The State of Feminist Security Studies: Continuing the Conversation

Abstract

This forum comprises seven pieces conceived in response to the recent Politics & Gender Critical Perspectives section, titled “The State of Feminist Security Studies: A Conversation” (P&G , Vol. 7, Issue 4). Throughout, we refer to this collection as “the CP section.” We are pleased to take this opportunity to continue the conversation begun in the CP section and to offer sympathetic yet critically engaged contributions in response to the original collection of essays. We hope that this forum indicates the (geographical, cultural, theoretical) diversity of feminist security studies and its multivocality, as well as providing an overview, for those not familiar with the literature, of the issues and debates currently enlivening the field.

The dance of militarisation: a feminist security studies take on ‘the political’

“…In addition, because feminist activism and research often is based in a perceived lack of attention to women's experiences, expertise and equal rights, 'the political' is commonly intimately linked to calls for women's emancipation. In one of two recent forums on 'The State of Feminist Security' (Lobasz and Sjoberg 2011;Shepherd 2013), Annick Wibben argues that feminist research, by default, encompasses some basic commitments that are not negotiable:…”

Women, religion and security

“…Outside of armed conflict, the achievements of feminist security studies include the reformulation of security concerns and recasting the causes of insecurity to expand the concept of security beyond the "absence of war" and to include a more general sense of well-being (Shepherd, 2013;Basu, 2013: 457). This expanded definition of security in feminist security studies also stretches beyond state security to human security, including "domestic violence, rape, poverty, gender subordination, and ecological destruction" (Sjoberg and Martin, 2007:9).…”

The Politics of Location and the Location of Politics: Thinking about Feminist Security Studies

“…“The State of Feminist Security Studies” (Sjoberg ; Sjoberg and Lobasz ) was never meant to be a representative (for example, Shepherd :1) or hegemonic (Parashar :3) statement defining Feminist Security Studies (FSS). Instead, it reproduced one conversation (of many) among members of a 2010 ISA Working Group “Gender and Security: Theory and Practice” (which included contributors to the forum “The State of the Discipline: A Security Studies Forum,” International Studies Perspectives 14 (4): 436–462).…”

“…While it does not claim representation, it also does not discuss its unrepresentativeness. As Laura Shepherd (:1) contends, I was responsible for explicitly recognizing its partiality.…”

“…Still, Shepherd's (:3) conclusion that the section's effect is “to construct FSS in the image of White Western femininity” relies on claims to speak for that just are not there. The section was a conversation about FSS, not the conversation, and never claimed otherwise.…”