Righting Feminism

When we think of women's activism and American politics, we almost always think of "feminism"-that is, a progressive, left/liberal movement whose goal is to foster greater gender equality, advance women's rights, and chip away at patriarchy. The leaders who come to mind are Gloria Steinem, Hilary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Betty Friedan, not Ann Coulter. However, as Ronnee Schreiber shows, one of the key developments in American political activism in the past two decades has been the emergence of effective and broad-based conservative women's organizations. Righting Feminism focuses on the leading conservative women's organizations to show how they are using feminist rhetoric for conservative ends. However, these organizations-and conservative women more generally-have to contend with the legacy of feminism, particularly its appeal to the majority of American women. And the cognitive disconnect at work-feminist-framed ant-feminism-is often highly problematic for conservatives. Yet just as importantly, she convincingly demolishes two widely believed truisms: that conservatism holds no appeal to women, and that modern conservatism is hostile to the very notion of women's activism. Based on dozens of interviews with very colorful conservative activists, Righting Feminism is a compelling account of an understudied but increasingly important arena in American politics.