MIRIAM E. DAVID RECLAIMING FEMINISM CHALLENGING EVERYDAY MISOGYNY RECLAIMING FEMINISM Challenging everyday misogyny Miriam E. David To all my children and grandchildren and future generations in the hope that they will continue to strive for a more socially and sexually just world First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Policy Press North America office: University of Bristol Policy Press 1-9 Old Park Hill c/o The University of Chicago Press Bristol BS2 8BB 1427 East 60th Street UK Chicago, IL 60637, USA +44 (0)117 954 5940 t: +1 773 702 7700 [email protected] f: +1 773 702 9756 www.policypress.co.uk [email protected] www.press.uchicago.edu © Miriam E. David 2016 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested. ISBN 978 1 44732 817 9 paperback ISBN 978 1 44732 819 3 ePub ISBN 978 1 44732 820 9 Mobi The right of Miriam E. David to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of Policy Press. The statements and opinions contained within this publication are solely those of the author and not of the University of Bristol or Policy Press. The University of Bristol and Policy Press disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any material published in this publication. Policy Press works to counter discrimination on grounds of gender, race, disability, age and sexuality. Cover design by Soapbox Design Front cover: image kindly supplied by Shutterstock Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc Policy Press uses environmentally responsible print partners Contents About the author vi Acknowledgements vii A note about the waves of feminism ix one Feminist reflections on a lifetime in academe 1 two Changing feminism 27 three Feminist pioneers 53 four Gender and generations 87 five Cultivating feminists 117 six A feminist resurgence 143 seven Feminists on campus 173 eight Feminist fortunes 207 References and select bibliography 235 Index 263 v About the author Miriam David, known to family and close, older friends as Miki, has been a feminist and activist throughout her adult life. As an academic, she has worked in several universities and institutions of higher education in the UK, and on occasion, in North America. She is now professor emerita of sociology of education at University College London Institute of Education. She has a worldwide reputation for her research and scholarship on education, family, feminism, gender and social policy. She has published numerous papers and books, including most recently Feminism, gender and universities: Politics, passion and pedagogies (Ashgate, 2014). Together with colleagues in the USA, she is editing the Sage International Encyclopaedia of Higher Education to be published in 2018. She remains involved in campaigning for social and sexual justice, nowadays through the Feminist Forum - Seventies Sisters and as chair of the trustees of the Women’s Therapy Centre in London. vi Acknowledgements Many friends and family have helped me with the preparation of this manuscript. I am immensely grateful for all your friendship and support. I hope that I have portrayed your insights, views and values appropriately. I am also very grateful to Alison Shaw of Policy Press for believing in me and bringing this book to fruition. In particular, there are colleagues and friends with whom I have collaborated on various research and book projects. Many contributed to my recent studies of feminism and women’s studies in academe, and to the European Union-funded project on challenging gender-related violence for children and young people. I should particularly like to thank those women who talked to, or wrote to, me for these studies. They include all my dear friends from the Bristol Women’s Studies Group (BWSG) and others in and around Bristol at the time, namely Sandra Acker, Alison Assiter, Liz Bird, Avtar Brah, Sarah Braun, Claire Callender, Davina Cooper, Sara Delamont, Carol Dyhouse, Mary Fuller, Naomi Fulop, Jane Gaskell, Helen Haste, Maggie Humm, Tessa Joseph, Hilary Land, Ruth Levitas, Ellen Malos, Caroline New, Marilyn Porter, Teresa Rees, Sheila Riddell, Susie Skevington, Helen Taylor, Linda Ward, Jackie West, Fiona Williams, Lyn Yates. I should also like to thank friends and colleagues in London and abroad from my numerous feminist international networks including Pam Alldred, Madeleine Arnot, Barbara Biglia, Jill Blackmore, Mimi Bloch, Penny-Jane Burke, Pam Calder, Kelly Coate, Fiona Cullen, Vaneeta D’Andrea, Rosemary Deem, vii Reclaiming feminism Rosalind Edwards, Debbie Epstein, Sharon Gewirtz, Dulcie Groves, Gigi Guizzo, Val Hey, Carolyn Jackson, Ileana Jimenez, Heather Joshi, Jane Kenway, Terri Kim, Annette Lawson, Gail Lewis, Ruth Lister, Wendy Luttrell, Frinde Maher, Jane Martin, Sue Middleton, Heidi Mirza, Louise Morley, Gemma Moss, Diane Reay, Emma Renold, Jessica Ringrose, Sasha Roseneil, Maxine Seller, Bev Skeggs, Corinne Squires, Mary Stiasny, Kathleen Weiler, Gaby Weiner, Lois Weis, Elizabeth Wilson, Nira Yuval-Davis. More recently my U3A group on ‘Women and Wisdom’, my Knit and Natter ‘sisters’, and the London Seventies Sisters and Feminist Forum, including Gail Chester, Irena Fink, and Amanda Sebestyen, have been important sources of on-going support. Other more recent important feminist friendly colleagues include Melissa Benn, Leslie Gardner, Chloe Stallibrass and Gill Yudkin. As I was putting the finishing touches to the manuscript I learnt of the appointment of another dear feminist friend - Becky Francis – as my ‘boss’ or Director of UCL IOE. This makes the future prospects for feminism in higher education much less gloomy. Finally, I would like to thank my family for all the support and practical help you give me as well as the fun times we have: Jeff [Duckett] for thinking with me about our ageing, Charlotte [Reiner] and David [Hershman] for allowing me to share in the care of your delightful Jacob, and Toby [Reiner], Meg [Winchester] and Matt [Duckett] for supplying me with political critiques and nous from the US.  The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to reproduce excerpts from the following publications:What should we tell our daughters? by Melissa Benn (© Melissa Benn, 2013; published by John Murray Press); and ‘A Women’s Liberation Movement woman’ by Judith Viorst (© Judith Viorst, 1970; published by A.M. Heath & Co Ltd). viii A note about the waves of feminism It is important to note that the waves of feminism are not separate and necessarily different but may be distinctive in responding to the wider sociopolitical and economic contexts. • First wave (19th/early 20th centuries): struggles for women’s suffrage • Second wave (1960s-80s): civil rights, women’s rights and the era of social democracy • Third wave (1980s-90s): the era of diversity and globalising feminisms • Fourth/fifth wave (21st century): feminisms in a digital era with ‘millennials’, the ‘selfie generation’ and the rise of everyday sexism ix