ABSTRACT
First published in 1994 Stirring It debates the challenges which confront feminism and Women's Studies in the 1990s. In the face of current worldwide political and social upheavals, Stirring It poses questions about women, their bodies, their identities, and positions which need to be addressed by contemporary feminists. The chapters therefore challenge the orthodoxies and theories which are exploded by contemporary feminist practice. They raise new issues for feminist debate. The volume is divided into four sections: ‘Feminist Politics in Action’ investigates the inter-relationship between politics and action with reference to issues such as the women's movement in Britain and women's position in and in relation to Ireland; ‘Disrupting Sexual Identities’ provides critiques of heterosexuality, monogamy, and conceptualization of the female body; ‘Imaging and Imagining’ explores the politics of women's cultural production and ‘Women's Studies and Feminist Practice’ analyzes the often fraught connections between theory and practice. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of Women's Studies, Sociology, and Gender Studies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
section Section I|61 pages
Feminist Politics in Action
chapter Chapter 1|27 pages
Paying Our Disrespects to the Bloody States We're In: Women, Violence, Culture and the State
chapter Chapter 2|19 pages
History of Women's Liberation Movements in Britain: A Reflective Personal History
chapter Chapter 3|11 pages
Nondecision-Making … A Management Guide to Keeping Women's Interest Issues Off the Political Agenda
section Section II|50 pages
Disrupting Sexual and Gender Identities?
section Section III|59 pages
Imaging and Imagining
chapter Chapter 8|14 pages
‘Not Happy but Hopeful’: Readers of Catherine Cookson in the North-East of England
chapter Chapter 9|24 pages
Splitting the Difference: Adventures in the Anatomy and Embodiment of Women
section Section IV|42 pages
Women's Studies and Feminist Practice