Nevertheless, They Persisted
2017 opened with a new presidency in the United States sparking womens marches across the globe. One thing was clear: feminism and feminist causes are neither dead nor in decline in the United States. Needed then are studies that capture the complexity of U.S. feminism. Nevertheless, They Persisted is an edited collection of empirical studies of the U.S. womens movement, pushing the feminist dialogue beyond literary analysis and personal reflection by using sociological and historical data. This new collection features discussions of digital and social media, gender identity, the reinvigorated anti-rape climate, while focusing on issues of diversity, inclusion, and unacknowledged privilege in the movement.
Jo Reger is professor of sociology at Oakland University in Michigan. She is the author of Everywhere and Nowhere: Contemporary Feminism in the United States (2012), the editor of Different Wavelengths: Studies of Contemporary Feminism in the United States (2005) and a co-editor of Identity Work in Social Movements (2008). Her work on the U.S. womens movements has appeared in a variety of journals including Gender & Society and Qualitative Sociology.
First published 2019
by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Reger, Jo, 1962- editor.
Title: Nevertheless they persisted : feminisms and continued resistance in the U.S. womens movement / edited by Jo Reger.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018034005 (print) | LCCN 2018036438 (ebook) | ISBN 9780203728628 (Master Ebook) | ISBN 9781351394512 (Web pdf) | ISBN 9781351394505 (ePub) | ISBN 9781351394499 (Mobipocket) | ISBN 9781138306042 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138306035 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780203728628 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: FeminismUnited StatesHistory21st century. | Womens rightsUnited StatesHistory21st century. | WomenPolitical activityUnited StatesHistory21st century.
Classification: LCC HQ1426 (ebook) | LCC HQ1426. N478 2019 (print) | DDC 305.420973/0905dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018034005
ISBN: 978-1-138-30604-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-30603-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-72862-8 (ebk)
No feminist scholar is an island (to borrow from John Donne) and I am grateful to many for making up the continent of this volume. Often when I begin a project, I am never exactly sure how it will turn out, what the final arguments, points and conclusions will be. I learned a long time ago in graduate school that writing is a form of discovery and that best describes how I work and conceptualize. This volume is no different and has been a journal of discovery. It started out in a conversation with Routledge editor Samantha Barbaro at the 2016 American Sociological Association annual meetings. At that meeting, I suggested that I update my 2005 anthology, Different Wavelengths: Studies of the Contemporary Womens Movement, with new chapters. For quite a while, I kept calling this volume Different Wavelengths II (or DWII), until I realized that this was not so much an update as a reconstruction. The first DW was published in a time when feminism was seen as languishing, or even worse, dead. The core argument of that volume was that feminism was plural, alive and lively even when it appeared not to be. Authors in that volume examined race, ethnicity, gender identity, relations to other feminist generations, and new places for activism (i.e., online, zines, performance) and new ways to conceptualize feminism.
Many of these aspects are addressed in this volume but instead of arguing feminism is alive, these chapters are set in a lively time of activism and protest. The question has changed from Is feminism gone for good? to Where did all this feminism come from? Each chapter offers its own take on answering this question. Most draw on a historical overview to put their arguments into context, creating a book that provides historical context, present assessments and future directions. The result of this creation is the need for a new name that conceptualizes how this volume is not just an update but a new take on U.S. feminisms and the womens movement. Colleague and friend Nancy Whittier helped name the book, suggesting Nevertheless, She Persisted and I tinkered with it to become Nevertheless They Persisted to address the diversity of the activists and the issues.
While this volume captures a chunk of the activism and activists in the current era, much is also left out which is the trap of trying to say big things in small spaces. I will leave the absences to be addressed by others. We continue to need more focused work on the way in which feminism as an ideology is wrapped around so many efforts at social change.
With this said, there are people to thank. Oakland Universitys Research Committee provided me with a small grant to hire a copy editor and an indexer and I thank them for this support. Nancy Whittier not only wrote an amazing chapter but also provided the idea that became the eventual title of this book. Verta Taylor was essential in helping me locate authors for chapters (and she continues to mentor some of the brightest new scholars working on social movements). Through Verta I have met new and emerging scholars (Alison, Heather, Lillian, and Fatima) and I am excited to see how their work continues. I also tapped on established scholars (with incredibly busy lives) who were gracious enough to contribute a chapter (Miriam, Kelsy, Kristen, and Deana) and made new connections and found colleagues I will continue to follow (Corrie, Allison and Jessi).
Jennifer Law-Sullivan and George Sanders make up my weekly writing group and because of them so much work got done in that icy room in the library where we meet. Their presence aided my persistence. Tara Henry copy edited every chapter, and created the index and I appreciate her work. (I am trying to get her to consider sociology for graduate school. We need more feminist scholars who have been bitten by the research bug.) The Young Feminist Council, started by Adams High School student Grace Haubert, invited me to come talk to their newly formed group and I was amazed by their excitement and dedication. I thank them for coming along and reminding me that this is a multi-generation and always generating movement. Finally, I thank my family, both biological and chosen, and my loves Angel and Faith for being in my life.
