Online conference on the failures of liberal feminism

[louisemperry]

Hi all, on Thursday 17th December at 11:00 I’m going to be chairing an online conference that might be of interest to mumsnetters.

Our panel –

Kathleen Stock will speaking on the failures of “high church” academic feminism, with its emphases on arcane language, unverifiable beliefs, liturgical chanting, and priestly authority.

Nimko Ali will be speaking about the failure to credit and invest in African women doing feminist work on the frontline.

Mary Harrington will be speaking about the motherhood shaped blind spot in mainstream feminism, and why moving beyond it means re-examining core liberal assumptions.

Nina Power will be speaking on the failure of the contemporary liberal Left to recognise that women are oppressed on the basis of their biology, and arguing that the history of the family is indissociable from a historical and materialist understanding of humanity.

You can watch live between 11:00 and 13:30, which will give you the opportunity to put questions to the panel. You can register using this link –zoom.us/webinar/register/4815931634324/WN_K-DRxGOzRB6DU3Plo9f8xQ

Alternatively, you’ll be able to catch up later on YouTube or the Res Publica website.

Good panel - I'll look forward to this.

Very interesting programme. I’m looking forward to hearing news from feminists in Africa, rarely reported over here. And I love the description of the failures of “high church” academic feminism, with its emphases on arcane language, unverifiable beliefs, liturgical chanting, and priestly authority.

Looks fab. Thanks for sharing

This looks really good. I will try and join this.

This

Mary Harrington will be speaking about the motherhood shaped blind spot in mainstream feminism, and why moving beyond it means re-examining core liberal assumptions.

I'll try and join but failing that will watch back. Always better live but may struggle with the timing. Great panel though, hope to see them live.

Commenting to bump! Just seen this on twitter and did a search to see if it had been shared here or not. Looks great. I’m also really pleased about the motherhood topic

Bumping also. Frustrated that the likes of Jameela Jamil in the name of 'intersectional' (aka liberal) feminism are undermining the roots of true feminism.

Is this a socialist feminist / academic event?

ie most of the topics are about ideas or what I call media feminism, having very little to do with the practice of feminism.

You could be right @stumbledin. It’s Philip Blonde’s think tank, so by no means socialist. Sort of soft conservative, I guess, although someone may well correct me (I imagine Blonde would say he has no fixed allegiance). I was more interested in the explicit statement re liberal feminism being problematic, and how this was getting a fairly main stream airing. I will try and tune in to see what sort of direction it takes

Bumping this in case there are any other takers to watch live from 11am today. I'll also post the link to catch up afterwards.

Thanks, I will catch up with it on YouTube later. It looks really good.

Ah I wanted to tune in but suddenly lumped with meetings and deadlines this morning. :(
It looks great. Will catch up on it later.

I'm working today but will definitely check this out on YouTube later. Looks like a great discussion.

Anything that includes Kathleen Stock and Nina Power has to be worth a listen - the context might be centre-right but their 'take' is definitely not. Plus the focus on motherhood and African feminism.

Signing up right now!

Insightful presentations. It's worrying the extent to which women's gains have been undermined. The progress I took for granted is not only stalled but, arguably, going backwards.

Worth catching up on once it's up on YouTube.

Sorry I couldn't make it, but thank you also for offering the catch-up option.

Watching this at the moment, and thank you thank you thank you, @louisemperry - Nimco Ali is a revelation, as is Mary Harrington, two speakers I'd not heard before.

THank you so much for such a rational and reasonable discussion.

Can you share the YouTube link please? Very interested in this. Thanks

The YouTube link will probably be up tomorrow, I'll share it here ASAP. Thanks so much to everyone who watched and for some really thoughtful questions.

really looking forward to listening to this, all my favourite feminists!

I wasn't able to watch live, but I will watch on YouTube. They all sound v interesting, and I haven't heard some of the speakers before.

YouTube link here -

This was a really excellent discussion, well done to everyone who spoke. Kathleen is becoming a bit of a personal hero of mine, she's so considered and measured. Loved hearing Nimko give an African perspective as well, really powerful stuff.

This was very interesting. Many thanks.