Queering the Second Wave

Explores a series of unsung – and sometimes counterintuitive – resonances between second-wave feminism and queer theory in both Anglophone and Francophone contexts.

Queering the Second Wave will consider the works and ideas of feminists including Monique Wittig, Shulamith Firestone, Andrea Dworkin, Marilyn Frye, Donna Haraway, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Cherríe Moraga as precursors of queer theoretical writings by names such as Judith Butler, José Esteban Muñoz, Lee Edelman, Paola Bacchetta, and Judith Jack Halberstam. While acknowledging some of the problems and blindspots of second-wave politics and writing, we nevertheless seek to challenge the assumption that second-wave feminism is politically outdated or invalid. Instead, we imagine cross-generational and cross-discursive dialogues, and trace a genealogy of influence between the second-wave past and the queer present, while also speculating, in some cases, on previously unimagined queer-feminist futures.

Key Features
* Contains key contributors in the field of feminism and queer theory.
* Two of the leading names discussed in the book - Moraga and Halberstam – are also, themselves, contributors to Queering the Second Wave.
* Reignites debates about second-wave feminism.