Introduction; Chapter 1 Globalization and Women’s Labor; Chapter 2 Women, Work, and the Mainstreaming of Feminism; Chapter 3 Fault Lines of Race and Class; Chapter 4 In the United States; Chapter 5 In the Global South; Chapter 6 Islamophobia and the Global War on Terror; concl Conclusion;
Hester Eisenstein is Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center. Her previous books include Contemporary Feminist Thought (1983) and Inside Agitators: Australian Femocrats and the State (1996). She has taught at Yale, Columbia, and SUNY-Buffalo, and served as a “femocrat” in the state government of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
"Feminism Seduced, written for a general audience, presents a
powerful, historically grounded critique of liberal feminism.
Drawing on three decades of writing by socialist/Marxist feminists
and women-of-color feminists, Eisenstein weaves a compelling
account of how the central ideas of “hegemonic feminism” have
legitimized the corporate capitalist assault on the working class
in the United States and on small farmers and workers, both urban
and rural, in the global South. . . . The book’s synthetic scope,
its clear and accessible style, and its concise summary of shifts
in capitalist political economy from the mid-twentieth century to
the present, make the book an ideal text for movement study groups
as well as college classrooms."
—Johanna Brenner in Monthly Review
“With her trademark clarity and wit, one of the leading
intellectuals of contemporary feminism builds a troubling analysis
of where mainstream American feminism has gone—celebrating gains
for middle-class women, but also converging with ruthless corporate
interests that exploit or marginalize most of the world's women.
Hester Eisenstein's diagnosis, and her remedy, need to be heard by
everyone concerned with women's interests and with social
justice.”
—Raewyn Connell, author of Southern Theory
“In this impressive book, Hester Eisenstein provides a provocative
update of the classic argument of the relationship between Marxism
and feminism. Through a historical analysis of the political
economy of, what she calls, hegemonic or mainstream feminism,
Eisenstein charts the transformation of labor feminism into
mainstream feminism in the US, which entailed a shift from
protection to equality, and which resulted in feminism unwittingly
serving the needs of global capitalism rather than that of women.
While some of the terrain—particularly of feminism in the service
of empire, the disciplining of women's labor under neoliberalism,
and the war on terrorism—has been covered by others, what sets her
analysis apart is her unflinching critique of hegemonic feminism's
complicity in abandoning issues of class and race even as it pays
lip service to them. Finally, Eisenstein provides an outline for
action which is much needed if we are to remain relevant to the
lives of men and women facing the ravages of the current crises of
global capitalism.”
—Manisha Desai, Director Women's Studies Program, University of
Connecticut
“Feminism Seduced offers a compelling—and deeply
unsettling—historically grounded account of the unintended
consequences of late twentieth-century feminism. Eisenstein
provocatively argues that ideas derived from the mainstream women's
movement were appropriated by global corporations and the political
forces that sustain them, and effectively used to legitimate the
surging social inequalities that have emerged both in the United
States and worldwide since the 1970s. This cautionary tale makes
for timely reading, as the global economic crisis opens up new
opportunities for feminists and other progressives.”
—Ruth Milkman, UCLA
“This thoughtful and provocative book by a feminist academic argues
that global corporations and their political allies have co-opted
‘mainstream feminism,' which Eisenstein says has not adequately
analyzed and confronted issues of race, class, and economic
globalization. The final chapter explores what the author calls
‘Islamophobia’ and the use of professed concern for women in
Afghanistan and Iraq to justify wars waged by the U.S. for other
motives.”
—LaborNet
Feminism Seduced author Hester Eisenstein quoted in the London
Review of Books, December 15, 2011: As Many Pairs of Shoes as She
Likes
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