Notes on Feminism and the Culture Wars

Interview 1, part 2: Katherine Acosta and Shoshana Handel on grassroots feminist organizing in the US

March 17, 2022 Bess Season 1 Episode 2
Notes on Feminism and the Culture Wars
Interview 1, part 2: Katherine Acosta and Shoshana Handel on grassroots feminist organizing in the US
Show Notes

PART ONE of this conversation, including notes and more links!

In this second part of Shani and Kathy's conversation, I ask them about the role of criticism and disagreement in a political movements. Shani talks about what infighting means, loyalty, secrets, and interpersonal empathy with women who are being abused by trans rights activists. Kathy references Susan Faludi's classic feminist book Backlash and discusses the power disparities between Concerned Women for America (CWA) and the Women's Liberation Front (WoLF). They also discuss anti-intellectualism, pseudo-populism, the complicated history of women's rights in the US, and building a support base of conservative (rather than feminist) women.

WoLF's statement on work with anti-abortion fundraiser Zachary Freeman.

Alliance Defending Freedom's description of "Generations Wins"  in five key areas:

  1. Protecting Life
  2. Religious Freedom
  3. Marriage and Family: "Ensuring the law respects God’s creative order for marriage, the family, and human sexuality."
  4. Free Speech
  5. Parental Rights

The complicated history of Mississippi's property laws, the first state to guarantee married women's inherited property rights. 

Wyoming was the first state to grant women the right to vote, in part because white men felt outnumbered by black and Chinese men.

Next time! Rethinking Coalitions: Anti-Pornography Feminists, Conservatives, and Relationships between Collaborative Adversarial Movements by Nancy Whittier