The inter-disciplinary nature of McRobbie′s account is one of its strengths, drawing as it does on psychoanalysis, feminist sociology and cultural studies to provide a powerful breadth of analysis… for a thought-provoking and articulate analysis of what is left for feminism - and what has been lost - this book is excellent.
Angela McRobbie is one of the most prolific and inspiring feminist theorists in the wide field of cultural and media studies... the compilation of these essays in one volume brilliantly shows the consistency in McRobbie′s analysis of gender in widely different contemporary cultural products and discourses.
To those feminists who assumed that women’s increased labor force participation and a handful of legal victories would, perhaps, engender a continuing commitment to socialist-feminist values, The Aftermath of Feminism is a sobering wake-up call. McRobbie’s various references to films, television, magazines, and popular culture are not simply a stroll down a post-feminist lane; rather, these texts help illuminate the forms of gender power which help produce and reproduce women’s continued domination and subordination. The book is an assault on ′gender mainstreaming′, or the idea that, though feminism may have lost popularity as a public protest movement, it is alive and well ′behind the scenes′ in the ′practical world of women’s issues′.
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In this trenchant inquiry into the state of feminism, Angela McRobbie breaks open the politics of sexual equality and ′affirmative feminism′ and sets down a new theory of gender power. Challenging the most basic assumptions of the ′end′ of feminism, this book argues that invidious forms of gender re-stabilisation are being re-established. Consumer and popular culture encroach on the terrain of so-called female freedom, appearing supportive of female success, yet tying women into new post-feminist neurotic dependencies. With a scathing critique of ′women′s empowerment′, McRobbie has developed a distinctive feminist analysis that she uses to examine socio-cultural phenomena embedded in contemporary women′s lives: from fashion photography and the television ′make-over′ genre to eating disorders, body anxiety and ′illegible rage′.A turning point in feminist theory, The Aftermath of Feminism will set a new agenda for gender studies and cultural studies.
Springer International Publishing AG
