Academic FeminismPapers

This provocative 2000 article challenges the state of contemporary feminist theory, arguing that while feminist epistemology, methodology and ethics have undergone revolutionary transformation, feminist theory remains trapped within parallel structures to mainstream/malestream social theory. Stanley and Wise call for a fundamental feminist autocritique and the development of feminist metatheory.

This 2000 article by Alison Assiter develops a distinctive approach to feminist epistemology centered on the concepts of 'emancipatory values' and 'epistemic communities.' Assiter argues that knowledge production is fundamentally shaped by the values of the communities in which it occurs, and that feminist epistemology should focus on creating communities whose values promote emancipation rather than oppression. The paper offers a modernist feminist epistemology that is collective rather than individualist, value-centered rather than value-neutral.

This essay critically examines evolutionary psychology's claims about gender differences and mate selection, particularly the popular notion that women are 'naturally monogamous' while men are 'naturally polygamous.' Rees reveals how these scientific narratives serve gender essentialism and how feminism responds to evolutionary psychology's challenges.

This radical feminist theoretical article revisits the place of tolerance in feminist theory, critically responding to the pluralist stance advocated by the inaugural issue of Feminist Theory journal. Drawing on Herbert Marcuse's theory of 'repressive tolerance', Thompson argues that unlimited tolerance provides shelter for patriarchal and anti-feminist viewpoints, thereby undermining feminism's core as a liberatory politics. She contends that feminism must maintain intolerance toward male domination to preserve its theoretical coherence and political efficacy.

This essay explores the relationship between rational argumentation and narrative knowledge in feminist theory, questioning traditional oppositions between theory and story, abstract and concrete, argument and narration. Felski argues that narrative is not the opposite of rationality but an important mode of feminist knowledge production, and the two should be seen as complementary rather than opposed.

This 2000 article by leading feminist sociologist Sylvia Walby challenges the dominance of standpoint epistemology and the 'politics of location' in feminist theory. Walby argues that in an era of globalization, feminism needs to move beyond location-based knowledge claims and embrace the power of reasoned argument to make effective universal claims about gender justice. The paper engages critically with postmodern and postcolonial feminist theories that privilege particular standpoints over universal reasoning.

This essay is Walby's response to critiques from Phoenix, Knapp, and others, further elaborating her position that feminism needs robust theorization and universal claims. Walby argues that in the era of globalization, feminism cannot be limited to politics of location but needs to develop theoretical frameworks capable of analyzing systemic oppression across local boundaries.

A groundbreaking exploration of how maternal embodiment, particularly breastfeeding, transforms academic writing and knowledge production. Bartlett develops an 'epistemology of breasts' that challenges traditional boundaries between personal experience and scholarly practice.

This book review discusses Hilaire Barnett's 'Introduction to Feminist Jurisprudence'. Scoular, as a feminist legal scholar at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, evaluates the book's coverage of major issues in feminist jurisprudence as a student textbook, and its analysis of how traditional jurisprudence and law remain masculine subjects despite the vast strides in formal legal equality.

This essay explores the definitional boundaries and epistemological foundations of feminist theory, questioning what kinds of thinking and practice can be counted as 'theory' and how such distinctions affect feminist academic and political practice. Ermarth examines feminist theory's diversity and inclusivity from a postmodern perspective.

This critical essay examines epistemological boundaries and power relations in academic discourse by investigating how dictionaries define and categorize feminist theory. Winter analyzes which theoretical traditions are included or excluded, and how these choices reflect power dynamics and knowledge politics within feminism.

This influential essay explores gender as a performative act rather than a natural given, drawing on phenomenological theory to argue that gender identity is constituted through repeated stylized acts. Butler challenges essentialist notions of gender and proposes that gender is continuously constructed through performance within regulatory frameworks.