Representations of Religion on the British Feminist Webzine The F Word

In 21st century Europe, where religion is a more visible focus in local, national and global politics, how do feminist organisations and groups approach religion? This article explores this through analysis of representations of religion on a prominent British feminist webzine, The F Word. In academic literature and public debates, two dominant viewpoints are articulated in debates on women’s rights, religion and secularism: feminist secularism and religious inclusion. In the context of these debates, the study asks how The F Word writers approach religion, and whether and how their representations of religion reflect these academic and public debates. The analysis identifies four dominant approaches to religion, and two underlying themes, and sets these approaches in their wider social context.</jats:p

In Churches Too:Church responses to domestic abuse - a case study of Cumbria

Research on domestic abuse and churches’ responses to it exists in North America, but not in the UK, except for a few small-scale studies on particular denominations or expressions of Christianity. Restored and Churches Together in Cumbria (CTiC) deliver training on domestic abuse and advocate for policy change, but need evidence of the scale of the problem to enable them to respond appropriately. This research provides much-needed evidence on domestic abuse at local-level, focusing on the county of Cumbria in north-west England

Navigating the Third Wave:Contemporary UK feminist activists and ‘third-wave feminism’

Since the start of the new millennium in the UK, a range of new feminist activities - national networks, issue-specific campaigns, local groups, festivals, magazines and blogs - have been formed by a new constituency of mostly younger women and men. These new feminist activities, which we term 'third-wave' feminism, have emerged in a 'post-feminist' context, in which feminism is considered dead or unnecessary, and where younger feminists, if represented at all, are often dismissed as insufficiently political. Representations of North American third-wave feminism are brought into play in these criticisms of the UK third wave, and insufficient attention has been paid to the distinctiveness of the UK contexts. Drawing on data from a survey of 1,265 people involved in post-2000 forms of feminism and semi-structured interviews with 30 feminist activists, the article sketches out the contours of the contemporary feminist movement and its activists, activism and priorities. It attends to differences and similarities between second and third waves, and situates contemporary UK feminism in its distinctive UK context. Arguing that feminism is both alive and relevant for significant numbers of people in the UK today, the paper interrogates younger feminists' reluctance to use the term 'third-wave feminism' to describe themselves, attributing this reluctance to ambivalent and cynical representations of the third wave in academic literature and the popular media

The Contested Campus:Christian Students in UK Universities

How friendly to faith do UK Christian students perceive their universities to be? This chapter presents new evidence from interviews with 75 Christian students. It finds that most students see their universities as relatively faith-friendly. Provision of campus-based religious activities and freedom of, and respect for, religious expression are important to students. Students who thought their faith was viewed with hostility described the classroom and organised student social activities as areas of tension. Institutional ethos influences Christian students’ perceptions: Christian students view Christian-foundation universities as the most friendly to faith, and the modern ‘post-1992’ universities as the least friendly

Evangelical Christianity and Women’s Changing Lives

Women have outnumbered men as followers of Christianity at least since the transition to industrial capitalist modernity in the West. Yet developments in women's lives in relation to employment, family and feminist values are challenging their Christian religiosity. Building on a new strand of gender analysis in the sociology of religion, this article argues that gender is central to patterns of religiosity and secularization in the West. It then offers a case study of evangelical Christianity in England to illustrate how changes in women's lives are affecting their religiosity. Specifically, it argues that evangelical Christianity continues to be important among women occupying more traditional social positions (as wives and mothers), but adherence is declining among the growing number whose lives do not fit this older model