ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the ways in which British women short story writers negotiate the competing discourses of contemporary feminisms through their exploration of women's femininity and sexuality. It foregrounds the politics of choice and agency and thereby engages with a key site of contemporary feminist discourse. Most frequently, the politics of choice and agency are manifest on the female body. By focusing on the representation of femininity and sexuality in these short story narratives it is possible to reveal some of the ways in which neoliberalism and post feminist politics are mapped, reflected and critiqued in contemporary women's writing. In her short story "Transparent Fiction", Kate Atkinson introduces us to the character of Meredith, a young woman who has "gone through life borrowing other people's personalities rather than going to the trouble of developing her own". In stark contrast to Roberts's portrayal of sexual harassment and domestic violence, Sarah Hall's "The Agency" positions women's unspoken sexuality as a "private act".
