First-person narratives and feminism: tracing the maternal DNA

Kath Kenny

First-person narratives and feminism: tracing the maternal DNA

Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Second wave feminists used a particular form of memoir – personal testimony – in the then new political practice of consciousness-raising. Now, contemporary scholars have argued the recent practice of mothers writing about their lives online and in print are the inheritors of the consciousness-raising tradition. Using two first-person accounts by contemporary Australian journalists and feminists (Pryor 2014, Freedman 2015) of juggling work, study and motherhood through consuming anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication, this chapter examines how these newer forms of memoir/consciousness-raising represent both a continuity with, and a break from, earlier forms of the practice. These contemporary stories still provide readers with consolation and relief; but where personal stories were once used to interrogate problems in women’s social worlds (Friedan, 1963, Summers 1975), the contemporary feminists’ stories discussed here emphasise individual choice, adaptation and personal transformation (including a medical transformation at a fundamental level of self). The use of memoir by these contemporary writers is also considered in the context of a new version of celebrity feminism, one where the author’s life story is now foregrounded. Finally, this chapter argues that the personal story, once harnessed by second wavers to build a movement, is now recruited by contemporary feminists to build a personal brand.

Language	English
Title of host publication	Mediating memory
Subtitle of host publication	tracing the limits of memoir
Editors	Bunty Avieson, Fiona Giles, Sue Joseph
Place of Publication	New York ; London
Publisher	Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
Chapter	14
Pages	221-236
Number of pages	16
ISBN (Electronic)	9781315107349
ISBN (Print)	9781138092723
Publication status	Published - 2018

Publication series

Name	Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature
Publisher	Routledge
Volume	86

Fingerprint

feminism

consciousness

narrative

human being

VIP

motherhood

testimony

journalist

continuity

medication

writer

anxiety

Keywords

first person narrative
memoir
feminism
fourth-wave feminism
third-wave feminism
second-wave feminism
neo-liberalism
narrative
celebrity feminism
journalism
Betty Friedan
consciousness raising
Mia Freedman
Lisa Pryor
Anne Summers

Cite this

Kenny, K. (2018). First-person narratives and feminism: tracing the maternal DNA. In B. Avieson, F. Giles, & S. Joseph (Eds.), Mediating memory: tracing the limits of memoir (pp. 221-236). (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature; Vol. 86). New York ; London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

Kenny, Kath. / First-person narratives and feminism : tracing the maternal DNA. Mediating memory: tracing the limits of memoir. editor / Bunty Avieson ; Fiona Giles ; Sue Joseph. New York ; London : Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2018. pp. 221-236 (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature).

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Kenny, K 2018, First-person narratives and feminism: tracing the maternal DNA. in B Avieson, F Giles & S Joseph (eds), Mediating memory: tracing the limits of memoir. Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature, vol. 86, Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, New York ; London, pp. 221-236.

First-person narratives and feminism : tracing the maternal DNA. / Kenny, Kath.

Mediating memory: tracing the limits of memoir. ed. / Bunty Avieson; Fiona Giles; Sue Joseph. New York ; London : Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2018. p. 221-236 (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature; Vol. 86).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Research › peer-review

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Kenny K. First-person narratives and feminism: tracing the maternal DNA. In Avieson B, Giles F, Joseph S, editors, Mediating memory: tracing the limits of memoir. New York ; London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. 2018. p. 221-236. (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature).