How Feminist Heterosexual Men Navigate Their Sexual Desire While Following Feminist Principles.

Feminist considerations have influenced how women and men view sex, affecting not only women's perspectives but also men's feelings about sexual desire with regard to gender equity. This might be especially the case among men who self-identify as feminist. However, how men should manage their sexual desire or communicate about it within relationships with women is not always clear in this evolving social climate. Thus, the current study aimed to explore the successes and/or struggles feminist heterosexual men experience while navigating their desires alongside feminist considerations. To explore this, we recruited feminist-identified heterosexual men in long-term relationships. We asked participants (N = 30) a series of questions regarding their sexual desire, considering the context of their long-term relationships and evolving gender norms, during a one-on-one interview via Zoom. Using thematic analysis, we identified 11 themes from the interview data. We found that, though the feminist men in this study were all aware of negative societal perceptions of heterosexual men's sexual desire, most men in this study did not feel conflicts between their feminist principles and their own sexual desires. This is because they reported already following feminist principles; those who felt ambivalent navigated this by communicating with their partners. Findings demonstrate the usefulness and positive impact men report feminism having on them, their sexuality, and their long-term relationships, by allowing them to better engage with their sexuality and partners.

A mixed-methods approach to understand victimization discourses by opposing feminist sub-groups on social media.

Opposing social movements are groups that have conflicting objectives on a shared social justice issue. To maximize the probability of their movement's success, groups can strategically portray their group in a favourable manner while discrediting their opposition. One such approach involves the construction of victimization discourses. In this research, we combined topic modelling and critical discursive psychology to explore how opposing groups within the feminist movement used victimization as a lens to understand their movements in relation to transgender women. We compiled a dataset of over 40,000 tweets from 14 UK-based feminist accounts that included transgender women as women (the pro-inclusion group) and 13 accounts, that excluded transgender women (the anti-inclusion group). Our results revealed differences in how victimization was employed by the opposing movements: pro-inclusion groups drew on repertoires that created a sense of shared victimhood between cisgender women and transgender women, while anti-inclusion groups invoked a competitive victimhood repertoire. Both groups also challenged and delegitimised their oppositions' constructions of feminism and victimhood. These findings add to our understanding of the communication strategies used by opposing movements to achieve their mobilization goals.

Being a Woman Is 100% Significant to My Experiences of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism: Exploring the Gendered Implications of an Adulthood Combined Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Diagnosis.

This article provides original insight into women's experiences of adulthood diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism. Research exploring experiences of adulthood diagnoses of these conditions is emerging. Yet, there is no research about the gendered experiences of an adulthood combined ADHD and autism (AuDHD) diagnosis. This article addresses this gap through interpretative phenomenological analysis of email interviews with six late-diagnosed AuDHD women revealing the complex interplay between late diagnosis, being a woman, and combined diagnoses of ADHD and autism. It underscores how gender norms and stereotypes contribute to the oversight and dismissal of women's neurodivergence. Interpretative phenomenological analysis reveals the inextricability of femininity and neurotypicality, the gendered burden, discomfort, and adverse consequences of masking, along with the adverse outcomes of insufficient masking. Being an undiagnosed AuDHD woman is a confusing and traumatising experience with profound and enduring repercussions. The impact of female hormones exacerbated participants' struggles with (peri)menopause often being a catalyst for seeking diagnosis after decades of trauma. The epistemic injustice of not knowing they were neurodivergent compounded this trauma. Diagnosis enabled participants to overcome epistemic injustice and moved them into a feminist standpoint from which they challenge gendered inequalities relating to neurodiversity. This article aims to increase understanding and representation of late-diagnosed AuDHD women's lived experiences. The findings advocate for trauma-informed pre- and post-diagnosis support which addresses the gendered dimension of women's experiences of being missed and dismissed as neurodivergent. There needs to be better clinical and public understanding of how AuDHD presents in women to prevent epistemic injustice.

'There's Nothing Wrong With You; You Just Need to Lose Weight'-A Qualitative Exploration of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Among Women With Multiple Sclerosis and Their Interaction in Seeking Pelvic Healthcare.

INTRODUCTION: Within 10 years of multiple sclerosis (MS) progression, nearly all women will have experienced symptoms associated with bladder, bowel and/or sexual health. Yet despite the impact these symptoms have on physical, psychological and social well-being, it remains an underserved area within the UK healthcare system. STUDY AIM: This research employs a participatory research approach framed within the principles of intersectional feminism to collaboratively investigate the lived experiences of pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) and healthcare interactions among UK-based women with MS. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Women residing in the United Kingdom with MS were invited to participate in online interviews facilitated by the primary author. ANALYSIS: A thematic framework analysis offering a structured yet adaptable approach to data collection and interpretation. RESULTS: One focus group involving four women with MS and seven individual, one-to-one interviews with women with MS provided insights into the challenges associated with navigating both MS and PFD. Four main themes included: Navigating MS and PFD; Cycles of Control; Mind, Mobility and Bladder Embodiment; Silenced Voices: The Impact of Taboos/Stigma/Dismissal on Preventing Access and Resistance through Collective Community. Six subthemes were also identified. Taken together, these themes cumulatively reflect PFD as an unmet healthcare need. CONCLUSION: Our findings underscore negative healthcare experiences, inadequate information provision and unmet needs related to PFD, emphasising the compounding effects of gender and disability biases. IMPACT: We hope that these insights can lay the groundwork for developing tailored therapeutic interventions and improved PFD healthcare for women with MS. Potential solutions include using existing MS support communities. PUBLIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Women with MS were actively involved in co-producing interview scripts for one-to-one interviews. The primary author shared study findings at an MS group event, engaging in discussions with over 30 individuals, including people with MS and their loved ones. MS advocates played a pivotal role in contextualising the study within the broader lived experience of MS.

[Women's rescuers network: Community support for self-managed abortion in Argentina]. / Socorristas en red: Soporte comunitario a la autogestión del aborto en Argentina.

The availability of medications to induce abortion, especially in contexts of restricted access, has transformed practices and allowed women and/or their community organizations to assist other women in obtaining abortions, whether or not they interact with the healthcare system. This study recovers the experience of a feminist community organization that, from the province of Neuquén, extends throughout the country, creating a network of community care. An exploratory descriptive study with a qualitative approach was conducted to analyze the experiences of women who facilitate access to permitted abortion in Argentina. Through in-depth interviews with three leaders of the feminist collective La Revuelta and semi-structured interviews with 33 members of the socorrista groups, conducted between November 2019 and December 2020, we describe their history and processes of work and growth; we explore their motivations and feelings and characterize the interactions of these organizations with public and private health systems. The results of this work align with the international conversation and bibliographic production about these organizations and their particularities, and with the need to incorporate these forms of care into institutional health systems.

La disponibilidad de medicamentos para producir un aborto, sobre todo en contextos de acceso restringido, transformó las prácticas y permitió que las propias mujeres y/o sus organizaciones comunitarias ayuden a otras mujeres a abortar, interactuando o no con el sistema de salud. Este estudio recupera la experiencia de una organización feminista de la comunidad que, desde la provincia de Neuquén, se extiende a todo el país, generando una red de cuidados comunitarios. Se realizó un estudio exploratorio descriptivo, con enfoque cualitativo con el propósito de analizar las experiencias de las mujeres que facilitan el acceso al aborto permitido en Argentina. A través de entrevistas en profundidad a tres líderes de la colectiva feminista La Revuelta y de entrevistas semiestructuradas a 33 integrantes de las grupas socorristas, realizadas entre noviembre de 2019 y diciembre de 2020, describimos su historia y los procesos de trabajo y crecimiento; exploramos sus motivaciones y sentimientos y caracterizamos las interacciones de dichas organizaciones con los sistemas de salud público y privado. Los resultados de este trabajo coinciden con la conversación y la producción bibliográfica internacional acerca de estas organizaciones y sus particularidades y con la necesidad de incorporar estos cuidados a los sistemas de salud institucionales.

Lala activists in dark times: queer feminist resistance to the cyber-nationalist attacks in China.

This article explores the challenges faced by Chinese queer feminist activists as they navigate the rise of cyber-nationalist attacks. Drawing from the author's involvement in China's lala and feminist movements, activists writings, and three interviews, the article discusses how lala activists cope with the rising Chinese cyber-nationalism through various strategies and reconceptualize activism beyond identity groups. The first part of the paper situates the rise of nationalism in Chinese cyberspace in relation to global neo-fascism, identifying the overlapping cyber-trolling infrastructures, the basic form of "palingenetic ultra-nationalism", and the anti-gender/queer sentiments in neo-fascist movements transcending ideological and political divisions in different regions. The second part discusses the difficulties faced by lala activists when dealing with imbalanced accountability and censorship, as well as the "hegemonic masculinity" in cyber-nationalist attacks, revealing that hegemonic masculinity seeks not only to reinforce traditional gender norms but also to control everyone's personal lives. The last part argues that Chinese lala activists' friendship-based alliances provide a valuable strategy under intensifying cyber-nationalism and state censorship. By engaging in diverse social issues and collaborating with various groups, this friendship-based solidarity prioritizes a caring life and fosters a situation where activists explore different social issues, initiate actions, and seek supporters based on specific issues instead of identities. This strategy may offer valuable insights into feminist/queer resistance during dark times, when the rise of global neo-fascism and its appropriation of identity discourse increasingly creates incommensuration between national identities and gender/sexuality identities.

Systemic biases promoting the under-inclusion of marginalized groups in randomized controlled trials for co-occurring alcohol use and posttraumatic stress disorder: an intersectional analysis.

Co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder is a major public health concern affecting millions of people. Although this disorder affects people from all groups, research shows that, when compared to White people, people of color systematically suffer worse chronicity and burden of disorder. Additionally, research shows that people of color endure a variety of barriers to accessing treatment and often require specialized or culturally appropriate care. Consequently, the array of treatments available must have been determined to be effective for people of color when they access treatment, and people of color must be well represented in research to ensure effective treatment. Therefore, randomized controlled trials testing treatments for this disorder must include racially diverse samples and ensure treatments are effective for all groups. Further, if they lack diversity, it is necessary to explore whether and how the process of conducting randomized controlled trials is biased toward the constrained inclusion of people of color. This study used a Matrix of Domination framework as an intersectional method to investigate this question. It assessed the inclusion of people by race and sex in randomized controlled trials for co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder. We found that people of color and White women are significantly underincluded in randomized controlled trials and that these studies are hegemonically, disciplinarily, and structurally biased in ways that facilitate the overrepresentation of White men and the underrepresentation of marginalized groups.

Gender-inclusive language in midwifery and perinatal services: A guide and argument for justice.

Effective communication in relation to pregnancy and birth is crucial to quality care. A recent focus in reproductive healthcare on "sexed language" reflects an ideology of unchangeable sex binary and fear of erasure, from both cisgender women and the profession of midwifery. In this paper, we highlight how privileging sexed language causes harm to all who birth-including pregnant trans, gender diverse, and non-binary people-and is, therefore, unethical and incompatible with the principles of midwifery. We show how this argument, which conflates midwifery with essentialist thinking, is unstable, and perpetuates and misappropriates midwifery's marginalized status. We also explore how sex and gender essentialism can be understood as colonialist, heteropatriarchal, and universalist, and therefore, reinforcing of these harmful principles. Midwifery has both the opportunity and duty to uphold reproductive justice. Midwifery can be a leader in the decolonization of childbirth and in defending the rights of all childbearing people, the majority of whom are cisgender women. As the systemwide use of inclusive language is central to this commitment, we offer guidance in relation to how inclusive language in perinatal and midwifery services may be realized.

Feminist perspectives on environmental justice and health in Jamaica.

Jamaica is an island nation with a history that is informed by Taino settlement, European colonisation, chattel slavery, disinvestment, and continued extractivism. This perspective paper leverages a historical analysis to explore environmental injustices affecting the health and quality of life of Jamaicans living in Jamaica. This article hopes to contribute to a growing but limited body of scholarly research that contends with environmental and climate justice in the context of the Caribbean. In discussing a lack of critical environmental infrastructure, such as reliable solid waste management, and the impacts of extractive industries, such as bauxite mining, the paper intends to highlight the environmental, public health, and social harms that are produced. Employing an intersectional approach grounded in Black feminist epistemology put forward by Patricia Hill Collins, the authors use their lived experiences as a source of knowledge. The paper analyses how these environmental injustices harm Jamaican communities at large but underscores the compounded challenges faced by Jamaican women who experience marginalisation on the basis of gender, urban/rural residency, and class. The paper concludes by urging researchers, policymakers, regulatory bodies, and other stakeholders to conduct further research and create sustainable and equitable environmental standards that have considerations for environmental injustice in Jamaica.

A room of their own: White lesbian coming outs and second wave feminism.

While the concept of "coming out" is relatively well-critiqued, few of these critiques trouble the way a near exclusive focus on disclosure positions sexuality as an essential identity. Based on life history interviews with 18 lesbian, pansexual, and queer women elders (ages 65+), I find coming out did not describe disclosing or even acknowledging same-gender desire, but, rather, choosing to act on it. For participants, coming out is the process of forming desire into a coherent identity (lesbian woman), a process that required continued interactions with lesbian existence; contrary to essentialist understandings, desire alone did not enable participants to become lesbians. In this article, I describe the two paths participants followed while becoming lesbians and consider how the historical context in which participants came out, specifically the second wave feminist movement, uniquely facilitated coming out for white women. Ultimately, I argue lesbian sexuality is a richly constructed social identity formed in community and defined by resistance to compulsory heterosexuality. By viewing sexual identity as based on shared political commitments formed in community, this article both corrects an essentializing tendency in the coming out literature and offers a potential point of repair between older and younger generations of lesbians.

Spanish Students' Categorical Perceptions of Feminist Movements.

Identifying a society's perceptions and, by extension, opinions of a certain social movement can help to understand to what extent the movement has been successful in effecting change. When working to gain such an understanding, a focus on the student population is essential, as their opinions provide insight into the future conditions of society and, thus, into whether the movement has been successful in effecting lasting social change. The present work focusses on the feminist movements and, in line with the above, analyses the perceptions held by a sample of 600 Spanish students enrolled in compulsory secondary, pre-university, and university education. The method employed begins with the use of association tests to extract lexical networks. Then, following a theoretical transformation, the traditional lexical availability index is applied in combination with fuzzy set theory to the sample of lists obtained so as to map the structure of the collective network, a novel approach that results in different levels of compatibility. The highest levels of compatibility reveal the prototypical conceptualisation as well as the sample's shared cognitive perception. The results suggest that although the population under study may have absorbed the feminist movements' messages of equality and respect, distorted perceptions could still remain in certain groups analysed. This work therefore recommends that education centres may wish to consider communicating objective information on the feminist movements specifically to women, as this could ultimately lead to all students fully embracing a feminist awareness distanced from extreme ideologies.

Confronting complex alliances: Situating Britain's gender critical politics within the wider transnational anti-gender movement.

Britain has recently gained notoriety as a global hotspot for anti-trans politics and 'gender critical' feminism. But what is the relationship between British 'gender critical' politics and the transnational 'anti-gender' movement? Does Britain's gender critical feminism directly align with the global trends of anti-gender mobilisations, including the latter's authoritarian and neofascist tendencies? This commentary argues for a context-specific analysis of the British gender-critical movement which is attentive to its divergent political orientations. While some strands of gender-critical politics are openly allied with far-right politics and are explicitly anti-feminist, others include prominent figures from left-wing positions, including left feminists and lesbians. Challenging gender-critical politics in Britain requires a reckoning with its cross-political nature and an analysis of the factors that unite these different strands across left and right.

'Recombining' biological motherhoods. Towards two 'complete' biological mothers.

Within feminist literature from the early 1970s to this day, assisted reproductive technologies have been largely known to divide, replace or eliminate biological motherhood. For example, while in the past biological motherhood was considered a continuous experience, in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and IVF using egg donation allowed a split between two biological mothers, one providing eggs (genetic mother) and the other one gestation (gestational mother). This split was considered irreparable: the genetic mother could not be also gestational, and vice versa. On the contrary, this paper aims to show that assisted reproductive technologies may also have a constructive potential towards biological motherhood(s). To explain how it could be possible, two existing techniques are explored: the first is maternal spindle transfer, which allows a double genetic motherhood; the second is reciprocal effortless IVF, which supposedly enables a double gestational motherhood. While in the first part, these techniques are examined singularly, in the second part a feasible combination of them is speculated. The idea is that assisted reproductive technologies could 'recombine' genetic and gestational motherhood in two figures that include both, namely in two 'complete' biological mothers, both genetic and gestational.

Ectogestation for men: why aren't we talking about it?

Andrea Bidoli argues that ectogestation could be seen as an emancipatory intervention for women. Specifically, she claims that ectogestation would create unique conditions to reevaluate one's reproductive preference, address certain specific negative social implications of gestation and childbirth, and that it is unfair to hold ectogestation to a higher standard than other innovations such as modern contraceptives and non-medical egg freezing. In this commentary, I claim that Bidoli-like so many others-unjustly bypasses men and their reproductive desires. For a long time, the discussion of the ethics of ectogenesis has focused on women and their reproductive liberation. However, since in many countries, an increasing number of men in reproductive age face difficulties in finding a partner and lack access to other forms of assisted reproduction, it is men who need ectogestation the most.

'Mrs. Don't Care': refusing modern Black motherhood in Nella Larsen's Quicksand.

This essay examines the portrayal of modern Black motherhood in Nella Larsen's Harlem Renaissance novel, Quicksand (1928). Writing in a cultural landscape dominated by discourses of racial uplift, scientific motherhood and eugenics, I argue that Larsen critiques and ultimately refuses the limited literary, medical and political terms available for representing Black motherhood in the early twentieth century. My readings centre Larsen's understudied career as a nurse; prior to becoming a writer, Larsen worked as Head Nurse at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and as a public health nurse for the Department of Health in the Bronx. I consider how this professional experience informed her fictional depiction of modern Black motherhood, drawing on archival materials to demonstrate how her novel complicates contemporaneous medical and cultural attitudes towards Black motherhood and resists the eugenic demands delineating what constitutes 'good' and 'bad' motherhood. Engaging contemporary Black feminist theories of refusal and Black motherhood, I show how Quicksand is not only a critique of racist stigmatising discourses and practices but also of how racism limits the ways in which Black mothers' complexity has historically been represented.

Double-Edged Sword? The Impact of Online Misogyny on Female College Students' Digital Activism in the Post-COVID-19 Era.

Using original surveys to investigate how online gender-based harassment marginalizes or empowers female college students, we found increased exposure to misogyny polarizes digital participation. Women aware of gender inequality in Korea encountering online hate speech were more inclined to engage in online movements, unlike women who did not recognize such inequality. This highlights distinct opportunities in relation to digital activism, showing online hate speech can sometimes be a catalyst for online political participation. This study expands current research on digital protest, highlighting the political ramifications of empowering women in the critical context of their unequal democratic rights outside the West.

No, pregnancy is not a disease.

Anna Smajdor and Joona Räsänen argue that we have good reason to classify pregnancy as a disease. They discuss five accounts of disease and argue that each account either implies that pregnancy is a disease or if it does not, it faces problems. This strategy allows Smajdor and Räsänen to avoid articulating their own account of disease. Consequently, they cannot establish that pregnancy is a disease, only that plausible accounts of disease suggest this. Some readers will dismiss Smajdor and Räsänen's claims as counterintuitive. By analogy, if a mathematical proof concludes '2+2=5', readers will know-without investigation-that an error occurred. Rather than dismiss Smajdor and Räsänen's work, however, the easiest way to undermine their argument is to describe at least one plausible account of disease that (1) excludes pregnancy and (2) avoids the problems they raise for it. This is our strategy. We focus on dysfunction accounts of disease. After outlining Smajdor and Räsänen's main arguments against dysfunction accounts, we explain why pregnancy is not a disease on these accounts. Next, we defend dysfunction accounts against the three problems that Smajdor and Räsänen raise. If successful, then contra Smajdor and Räsänen, at least one plausible account of disease does not imply that pregnancy is a disease. We suspect that defenders of other accounts can respond similarly. Yet, we note that insofar as dysfunction accounts align with the commonsense intuition that pregnancy is not a disease, this, all else being equal, seems like a point in their favour.

'The Doctor in Search of Herself': women doctors' autobiographies, second wave feminism, and the feminist women's health movement, 1976-1987.

Second wave feminist legal and educational reform contributed to the fourfold rise in the number of women doctors in the United States between 1970 and 1990, challenging the hierarchical medical workplace from within. At the same moment, the feminist women's health movement (FWHM) identified and protested gendered health disparities, changing medical practice from without. This article analyses five women doctors' autobiographical reflections of medical training published between 1976 and 1987, during this period of gendered upheaval. In these works, authors shared their experiences of entering a male-dominated profession, addressing second wave feminist concerns about women's workplace equality. They explored whether women could become full and equal members of the medical professional, but also how women should become members of a profession that mistreated female patients in ways the FWHM sought to address. Through autobiographical writing, women doctors shared experiences that amplified these reform imperatives, while reflecting on their position as agents within an unequal healthcare system.

As teorias pós-modernas: os princípios e o método da desconstrução generalizada / Théories postmodernes: principes et méthode de déconstruction généralisée / Postmodern theories: the principles and method of generalized deconstruction

Este artigo faz parte de um projeto de trabalho sobre as relações entre feminismo e patriarcado na pós-modernidade. Parto da seguinte questão: qual é o mal-estar que se apresenta nas teorias feministas do século XXI e de inspiração pós-moderna? O mal-estar no feminismo ainda é sexual, como evidenciam as teorias que discutem as relações entre os sexos como a matriz da dominação masculina sobre a mulher? Como passo preliminar a esta análise, faz-se necessário apresentar as ferramentas teóricas que me permitem examinar o enlace entre as teorias feministas e as teorias pós-modernas. Desse modo, neste artigo, pretendo elencar os principais elementos teóricos das chamadas teorias críticas. Estas são a base da ideologia multiculturalista pós-moderna e constituem uma referência dominante da literatura feminista no século XXI. As teorias críticas se desenvolveram a partir do eco da descrença, da decepção, da destituição do projeto da modernidade científica da sociedade ocidental. Estas teorias estruturam-se em dois eixos fundamentais: um ceticismo radical em relação ao conhecimento objetivo, científico e a primazia das relações de poder como a força constituinte da sociedade. Dessa perspectiva, constitui-se um método da desconstrução generalizada de todas as referências simbólicas, culturais da sociedade ocidental, consideradas artifícios de dominação da elite sobre as minorias subalternas, dominadas. Como eixos desse método, destaco os seguintes pontos: o locus privilegiado do campo de ação do método de desconstrução é o campo da linguagem e os seus principais instrumentos são o chamado lugar de fala e o movimento politicamente correto.

Cet article s'inscrit dans le cadre d'un projet de travail sur les relations entre féminisme et patriarcat dans la postmodernité. Je commence par la question suivante : quel est le malaise qui apparaît dans les théories féministes du XXIe siècle et d'inspiration postmoderne ? Le malaise du féminisme est-il toujours sexuel, comme en témoignent les théories qui discutent des relations entre les sexes comme matrice de la domination masculine sur les femmes ? En guise d'étape préliminaire à cette analyse, il est nécessaire de présenter les outils théoriques qui me permettent d'examiner le lien entre les théories féministes et les théories postmodernes. C'est pourquoi, dans cet article, j'ai l'intention de lister les principaux éléments théoriques des théories dites critiques. Celles-ci constituent la base de l'idéologie multiculturaliste postmoderne et constituent une référence dominante dans la littérature féministe du XXIe siècle. Les théories critiques se sont développées à partir de l'écho de l'incrédulité, de la déception et du rejet du projet de modernité scientifique dans la société occidentale. Ces théories se structurent autour de deux axes fondamentaux : un scepticisme radical à l'égard des connaissances objectives et scientifiques et la primauté des relations de pouvoir comme force constitutive de la société. De ce point de vue, il constitue une méthode de déconstruction généralisée de toutes les références symboliques et culturelles de la société occidentale, considérées comme des dispositifs de domination des élites sur des minorités subordonnées et dominées. Comme axes de cette méthode, je souligne les points suivants : le lieu privilégié du champ d'action de la méthode de déconstruction est le champ du langage et ses principaux instruments sont ce qu'on appelle le lieu de parole et le mouvement politiquement correct.

This article is part of a work project on the relationship between feminism and patriarchy in postmodernity. I start with the following question: what is the malaise that appears in 21st century and postmodern-inspired feminist theories? Is the malaise in feminism still sexual, as evidenced by theories that discuss relations between the sexes as the matrix of male domination over women? As a preliminary step to this analysis, it is necessary to present the theoretical tools that allow me to examine the link between feminist theories and postmodern theories. Therefore, in this article, I intend to list the main theoretical elements of the so-called critical theories. These are the basis of postmodern multiculturalist ideology and constitute a dominant reference in feminist literature in the 21st century. Critical theories developed from the echo of disbelief, disappointment, and dismissal of the project of scientific modernity in Western society. These theories are structured around two fundamental axes: a radical skepticism in relation to objective, scientific knowledge and the primacy of power relations as the constituent force of society. From this perspective, it constitutes a method of generalized deconstruction of all symbolic and cultural references of Western society, considered devices of elite domination over subordinate, dominated minorities. As axes of this method, I highlight the following points: the privileged locus of the field of action of the deconstruction method is the field of language and its main instruments are the so-called place of speech and the politically correct movement.

From Lavender Menace to Queer Nation: the transformation of lesbian identity in the baby boom era.

Women of the early baby boom years in the U.S. came out into an environment in which same-sex desire was stigmatized and criminalized. For working-class lesbians, the bar scene provided an environment in which women could find companionship and a way to live a life decoupled from traditional heterosexual roles. For middle class women, bar life was fraught with legal and social risk, and some-mostly white-women worked to establish a more "socially acceptable" communal life through organizations such as the Daughters of Bilitis. As the women's movement flourished in the late 1960s and 1970s, women born in the early years of the baby boom (1946-1950) created distinctive lesbian feminist cultures and identities. In contrast to early baby boomers, women born at the tail end of the baby boom (1960-1964) came out in a vastly different cultural context. Second-wave feminism had already peaked, the AIDS epidemic and debates about sexuality changed the context for lesbian identity and activism, and organizing by women of color created the development of an intersectional view of lesbian identity and activism. Through an analysis of feminist magazines, newsletters, and texts of the late 1960s through the 1990s, this paper explores the cultural contexts through which radical lesbian feminist identities arose and, for a period, flourished in the U.S. By the end of the 1980s and 1990s, as second-wave feminism declined, lesbian feminist identity shifted. Over the last decades of the twentieth century, new queer forms of identification emerged, coupled with a decline of lesbian identification among younger people. I argue that these new forms represent both continuity and disruption with earlier forms of lesbian identification.