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Like feminism, Post-feminism (or postfeminism) is not a uniform object either in practice or discourse. The term first entered into American usage in the early 1980s, initially signifying backlash over second-wave feminism. The term now denotes a wide range of theories, all of which argue that feminism is no longer relevant to today's society.

One of the earliest uses of the term was in Susan Bolotin's 1982 article "Voices of the Post-Feminist Generation," published in New York Times Magazine. This article was based on a number of interviews with women who largely agreed with the goals of feminism, but did not identify as feminists.

The post-feminist texts which emerged in the 1980s and '90s portrayed second-wave feminism as a monolithic entity, thereby allowing the author to criticize these generalizations. Some claimed that feminism forced women to view themselves as victims, while others posited that women had grown disenchanted with feminism and now wished to return to domesticity.

Post-Feminist Texts

• Rene Denfeld, The New Victorians: A Young Woman’s Challenge to the Old Feminist Order, (New York: Warner Books, 1995)

• Camille Paglia, Sex Art and American Culture: Essays, (Vintage, 1992)

• Katie Roiphe, The Morning After: Fear, Sex and Feminism on Campus (1993)

See also

• Girl Power
• Third-wave feminism

References

1. Modleski, Tania. Feminism without Women: Culture and Criticism in a “Postfeminist” Age. New York: Routledge, 1991, 3.
2. Rosen, Ruth. The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America. New York: Viking, 2000, 275, 337.
3. Jones, Amelia. “Postfeminism, Feminist Pleasures, and Embodied Theories of Art,” New Feminist Criticism: Art, Identity, Action, Eds. Joana Frueh, Cassandra L. Langer and Arlene Raven. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. 16-41, 20.

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