Feminism in popular culture

Abstract

This chapter brings together debates about the relationships between feminism and popular culture in the 1980s and 1990s which explored how feminism was envisaged within popular culture. These debates are organised around concepts such as 'backlash', 'post-feminism', 'celebrity feminism' and 'popular feminism'. The chapter reflects on what is at stake in feminism's engagement with popular culture, and on how feminists have made distinctions between the 'good' and the 'bad', the 'progressive' and the 'reactionary'. It examines forms of feminist cultural politics that are premised on an engagement with 'the popular'. The chapter considers forms of 'popular feminism' that, in different ways, question some of the assumptions and authority of 'official' forms of feminism. It explores a couple of studies that demonstrate why women may choose to make alliances with many feminist concerns but refuse the identity 'feminist'.

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