About the Book

This book is an innovative and creative critique of the theories and practices of feminism, revealing why it still matters in the 21st century, written by a mother and daughter author team. The co-authorship of the book reflects a cross-generational dialogue within feminism, which demonstrates feminisms continued relevance in the 21st century. Kath and Sophie Woodward write as two situated people who challenge the current distancing of feminist theories from lived experience and use discussion between past and present feminisms to reinvigorate what it means to speak as a woman and to engage with feminist politics today. Beginning with young women's voices in the present, the book develops the themes which link representations to materialities through a discussion of feminist methodologies, technological changes, difference and equality, bodies and embodiment and the invisibility and visibility of women, all of which are used to explore and argue the relevance of a politics of difference.

Contents

1.         Contemporary Voices: Starting Out

2.         I Said, She Said, We Said

3.         The Promise of Technoscience

4.         A Grown-up Politics of Difference

5.         Visibility and Invisibility, Silence, Absences

6.         Material Bodies: Bodies as Situations

7.         Conclusion

About the Author / Editor

Kath Woodward is Professor of Sociology, Open University, UK. Her research interests include feminist theories, gender, race and diversity, especially in the field of sport, and theories of embodiment. Her publications include Embodied Sporting Practices; Social Sciences: The Big Issues; Boxing, Identity and Masculinity: The 'l' of the Tiger and Understanding Identity.

Sophie Woodward is Lecturer in Sociology at Manchester University, UK.  She is an anthropologist who has written about clothing, material culture and fashion, with a focus upon the practices of everyday life. She is the author of Why Women Wear What They Wear.