It is widely assumed that, with gender issues now being 'mainstreamed' in cultural and social life, the 'achievement' of women is ensured and the moment of feminism has passed. In this trenchant inquiry into the aftermath of feminism, Angela McRobbie reflects on a range of issues which have political consequences for women, challenging these most basic assumptions of the 'end' of feminism. She argues that it is precisely on these grounds that invidious forms of gender re-stabilisation are being re-established. Consumer and popular culture encroach on the terrain of so-called female freedom, appearing supportive of female success, yet tying women into new post-feminist neurotic dependencies. Young women are invited to gain independence through work and careers, and are granted some degree of sexual freedom in leisure and consumer culture, in exchange for the abandonment of a re-invented feminism and a new sexual political imaginary.Drawing on a wealth of material from film, television, art and popular culture, these six chapters span a wide range of topics, including " the UK government's 'new sexual contract' to young women " popular TV makeover programmes " the fashion photograph as gender melancholia " feminist theories of backlash and the 'undoing' of sexual politics " the 'illegible rage' underlying contemporary femininities " diaspora pedagogy and the feminist academy as a 'contact zone'
