Queen Mary, University of London

Venue: London
Time: 27 June 2015
Proposals not later than 12. März 2015

The symposium invites critical reflection and debate on what has been called feminism’s ‘fourth wave’. Over the past few years, the ambivalent attitudes that characterised the postfeminist climate of the 1990s and early 2000s have arguably been replaced by a vibrant unveiling of new feminist potencies on the streets and online. The economic crash of 2008, the ensuing austerity measures, and the spread of an insidious rhetoric targeting under-privileged and marginalised groups, have laid bare to many the structural inequalities embedded in the UK. Renewed engagement with feminism has been galvanised in this highly politicised environment by a range of issues that continue to confront women into the 21. century, from unequal pay, to the objectification and abuse of women’s bodies, to ‘everyday sexism’.

Alongside grassroots activism, and publications aimed at a general readership, this putative ‘fourth wave’ of feminism has mobilised political activity online. In the face of the ever-new forms of misogyny churned out by digital media, feminist internauts are fostering valuable spaces for women to stake their claim to the virtual worlds of the future. Read more and source … (Web)