Finding the Movement: Sexuality, Contested Space, and Feminist Activism

Radical Perspectives

by Finn Enke

In Finding the Movement , Anne Enke reveals that diverse women’s engagement with public spaces gave rise to and profoundly shaped second-wave feminism. Focusing on women’s activism in Detroit, Chicago, and Minneapolis-St. Paul during the 1960s and 1970s, Enke describes how women across race and class created a massive groundswell of feminist activism by directly intervening in the urban landscape. They secured illicit meeting spaces and gained access to public athletic fields. They fought to open bars to women and abolish gendered dress codes and prohibitions against lesbian congregation. They created alternative spaces, such as coffeehouses, where women could socialize and organize. They opened women-oriented bookstores, restaurants, cafes, and clubs, and they took it upon themselves to establish women’s shelters, health clinics, and credit unions in order to support women’s bodily autonomy. By considering the development of feminism through an analysis of public space, Enke expands and revises the historiography of second-wave feminism. She suggests that the movement was so widespread because it was built by people who did not identify themselves as feminists as well as by those who did. Her focus on claims to public space helps to explain why sexuality, lesbianism, and gender expression were so central to feminist activism. Her spatial analysis also sheds light on hierarchies within the movement. As women turned commercial, civic, and institutional spaces into sites of activism, they produced, as well as resisted, exclusionary dynamics.

Genres: History, Feminism, Nonfiction, Queer, Activism, LGBT, Gender

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Ai Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really, really fun read! It was an incredible telling of second-wave feminism and the way that space operated in making feminism manifest in people's day-to-day lives. The chapters on softball made me feel especially soft and wonderful, though Enke does an excellent job of making sure the reader knows none of those spaces are utopian or without trouble--they are really careful to trace the ways in which racism, classism, and homophobia played out in these spaces. I really think this book does some incredible things with considering the way that space plays out in feminism, and highlights the way that second-wave feminism played out actively in women's lives. The conclusion especially though was a great read. Enke really digs into the idea that women didn't (and don't!) know what constituted "woman" as a category and that creating woman-only spaces deliberately excludes some women (cis as well as trans.) It's a really good, fast read, and I strongly recommend it!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second most important book for my thesis. A great, in-depth look at the lez sub-culture in the Midwest via coffeehouses, softball fields, dollar parties, and bars. Fun to read fo sho'!!

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only is Anne Enke a phenomenal woman and professor, but her book was inspirational to me. She has documented those stories and spaces which otherwise would have been written out of history.

[ira · Rating 5 out of 5]

essential!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting kind of case study of how the second wave feminist movement played out in the Twin Cities, Chicago and Detroit. Unfortunately due to time restraints (and forgetting to take it on a weekend trip before class), I had to skim about the last third. Need to go back and re-read that part.

[Brittney Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting way to look at feminist activism. Some may not like the approach, but I liked it. I really enjoyed the chapters on women's softball teams. I recommend for those interested in feminism and US women's history.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book with a strong thesis and incredibly interesting case studies. Enke is a great writer in that this normally hefty academic book was a breeze to read.