Once & Future Feminist

by Merve Emre

What can technology do for feminism?
Almost fifty years ago, Shulamith Firestone imagined it could liberate women from the work of reproduction—so long as it was conceived as part of a cultural revolution. This collection casts a critical eye on the promises and the perils, asking not just whether an emancipatory feminism is possible today, but also what it might look like.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Essays, Technology, Gender, Womens, Science

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 14, 2018

About the author

Merve Emre is an associate professor of English at the University of Oxford. She is the author of Paraliterary: The Making of Bad Readers in Postwar America. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Bookforum, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The Baffler, n+1, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, where she is senior humanities editor.

Reviews

[Jaclyn]

I devoured this. Bought on a whim at a bookstore closeout sale. Really appreciated the lucid arguments, the format of opening essay followed by critique, followed by follow up. Learned a bunch.

[Luke]

I have read Sarah Sharma and I wasn't surprised that her part was so thought provoking and enjoyable. I didn't know about Andrea Long Chu. I'll be reading one of her books soon. And others listed above. I have a lot of qualms with Goodreads at the moment, but I'll play nice and admit they at least linked the contributors while the hoopla app did not. And another thing while I'm at it!...I'll admit that sometimes complaining can politically pigeonhole your soap box in excruciatingly specific ways that algorithms now exploit. So I just won't get into that...wait.

[Grey]

This book is actually a forum-style collaboration in which a main essay — “On Reproduction” by Merve Emre — is presented first, then many writers provide written responses in kind. Emre’s piece is centered on a history of attempts to develop an artificial womb, discourses around natural v. tech-enabled reproduction, and stories of women and potential birthing parents attempting to access IVF or IUI to have children (painted as both non-traditional and a coming new norm). Subsequent responses either critique Emre for overlooking the specific struggles that marginalized people (Black women, LGBTQ people, and poor folks in particular) face when trying to reproduce, or attempt to further unfold the discussion surrounding the role of technology in liberating women and humans from the labor of reproduction.

After Emre is given another attempt to respond to the responses, there are several other pieces — including my favorite, an interview with Silvia Federici focused on her work with the Wages for Housework collective and radical responses to liberationist efforts surrounding childcare and community care. There’s also a piece about how tech bros replicate the environment of their mother’s basements at their work places (and in the gig economy), a piece about the need to consider care for the elderly in modern feminist efforts, a satirical piece by math nerd Cathy O’Neill fictionalizing a potential future in which personal sex robots magically lead to gender equality in the 2070s (yes, its as random as it sounds), and then a closing piece about the Boston Gay Men’s Liberation group aiming to demand the ability for gays and lesbians to communally parent emancipated children who belong to no one.

[Jasun Chelat]

it was good, the format especially. one essay and a bunch of essays responding. it's a bit academic and whatnot but I read it for the love of the game more than anything.

some essays were kinda weird but we can't all be winners ig. i obviously loved the one about reproduction more since that's my jam. the gaylib one was pretty cool also. to be honest with you I don't really want to demarcate the ones i thought were good from the bad because i think in general just yapping like this is a good thing overall. let a thousand flowers bloom.