A note on Rebranding Feminism Conference

As you know, I and my friend Jean Owen are organising a conference for next March called 'Rebranding Feminism'. A few weeks back, I announced the conference to a group of women who were interested in young feminism. Overwhelmingly, their responses were excited and curious. A handful of listeners, however, sat with dark clouds over their eyes. They clearly disagreed with the premise of the conference. Though, sadly, none of them came to tell me about their disagreement.

I want to stress that we are really interested in hearing both sides of the debate. Do you fundamentally disagree with the notion of rebranding feminism? Send me an abstract telling me why. The conference CFP is attached below:


(RE)BRANDING FEMINISM

A conference hosted by the Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies (IGRS), Stewart House, 32 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5ND.
1st -2nd March 2011.

Call for Papers:

There has been a general recognition, if not acceptance, of many of feminism’s key concepts. But does this mean that it has ceased to assert itself as a unique movement? Indeed, should feminism be (re)branded in an age when all ideologies are subject to market forces? And what should this rebranding consist of?

Two years on from the stimulating ‘Where are we now? A workshop on women and heterosexuality’ hosted by the IGRS, this conference will address some of the issues raised then to question the place of feminism in the twenty-first century. While there has been ambivalent press and general apathy towards those issues that once encouraged women to put the political into the personal, it is increasingly women themselves who think there is nothing more to discuss. Why has there been a decline in the link between the personal and the ideological? Do we need a different kind of feminism to meet the cultural, political and academic needs of a younger generation?

Topics might include but are not limited to:

• Are sisters doing it for themselves?
• Feminism on the frontline
• I can be a real bitch
• Family romances
• Home-makers and career women
• God was/is a woman
• Feminism and the sex industry
• Feminist renaissance
• Feminism is bollocks
• Rebranding feminism
• Pub talk

Abstracts between 200-300 words that explore any aspect of (re)branding feminism are sought as are poster submissions of 200 - 300 words on any topic related to rebranding feminism. Submit poster ideas and abstracts in a word document or .pdf.

Please send abstracts and poster ideas to both Jean Owen (ojean27@yahoo.com) and Elisha Foust (elishafoust@googlemail.com) by 5pm 1 October 2010.