An Introduction to the Contested History of Feminism

This introductory chapter aims to provide readers with an overview of the multifaceted and contested history of feminism. The chapter begins with a critical discussion of the accepted narrative of the waves of feminism and, departing from this narrative, it proceeds to explore intersectional and decolonial feminism. After this initial overview, the chapter turns to femonationalist and gender critical feminism to disrupt the idea of a unified sisterhood, highlighting some of the fractures, contradictions and struggles that have animated the history of women’s liberation movements. The chapter concludes with an overview of the book, introducing its main themes and the perspective that informs the feminist critical discourse analysis of self-help literature and the neoliberal feminist narrative of self-improvement.