The Dilemmas of Postfeminism and the Fantasies of Political Culture

Abstract

This chapter explores the intersections between political culture, the shaping of femininity in a postfeminist era and the fantasies that have underpinned that interrelationship since the New Labour government first came to power in 1997. The meaning of the term ‘postfeminism’ is contested and has been widely discussed by feminist researchers in the field of media and cultural studies (see, for example, Bainbridge, 2010; Gill, 2008; McRobbie, 2010, 2013; Tasker and Negra, 2007, 2014; Yates, 2007b). The emergence of postfeminism is often referred to as a ‘stage’ after second-wave feminism, in which a liberal, feminist language is used, yet is emptied of its progressive political feminist content (Bainbridge, 2010; McRobbie, 2010). Rosalind Gill (2008) argues that it is a ‘sensibility’ that influences all areas of life and is linked in particular to the growth of consumer culture and to the values and practices associated with reflexivity, neoliberalism and the promotional self. Thus, the meanings of postfeminism, with its links to neoliberalism and promotional culture, resonate strongly with the themes of political culture discussed in this book.