Joanna Williams - Women vs Feminism: Why We All Need Liberating from the Gender Wars

So many people have helped and encouraged me to write this book. I am grateful to all of them but perhaps most especially to those who have helped despite disagreeing with the arguments I put forward. It has been a pleasure to work with Emerald Publishing and particularly with Philippa Grand. Few publishers nowadays seem willing to take a risk on a book that cant be easily categorized and I was all but ready to give up on this project before I was fortunate enough to meet with Philippa. Another stroke of luck has been my contact with David Snyder, Program Coordinator at the Charles Koch Foundation. David helped me to secure the academic grant from the Foundation that has permitted me the huge privilege of uninterrupted time to write. David has shown an interest in my progress without ever once seeking to influence the direction in which I was heading.

The online magazine Spiked, where I am education editor, not only provides me with daily inspiration but has given me a platform to test out some of the ideas presented in this book. Articles I have written for Spiked on the gender pay gap, rape culture, feminism and the meaning of gender were the impetus for me writing this book. I want to thank everyone at Spiked but most especially Viv Regan for her encouragement and faith in me. Claire Fox at the Institute of Ideas is one of the very few people I have ever met who I would consider to be a role model. Claires unwavering support for me and this book has been humbling and I only hope it lives up to her expectations.

David Didau, Gareth Sturdy, Brd Hehir and Jan Macvarish all not only helped me to make sense of the issues I struggled most to understand but generously permitted me to reproduce their words in this book. Many other people have discussed and debated with me the ideas I put forward. Louise Burton and Kevin Rooney provided me with valuable feedback and examples on the topic of education. I hope the friends, colleagues and comrades who crowded into a caravan in Camber Sands can see the considerable influence their views have had on my thinking over the course of the following pages. I am especially grateful to Ellie Lee, Frank Furedi and Sally Millard for their intellectual and political insights; their impact upon my thinking cannot be overstated. Both Helen Williams and Patrick West proved to be superb draft-readers, urging me to have the courage of my convictions when I showed signs of compromise. I am thankful to them both.

This book simply would not exist as it does without the input of one person in particular. More than anyone else, it is Jennie Bristow who has inspired and encouraged me. Every conversation I have with Jennie challenges me to think through my arguments more clearly, to read and think more deeply and to question my assumptions. The extent to which Jennie has influenced my thinking is evident in all the strengths of this book. Jennie remains streets ahead of me intellectually and I am always running to catch up with her; the weaknesses of this book are evidence of the distance I still have to go.

On a more personal note, Id like to thank two of my friends in particular: Geraldine Knights and Lucy Abraham. Being able to share the glory messiness of families, work and being a woman with these two wonderful ladies never fails to make me feel better. My own children, George, Harry and Florence, mean more to me than they will ever know. For more than twenty years I have shared my life with Jim Butcher and his love has made me the person I am. Jim thank you for everything. Finally, while writing every section of this book, I had at the back of my mind women I consider epitomize love, strength and the best type of bloody-minded determination. To my mother-in-law Helen Butcher, my sisters Lesley, Alex and Helen, and my mother Charlotte Williams this book is for you.