Why Feminism?: Gender, Psychology, Politics

by Lynne Segal

Overview

Three decades after the remarkable resurgence of feminism, gender issues have become ubiquitous in public debate. For some, feminism is the favorite scapegoat for multiple social ills; for others, the greatest success story of the closing century. The Janus face of feminism in the media reflects the competing images of women´s lives today. Feminists themselves hold sharply opposing views on the success or failures of three decades of women´s activism. Why Feminism? looks at the shifts in feminist thinking from the brash emergence of Women´s Liberation at the close of the 1960s to the diverse and discordant feminisms of recent decades. Exploring feminism´s troubled relations with psychology and psychoanalysis, the rise of new evolutionary theory, the impact of queer theorizing on gender categories, controversies over memory and trauma, and increasing anxieties about men and masculinity, Why Feminism? illustrates the continuing provocation and significance of feminist inquiry, laying out potentialities and pitfalls for the century ahead.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509503674
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	03/30/2015
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	438 KB

About the Author

Lynne Segal is Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Table of Contents

Preface.

Introduction: Why Feminism?.

1. Generations of Feminism.

2. Gender to Queer, and Back Again.

3. Genes and Gender: The Return to Darwin.

4. Psychic Life and its Scandals.

5. Gender Anxieties at the Limits of Psychology.

6. Cautionary Tales: Between Freud and Feminism.

7. Only Contradictions on Offer: Feminism at the Millennium.

Notes.

Index.

What People are Saying About This

Judith Butler

The passion, intelligence, and intellectual candor of this book are exemplary.
—(Judith Butler, author of Gender Trouble and Subjects of Desire)

Editorial Reviews

Lynne Segal is one of the most capacious readers of feminism and sexuality studies I have ever encountered. Rooted in a socialist feminism and open to new theory, she brings forward the best of the former tradition and sets it into a dynamic and provocative dialogue with contemporary scholarship and activism, including psychoanalysis in both its social and clinical dimensions. Her writing is marvelously clear, to the point, and trenchant. And she brings us all into a critical conversation that we sometimes did not know we could have. The passion, intelligence, and intellectual candor of this book are exemplary.

Judith Butler

Segal tries to make sense of the melange she finds contemporary feminism to be, querying whether it can still produce a confrontational and broadly transformative politics and culture or is just a blip in the march of economic neo-liberalism. Her concerns include generations of feminism, gender to queer and back, the return to Darwin with genes and gender, psychic life and its scandals, gender anxieties at the limits of psychology, between Freud and feminism, and only contradictions to offer at the millennium. Paper edition (11965- 8), $16.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

'Why Feminism? remakes the case for a dynamic feminism that rejects pessimism and becomes once again a "movement of transformation", able to liberate both sexes from the tyrannies of labour, of fear and, of course, gender. She looks at younger women struggling to Have It All, and the fears daily expressed for and about men and boys, and believes she just might have a few suggestions. It's a grim comment on the times that so few powerful people want to know.' The Guardian

'Her thesis is immediately engaging in its refusal to apply itself to the red herrings: Is feminism still relevant? Are men in crisis? Is feminism dead? Who cares? ... We've become used to texts that are saturated with easy-access pop-cultural reference points. But Segal is good at asking the right questions of the right people ... it's liberating to read a book that makes no apology for dignifying the Women Question with a serious academic inquiry.' The Guardian

'Lynne Segal is one of the most capacious readers of feminism and sexuality studies I have ever encountered. Rooted in a socialist feminism and open to new theory, she brings forward the best of the former tradition and sets it into a dynamic and provocative dialogue with contemporary scholarship and activism, including psychoanalysis in both its social and clinical dimensions. Her writing is marvellously clear, to the point, and trenchant. And she brings us all into a critical conversation that we sometimes did not know we could have. The passion, intelligence, and intellectual candour of this book are exemplary.' Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley

'Lynne Segal brings her unique capacity for clarity and wit, along with her courage of the intellect, to bear on the key paradox faced by feminists: how to hold on to what being a woman means, while contesting the cultural and social meanings given to 'femininity'. This is a book which travels between disciplines with remarkable erudition, providing concise and intelligent accounts of the context of debates in women's studies, queer theory, sociobiology, psychoanalysis and psychology. It is as illuminating on genetics as it is on gender.' Sheila Rowbotham, University Research Fellow in Sociology, Manchester University

'In this provocative history of the changing face and fortunes of feminism since the 1970s, Lynne Segal gives us a vivid account both of feminist debate and its increasingly conservative context. Rejecting the dualistic thinking which pits activism against theory, Segal argues persuasively both for the reinvigoration of feminism's political will and its continuing exploration of subjectivity and difference.' Cora Kaplan, University of Southampton

'An ambitious and timely assessment of the shifts in feminist thinking over the last half century, taking in queer theory, post-structuralism, and psychotherapy. She rocks.' Libby Brooks, The Guardian

'She writes in an engaging and accessible manner, and I enjoyed reading this book.' The Psychologist

'In a strong argument for socialist feminism, Lynne Segal engages with an impressive breadth of literature and analyses inter- and intradisciplinary debates encompassing biology, sociology, psychology, psychoanalysis, as well as gender, feminist and queer theory ... Her wide-ranging, clear and incisive accounts of theoretical developments are always to be welcomed and provide an indispensable guide to diverse strands of feminist thought.' Journal of European Area Studies

'How very useful her book will be to those who want to learn about the debates as they have developed and continue. It is extraordinarily knowledgeable.' Radical Philosophy

'It provides an excellent introduction (and more) to what are arguably the most important debates and practices relating to gender across, within and between the global, national, local, interpersonal and intraperson 'levels' at the present time.' Feminist Theory

'Segal's book provides an engaging discussion of the historical and contemporary issues for feminist activism and for general feminist scholarship.' Feminism & Psychology

From the Publisher