Femme Feelings: Mapping Affective Affinities between Femme and Third Wave Feminists
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Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK
2011
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1306179604 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-bgsu13061796042021-08-03T05:29:51Z Femme Feelings: Mapping Affective Affinities between Femme and Third Wave Feminists Lemke, Clare R. American Studies Gender Studies Womens Studies third wave feminism femme femininity affect literary publics queer realtionality Merri Lisa Johnson Jose Esteban Munoz <p>This latest moment of feminism has been marked by a surge of energy around femininity and the potentially radical and queer pleasures feminists might find in feminized gender expressions. In both academic and popular contexts, contemporary feminist fascination with femininity is discussed as two separate phenomena: as evidence of a third wave feminist “reclamation” of femininity amongst young and largely heterosexual-identified women on the one hand, and as evidence of a “revival” of femme identity practices in queer communities on the other. These kinds of clear delineations between feminists based on sexual identity and age persist despite efforts in queer and feminist theory to disrupt notions of stable and coherent identity. However, viewing femme and non-queer-identified third wave feminists in isolation to each other ignores how both of these groups are innovating expressions of femininity which reject heteronormative expectations. By thinking differently about how individuals relate to each other, we can see tenuous but telling affinities between femme and third wave feminists, and imagine models for feminist organizing around such affective crossings.</p><p>In this literary study, I argue that femme and non-queer-identified third wave feminists have similar understandings of their femininities and their erotic desires, if not necessarily similar sexual experiences or partners. Specifically, I trace how the affects of irony and hunger travel within and between femme theory and third wave theory as partially shared sensibilities. Ironic femininities are constituted in femme and third wave discourse as self-reflexive, deliberately cultivated and chosen feminized gender expressions which resist repressive patriarchal ideals. Furthermore, both queer femmes and heterosexual-identified third wave feminists employ a sensibility of hunger to recode feminized sexual modalities like openness, vulnerability and submission, and to pursue ways of fucking and loving outside of heteronormative models. In order to examine this largely unacknowledged and implicit relationship, I use Jose Esteban Munoz’s theory of queer relationality and Ann Cvetkovich’s concept of “literary publics” as the framework of this study. I argue that feminist coalition building around affect would offer us the chance to explore connections between feminists of various ages and sexual identifications that we currently ignore.</p> 2011-06-23 English text Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1306179604 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1306179604 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center. |
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NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
American Studies Gender Studies Womens Studies third wave feminism femme femininity affect literary publics queer realtionality Merri Lisa Johnson Jose Esteban Munoz |
| spellingShingle |
American Studies Gender Studies Womens Studies third wave feminism femme femininity affect literary publics queer realtionality Merri Lisa Johnson Jose Esteban Munoz Lemke, Clare R. Femme Feelings: Mapping Affective Affinities between Femme and Third Wave Feminists |
| author |
Lemke, Clare R. |
| author_facet |
Lemke, Clare R. |
| author_sort |
Lemke, Clare R. |
| title |
Femme Feelings: Mapping Affective Affinities between Femme and Third Wave Feminists |
| title_short |
Femme Feelings: Mapping Affective Affinities between Femme and Third Wave Feminists |
| title_full |
Femme Feelings: Mapping Affective Affinities between Femme and Third Wave Feminists |
| title_fullStr |
Femme Feelings: Mapping Affective Affinities between Femme and Third Wave Feminists |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Femme Feelings: Mapping Affective Affinities between Femme and Third Wave Feminists |
| title_sort |
femme feelings: mapping affective affinities between femme and third wave feminists |
| publisher |
Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2011 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1306179604 |
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AT lemkeclarer femmefeelingsmappingaffectiveaffinitiesbetweenfemmeandthirdwavefeminists |
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