Abstract
This chapter considers feminist timekeeping in conjunction with affect. Foregrounding the waves, it makes a case for each surge constituting an affective environment in which the past, present and future are simultaneously maintained by activists. The chapter explores different methodological approaches to affect, ultimately using the concept of ‘inbetween-ness’ to describe the force of feeling within social movements. Shared affects are central to galvanising feminism, creating a stickiness and intensity that creates waves of action and activism. The emphasis on waves as affective temporalities allows for a movement away from identity and generational difference, both of which contribute to the feminist division.
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Notes
- 1.
For further information on abortion in Ireland, see Marie Stopes website: https://www.mariestopes.org.uk/overseas-clients-abortion/irish/abortion-and-law/abortion-law-republic-ireland. The illegality of abortion forces a number of women to come over to England for the procedure, for which they cannot be prosecuted on return. The Crown Prosecution Services has released data suggesting that crimes against women are at their highest level of reportage, as well as seeing positive increases in convictions: https://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/docs/cps_vawg_report_2014.pdf. However, prominent cases such as that of Ched Evans has demonstrated the leniency with which some courts treat convicted rapists, who are then able to multiply appeal their convictions.
- 2.
In 2011, David Cameron told Labour MP Angela Eagle to ‘calm down, dear’ in a debate The House of Commons.
- 3.
Karen Ingala Smith, the CEO of a London-based domestic violence charity, set up ‘Counting Dead Women’ to make a note of every woman who has been killed by a male relative, partner or ex-partner in the UK since 2012: https://kareningalasmith.com/counting-dead-women/. Refuge, which works with women and children, against domestic violence reports that 2 women a week are killed by a current or former partner: http://www.refuge.org.uk/get-help-now/what-is-domestic-violence/domestic-violence-the-facts/. So, while mourning is not an affect central to contemporary feminism, there is a strong acknowledgement of the casualties of male violence.
- 4.
Austerity cuts under the conservative government in the UK have led to the closure of a number of women’s organisations, including rape crisis, which I explore in Chapter 5. In the midst of these austerity measures, No More Page 3 are an organisation that are attempting to put an end to the topless pictures of women included in the Sun, a mainstream newspaper. Daughters of Eve, in contrast, are considering ways to end FGM within the UK, looking to introduce new legislation and innovate social services’ approach to the issue.
- 5.
In-fighting within feminism has been reported by all major media in articles such as ‘The Incomplete Guide to Feminist Infighting’ published by The Wire, January 2014; ‘Feminist infighting only takes our eyes off the real struggle’ in The Guardian, February 2014; ‘London is still ablaze with feminist fire, but is infighting stifling the debate’ in The Standard, October 2015; ‘International Women’s Day 2015: Feminism contains infighting but the point is we have a voice’ in IB Times, March 2015. These are just some examples of the media reporting on fighting within feminism.
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Chamberlain, P. (2017). Affective Temporalities. In: The Feminist Fourth Wave. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53682-8_4
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