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BLOCK 1. INTRODUCTION
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Introduction of block 1.
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BLOQUE 1INTRODUCTION
Since the 1970s a great many academic books have been wri5en on both women’s wri7ng and on feminism, but what
makes this one unique is that it seeks to capture the way the poli4cal movement shaped women’s literature of the
20th and 21st centuries, promo7ng the work of female authors. However, the main reason this par7cular project
focuses exclusively on women writers is due to the fact that the author Catherine Riley wanted to inves7gate how the
press had evolved and how they responded to the changes and advances of the feminist movement. In order to do it,
she worked closely with many of the women who set up the now legendary women’s presses such as Virago and The
Women’s Press in the 1970s and 1980s. Although Virago did publish some fic7on by men, their collec7ve mission was
very much one of making women’s wri7ng visible, even texts no longer printed, challenging the deeply patriarchal
‘literary canon’ that, even in these years, was overwhelmingly male. Currently, the gender balance of individual
courses remains unpredictable, and there is s7ll the possibility that women authors are no studied in some courses.
On the other hand, the concept of ‘gender’ is much more widely discussed than it used to be, with ‘masculini7es’ as
well as ‘femini7es’ a popular topic for considera7on. However, this process has been something of a mixed blessing, as
far as the teaching of the history of feminism and women’s wri7ng is concerned. Post-millennium, there has been a
tendency to assume that this ba5le has been won, and they fail to register that new genera7ons of students are not
familiar with the journey that has brought us to where we are today, with women’s wri7ng being s7ll
underrepresented. In this light, the authors state that
‘Gender awareness’ is seen to be enough. Needless to say, this book starts from the assump<on that it is not
enough, and that there are a great many student readers out there who want to know more about the history of the
modern feminist movement — itself now over 100 years old — and how its principles and policies have contributed
to a highly self-conscious and imagina<ve interroga<on of gender across the many genres of women’s wri<ng.
Contextualizing, and historicising, the thema<cs of a work of fic<on in this way is, we would agree, very different
from simple being ‘gender aware’ when we read it.
According to them, ‘gender awareness’ is not enough since it is a complex concept that needs to be analyzed and
understood from different perspec7ves. We need to be aware of its origins, its development and its poli7cal and social
influences and contribu7ons; the impact it has had when approaching, contextualizing and studying the words of many
female writers. This is to say, the undeniable fact that the introduc7on of this new category has brought an u5erly
different way to interrogate and ques7on genre within the field of literary cri7cism.
Furthermore, what defines the feminist movement, and how that movement voices its concerns, varies from decade
to decade and is in a process of constant renova7on. That said, post-millennium there has been a groundswell of
feminist ac4vism in the Western world linked to the digital revolu4on, which has been received as a a5empt to
reconnect feminism’s core principles (respect for and equality of women) to women’s experiences in everyday.
However, the nature of social media sites and plaSorms allowed nega7ve responses from men hos7le to feminism,
widening the gap between how issues of gender and sexuality are discussed in academia and ‘on the street’. That said,
there can be no doubt that digital media have been responsible for recrui4ng, and energizing, a new genera4on of
young feminists, including many students who demand to get to know about feminist approaches and methodologies
that other genera7ons enjoyed.
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, BLOQUE 1
There is also an important pedagogical principle here: before any of us can take ideas forward and/or add new layers
of complexity to current debates, we need a thorough grounding in what has gone before. Therefore, it is vitally
important to provide some informa7on about the feminist theorizing and ac7vism that preceded the moment when
Judith Butler pushed here paradigm-shiXing analysis of gender (Gender Trouble, 1990), as well as the different
direc7ons in which both theory and fic7on have travelled since. The future is the responsible of each genera7on, but
meaningful progress always depends upon a good, grounded knowledge of the past.
MAKING WAVES / BREAKING WAVES
Exactly how feminists in the present relate to, and represent, their movement’s past has been the topic for
passionate debate since the millennium. This idea has given rise to a new awareness of the temporali7es of feminism
itself, and several important books have been published since 2010.
Through the astute analysis of teaching resources and introductory student guides presented in Clare Hemmings’ book
Why Stories Ma;er (2011), we recognise only too well the ‘narra4ves’ (most notably the ‘progress narra7ves’) we use,
repeatedly, to explain how we got to where we are today:
First, it is clearly a posi?ve account, one told with excitement and even relish. It is a narra?ve of success and
accomplishment and posi?ons feminist theory and its subjects as a;en?ve and dynamic. Second, it is a narra?ve with a
clear chronology: we are taken from the past — via key shiLs in poli?cs, theory and feminism’s subject, and towards a
complex feminist present. The shiLs represented are from singularity of purpose and perspec?ve to understandings
that emphasize mul?plicity, instability and difference.
Implicit in this trajectory is the problema7c assump7on that the first and second waves of feminism were
conceptually and intellectually flawed, as Hemmings’s invoca7on of ‘mul?plicity, instability and difference’ was a code
for the way in which writers from these periods failed to recognise differences in ethnicity and sexuality; or, indeed,
the way all of us, in the wake of post-structuralism, are seen to be ‘subjects in process’ (evolu7onary model of
feminism) rather than individuals with fixed iden77es or iden7fica7on. This prejudice has led to the ignorance of many
documents prior to the 1990s.
This challenge to what is effec7vely an evolu<onary model of feminism also includes a cri7que of the way the history
of the feminist movement in the 20th and 21st centuries has tradi7onally been carved up into consecu7ve ‘waves’.
THE FIRST WAVE. Focused on the worldwide suffrage movement that campaigned for women’s right to vote in
democra7c elec7ons, from the 1880s to the 1930s and 1940s.
THE SECOND WAVE. Originated in the women’s libera7on movement in the US, linked to the civil rights
movement of the 1960s, which sought equality for black Americans. It extended through the 1970s and 1980s.
THE THIRD WAVE. Linked both to the rise of queer theory as well as to a period of ‘backlash’ against second-
wave feminism, through the 1990s and into the early 2000s.
THE FOURTH WAVE. Characterized by the use of digital media to revive feminist ac7vism and reconnect feminist
poli7cs with daily life.
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