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What is feminist time keeping?

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The Feminist Fourth Wave

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Abstract

This chapter considers how feminism necessitates a different approach to time keeping. Looking to queer theory and its understanding of temporality, Chamberlain suggests that feminism also requires a more malleable and mutable approach to chronology. Rejecting the concept of linear progress, it is possible to think of every wave of feminism as a converging of temporalities: unfolding in the present, but heavily reliant on the activities of the past, as well as optimism for the future. Through maintaining these three tenses simultaneously, each wave takes on an intensity that allows for affects to create cohesion amongst activists.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Certainly we can see this kind of fighting and resistance in relation to government in the UK now and the shutting down of smaller and more vulnerable women’s services. Unison have reported on the fact that women are disproportionately effected by cuts to the public sector: https://www.unison.org.uk/about/what-we-do/fairness-equality/women/key-issues/women-and-public-spending-cuts/. A 2011 survey reported by Women’s Aid states that 91% of women’s services were facing potential cuts: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/what-is-domestic-abuse/domestic-abuse-services/. The End Violence Against Women coalition has prepared a briefing paper that outlines the need for specifically tailored services for women who have experienced violence: http://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/data/files/resources/72/Survivors-Rights-EVAW-Coalition-September-2015.pdf. Thus, while feminism might be experiencing a wave of increased visibility and media attention, women’s services are suffering more brutal cuts than before.

  2. 2.

    No More Page 3 is an organisation that is tackling the inclusion of undressed women within the Sun Newspaper. For more information on their campaigns see their website: https://nomorepage3.wordpress.com/about/.

  3. 3.

    Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture (2005), Natasha Walter’s Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism (2011), Laurie Penny’s Meat Market: Female Flesh Under Capitalism (2011) and Nina Power’s One Dimensional Woman (2009) are all examples of texts that address the commodification of women’s bodies posturing as feminism, or empowerment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Holloway, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Prudence Chamberlain

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  1. Prudence Chamberlain
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Chamberlain, P. (2017). What is feminist time keeping?. In: The Feminist Fourth Wave. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53682-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53682-8_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-53681-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-53682-8

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