Understanding Feminism provides an accessible guide to one of the most important and contested movements in progressive modern thought. Presenting feminism as a dynamic, multi-faceted and adaptive movement that has evolved in response to the changing practical and theoretical problems faced by women, the authors take a problem-oriented approach that maps the complex strands of feminist thinking in relation to women’s struggles for equal recognition and rights, and freedom from oppressive constraints of sex, self-expression and autonomy. Each chapter focuses on a different cluster of concerns, demonstrating key moves in second-wave feminist thought, as well as some of the diversity in response-strategies that encompass both socio-economic and cultural-symbolic concerns. This approach not only shows how central feminist insights, theories and strategies emerge and re-emerge across different contexts, but makes clear that far from being “over”, feminism remains a vital response to the diverse issues that women (and men) find pressing and socially important.

"Giving clear and reliable introductions to the ideas of many important feminists, the authors provide an invaluable map of key debates over equality and difference, the body and sexuality, and the impact on feminism of differences between women."

Alison Stone