Post-postfeminism? New feminist visibilities in postfeminist times

This article contributes to debates about the value and utility of the notion of postfeminism for a seemingly “new” moment marked by a resurgence of interest in feminism in the media and among young women. The paper reviews current understandings of postfeminism and criticisms of the term’s failure to speak to or connect with contemporary feminism. It offers a defence of the continued importance of a critical notion of postfeminism, used as an analytical category to capture a distinctive contradictory-but-patterned sensibility intimately connected to neoliberalism. The paper raises questions about the meaning of the apparent new visibility of feminism and highlights the multiplicity of different feminisms currently circulating in mainstream media culture – which exist in tension with each other. I argue for the importance of being able to “think together” the rise of popular feminism alongside and in tandem with intensified misogyny. I further show how a postfeminist sensibility informs even those media productions that ostensibly celebrate the new feminism. Ultimately, the paper argues that claims that we have moved “beyond” postfeminism are (sadly) premature, and the notion still has much to offer feminist cultural critics

Nostalgia and Retro-Femininity in Self-Presentations of 50+ Women on Flickr

This article focuses on interconnected issues of nostalgia and sexual politics of retro-femininity in the online photo-sharing practices of mature women who display eroticized photographs of themselves on Flickr. These stylized images mimic the retro-feminine ideal, borrowing heavily from visual conventions of pin-up and aesthetics of hyper-feminine vintage fashion. They represent both a longing for the past younger self and a romanticized view of a model of femininity of the bygone era. The self-presentations in question are examined in a relationship with debates over the agency of self-display within the online sphere, considering how the uneasy positioning of aging female body in the youth-centered contemporary culture complicates the reading of these images.</p