Rethinking Feminist Identification

Is it possible to be a de facto feminist? This question is explored and debated in this book about the phenomenon of people who support feminist positions but do not call themselves feminists. The author examines the implications of de facto feminism on both the level of feminist theory as well as that of practical politics in the U.S. In a theoretical manner, the author considers how the problem of abstraction in many of the behavioral approaches to feminist identity have the unintended consequence of reinforcing elite depictions of social change. At the level of practical politics in the U.S., this has left feminism open to the many polemical attacks that have risen in recent years. The author asks whether the attempt to bring about beneficial policy can be rendered ineffective if women do not identify with the feminist organizations working on their behalf.