Feminism and 'the S-word'

• Published in: Soundings (London, England) England), 2015-11, Vol.61 (61), p.95-112
• Main Authors: Merck, Mandy, Wainwright, Hilary, Yuval-Davis, Nira, Grayson, Deborah, Littler, Jo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clinton, Hillary Rodham; Exploitation; Feminism; Identity; Intersectionality; Labor unions; Personal Politics; Political activism; Political campaigns; Politics; Power; Socialism; Socialist Feminism; Trade unions; Tradition; Traditions; Women
• ISSN: 1362-6620; 1741-0797
• DOI: 10.3898/136266215816772151

In many ways socialist feminism could be seen as intersectional from its very beginning, in the sense that it always sought to link together different identities and different spheres. In this roundtable discussion, four women discuss what this current within feminism has meant to them, in the belief that it still has much to offer, not least the lessons it has been offering to the left as a whole - often unheeded - for a very long time. These lessons concern the need for attention to power in its many forms, an acknowledgement that people live with many identities, and that people come to politics from different places and with different understandings. The participants in this discussion themselves illustrate this: their different takes on politics, feminism and socialism are clearly situated within their own life histories and experiences. Such long-term efforts to link the personal and the political, and the individual and the social - and to find new organisational forms and practices that can encompass these links - remain of continuing importance.