Postfeminist clothing: anti-feminism or diversification of the narratives of emancipation

Abstract

Feminist discourse appears to have reached a state of crisis, manifesting itself in diverse areas. As Angela McRobbie has pointed out, new feminism has been pitched against ‘old feminism’, white feminism against intersectional feminism and different ‘waves’ of feminism against each other. In increasingly diverse world, the word ‘feminism’ is contested and criticised from outside and within. Overregulation of women’s bodies is vast and touches many aspects, with clothing being just a fraction of the overwhelming desire to control what women’s bodies should do or look like. One of the most visible conflicts over women’s clothing and its alleged feminist, anti-feminist, or postfeminist nature has concerned women’s choice to wear religious garments. There are several understandings of postfeminism that reverberate in scholarly approaches to the matter of clothing and its regulation. While most scholars use the word ‘postfeminist’ in the discussion on these very diverse forms of female expression, their understandings differ substantially. Show more