Realizing the Truly Postmodern: Valuing Multiple Feminisms

Abstract

For the last fifteen to twenty years, the ongoing conflict among the various feminisms, which make up feminist studies, has been much discussed. Some feminisms are repudiated and distorted by others, with the discord seemingly becoming more bitter and more intransigent. This article posits that it is the dominance of postmodern feminist thought and the way its features have been misapplied to those of other feminisms that has led to their mischaracterization and to the creative near-stagnation of today. To end the warfare, we must end postmodern feminist hegemony and embrace instead a multi-modal approach in which a plurality of feminisms are considered fairly on their own terms and within their own contexts.