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An interest in the dreams women ‘dream for themselves’ has similarly underpinned feminist reconsiderations of ‘utopia’. Utopia is often defined as a literary genre, involving the depiction of an ideal polity. Feminist critics have challenged existing histories of literary utopias by uncovering a neglected tradition written from the perspective of women’s desires (e.g. Albinski, 1988; Bartkowski, 1989). In returning to texts such as Christine de Pizan’s The Book o f the City o f Ladies of 1405, they have contested standard definitions of what constitutes ‘a utopia’, seeking to rewrite the meaning of the concept along with histories of its literary expression. Visions of gender relations within literature by men have also been critically examined, exposing the interweaving of reactionary and radical elements in different utopias, while the expansion of feminist utopian fiction especially in the 1970s has stimulated debates about the distinctiveness of its forms and strategies (prominent examples include Gilman’s Herland of 1915, and more recently Gearheart, 1978; Piercy, 1976; Wittig, 1971; as well as ‘anti-utopias’ such as that in Atwood, 1986). Rather than viewing utopia as a closed, fixed form or a blueprint to be realised, a number of feminist critics have recently been reconceptualising ‘the utopian’ in more fluid, open and partial terms as ‘an approach toward, a movement beyond set limits into the realm of the not-yet-set’ (Bammer, 1991: 7). This approach has been important in areas of feminist theory, including within F r e n c h fem in ism (see Whitford, 1991). It typically gives a central role to desire, and it is opening up new paths in feminist utopian thought that are multidirectional, open-ended, t r a n s g r e s s i v e and not afraid of ambiguity or flux (Sargission, 1996; see also Reichert, 1994). DP

Violence Violence may be physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or representa­

Vision/visuaUvisuality

Feminists have radically redrawn understanding of sexual violence against women and children. Some studies suggest it is experienced by most women over the life course (Kelly, 1987); this includes what others distinguish as forms of harassment. Most sexual violence takes place within the home. Because of the nature of private space, where traditionally men’s rights of authority and privacy have been legally enshrined, ‘aggressive forms of misogynous m a s c u l in i t y are often exercised with impunity’ (Duncan, 1996b: 131). The h o m e also provides the main site in which domination based upon age and generation finds expression in a high incidence of violence against children and older people. Feminists have strongly criticised the emphasis of crime prevention and policing strategies on violence in p u b lic space; although in many countries this is changing, support services for survivors of domestic violence are generally underresourced, prosecution rates are low and the problem remains largely hidden..