Feminism's Family

Introduction: The Distinctive Energies of "Normal Science"

“…This is a useful reminder of a point made by Catharine MacKinnon, that the most productive energies of feminism tend to move from practice to theory, 38 rather than the reverse: an incitement to engage in collective problem solving may generate a different kind of response than an invitation to reflect on a theoretical category. This experience of these occasions supports the suggestion of Clare Huntington, 39 Berta Hernandez-Truyol, 40 and Brenda Cossman 41 that spirited, gender-focused inquiry is continuing -albeit in different course contexts or under different organizing labels -perhaps without some of the most damaging errors of the earlier feminist period. It may suggest that the ubiquity and decentering of feminist legal theory has produced the "feminism after women" that Angela Harris has identified, 42 or has initiated the "feminism without feminism" that Marc Spindelman has proposed, 43 without requiring the difficult acts of un-marking or translation that he describes as the initial step.…”

“…Janet Halley's critique of these tendencies, and exhortation to "take a break" from feminism, 5 has had substantial influence, particularly on younger feminist scholars. 6 All of these critiques, --and the resulting costs in pain and mutual suspicion that Marc Spindelman documents 7 --have rendered feminism vexed ground for progressive women scholars and activists, and have enhanced the appeal of related discourses, such as queer theory or critical race theory, for doing left critical work related to gender. Years after feminist scholars began to acknowledge and respond to these internal critiques, the term may have retained its association with a demand for orthodoxy, or with unitary forms of analysis.…”

“…They are less inclined to teach courses such as "women and the law" or "feminist jurisprudence," and more likely to do gender analysis throughout the curriculum, or think about gender in conjunction with family law -a field which has been reinvigorated, as Clare Huntington observes, by influx of scholars who might earlier have identified as feminist legal theorists. 11 And while Herma Hill Kay urges us not to "walk the walk without talking the talk," 12 and Martha Chamallas sees reclaiming the term "feminist" as a form of resistance to backlash, 13 others -particularly those who have not lived through feminism's most transformative period -feel more ambivalent. Marc Spindelman 14 finds the label almost irredeemably evocative of painful internal struggles; Cossman, 15 Huntington 16 and Hernandez-Truyol 17 wonder if the term fully evokes the hybrid or intersectional character of much contemporary gender analysis.…”

“…11 And while Herma Hill Kay urges us not to "walk the walk without talking the talk," 12 and Martha Chamallas sees reclaiming the term "feminist" as a form of resistance to backlash, 13 others -particularly those who have not lived through feminism's most transformative period -feel more ambivalent. Marc Spindelman 14 finds the label almost irredeemably evocative of painful internal struggles; Cossman, 15 Huntington 16 and Hernandez-Truyol 17 wonder if the term fully evokes the hybrid or intersectional character of much contemporary gender analysis.…”

“…Though the decline of the term might represent a partial victory for backlash, younger feminists -whatever they call themselves and whatever the visibility of their efforts -are pursuing doing gender work with more fluidity and complexity, and less political baggage. Clare Huntington declares herself "sanguine about the future of legal feminism" 25 ; Brenda Cossman finds legal feminism not so much erased as productively decentered: "it has arrived as a lens through which legal discourses, practices and institutions can be analyzed. Feminism hasn't been abandoned or repudiated, but migrated and matured into a more subtle and perhaps less dogmatic methodological and theoretical posture."…”