Taking Soundings on April 18th

SINKING BENEATH THE RADAR?
Troubled thoughts on contemporary feminism
Speaker: Jonathan Dean (Lecturer in Political Theory, University of Leeds; Author of ‘Rethinking Contemporary Feminist Politics’)

Wednesday April 18th 2012: 6 pm, Broadcasting Place, Room AG02 (ground floor)
Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9EN

Gender relations have changed dramatically in recent decades, both in the UK and across the world. And yet, gender inequality persists: women remain under-represented in public life and over-represented at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Within these changing contexts, the meaning, role and status of feminism remains hotly contested. The argument that feminism is no longer relevant and necessary is often advanced in the mainstream media, whilst young women are often cast as unwilling to identify as feminist. This talk argues that both of these claims are unsatisfactory: feminism remains an absolutely integral part of progressive and radical politics in Britain and around the world, and young women have been at the forefront of a recent upsurge of feminist activism. It highlights a number of key issues and debates within contemporary feminism, offers some thoughts on representations of feminism in the media, and explores some the prospects and challenges for gender equality in a period of generalised social, economic and political uncertainty.

No need to book

Nina Power 21st Century Feminism

Nina Power speaking Sept 22nd
21st Century Feminism
Nina Power
6.00 – 8.00 pm, September 22nd 2010
Old Broadcasting House, 148 Woodhouse Lane
Leeds Metropolitan University

Nina Power is the author of One-Dimensional Woman, a key work in the recent flowering of feminist argument. Here’s part of the book’s blurb:“Did the desires of twentieth-century women's liberation achieve their fulfilment in the shopper's paradise of 'naughty' self-pampering, playboy bunny pendants and bikini waxes? That the height of supposed female emancipation coincides so perfectly with consumerism is a miserable index of a politically desolate time. Much contemporary feminism, particularly in its American formulation, doesn't seem too concerned about this coincidence.This short book is partly an attack on the apparent abdication of any systematic political thought on the part of today's positive, up-beat feminists. It suggests alternative ways of thinking about transformations in work, sexuality and culture that, while seemingly far-fetched in the current ideological climate, may provide more serious material for future feminism.”

This discussion will address the possibilities of a new feminism that can transform the entire left.