philosophical boundaries of “mainstream” feminism. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Laura Strait GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Media Studies, 2020, University of Oregon Master of Science, Media Studies, 2014, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, Cultural Studies, 2010, Columbia College Chicago AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Feminist Media Studies New Media Studies GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Jane Grant Dissertation Fellowship, “Occupying a Third Place: Pro-Life Feminism, Legible Politics, and the Edge of Women’s Liberation,” University of Oregon, 2017. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express sincere gratitude to my dissertation committee for their flexibility, support, and inspiration throughout my graduate career. This project was generously supported by the Center for the Study of Women in Society’s annual Jane Grant Dissertation Fellowship, as well as years of teaching and research fellowships through the School of Journalism and Communications. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1 Pro-Life Feminism .......................................................................................................................4 Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 11 Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 14 Background ................................................................................................................................. 27 Chapter Summaries ................................................................................................................... 40 A Note on Language ................................................................................................................ 43 II. CHAPTER ONE: PRO LIFE PUSSYHATS? MEDIA PERCEPTION AND THE BOUNDARIES OF FEMINIST DISSENT IN THE 2017 WOMEN'S MARCH ON WASHINGTON ............................................................................................................................... 47 IWY Conferences: State Definitions of a "Pro-Woman" Politics .............................. 48 The 2017 Women's March on Washington ....................................................................... 54 Stories of Dissent in the Women's March on Washington ........................................... 57 The New Wave Feminists and the Women's March Controversy .............................. 64 Media Coverage of the Women's March Controversy ................................................... 67 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 77 III. CHAPTER TWO: REMEMBERING FEMINISM: THE CONTESTED LEGACY OF SUSAN B. ANTHONY ..................................................................................... 78 What the Foremothers Would Have Wanted .................................................................... 78 Collective and Popular Memory ........................................................................................... 82 Susan B. Anthony ..................................................................................................................... 88 Susan B. Anthony House ........................................................................................................ 93 viii Chapter Page Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 99 IV. CHAPTER THREE: THE DIGITAL LIFE OF PRO-LIFE FEMINISM .............. 103 Review of Literature ............................................................................................102 Method .................................................................................................................103 Sites ......................................................................................................................120 Analysis................................................................................................................122 Pro-Life Feminist Twitter .............................................................................................. 122 New Wave Feminists Facebook Page ........................................................................ 126 FeministsForLife.org ...................................................................................................... 131 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 136 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 138 V. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 141 Future Directions ..................................................................................................................... 154 Final Thoughts ......................................................................................................................... 158 REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................................ 161 ix I: INTRODUCTION In March of 2016, a photograph of a determined teenage girl protesting reforms to Texas abortion clinic regulations graced the front page of The New York Times’ print version (Liptak, 2016). The protests followed a Supreme Court decision striking down strict building code and employment status regulations Texas lawmakers had imposed on clinics that performed abortions. The anti-abortion protesters sought to retain these regulations, which do not ban abortions outright, but reduce the number of clinics at which abortions can be performed. We cannot see the banner she is holding, as the picture is cropped just below her clenched fists. Instead, the girl is flanked by two pro-life protest signs: the one on the right features a newborn posed in a grayscaled allusion to an ultrasound with stark white block-text reading “Life Counts,” a familiar and iconic pro-life image. The sign to the left of the girl’s face, however, was far less familiar and devoid of the morose imagery we have come to expect from pro-life iconography. The sign advertised a website and, in extra-large black and bubblegum pink font,