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They Didn't See Us Coming: The Hidden History of Feminism in the Nineties
From the declaration of the "Year of the Woman" to the televising of Anita Hill's testimony, from Bitch magazine to SisterSong's demands for reproductive justice: the 90s saw the birth of some of the most lasting aspects of contemporary feminism. Historian Lisa Levenstein tracks this time of intense and international coalition building, one that centered on the growing influence of lesbians, women of color, and activists from the global South. Their work laid the foundation for the feminist energy seen in today's movements, including the 2017 Women's March and #MeToo campaigns.
A revisionist history of the origins of contemporary feminism, They Didn't See Us Coming shows how women on the margins built a movement at the dawn of the Digital Age.
A revisionist history of the origins of contemporary feminism, They Didn't See Us Coming shows how women on the margins built a movement at the dawn of the Digital Age.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published June 16, 2020
23 people are currently reading
2539 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
July 8, 2020
Would you really believe my review of a book where I am featured & made to look like a bad ass? HAHA... Honestly, I do believe that this is a great look back at the 1990s and what was happening in feminism outside of mainstream organizations. A peek at what grassroots feminists did to push mainstream feminism and sadly how we are still working on that push. I will be chatting with Lisa on my new podcast, The Feminist Agenda, about the book and what she learned. You can find "The Feminist Agenda" on Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Anchor - https://anchor.fm/feministacast.
June 9, 2020
They Didn't See Us Coming is a fantastic addition to important feminist literature. The academic in me was incredibly impressed with the use of source material and it covered a period of history I know very little about.
The book covers key moments and figures in the feminist movement from the 90's right up to the 2017 US Elections. What I enjoyed the most was the inclusion of women from all backgrounds, making it an incredibly relevant and it reiterates the importance of topics like environmentalism, the economic situation and social trends on feminism.
*I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
The book covers key moments and figures in the feminist movement from the 90's right up to the 2017 US Elections. What I enjoyed the most was the inclusion of women from all backgrounds, making it an incredibly relevant and it reiterates the importance of topics like environmentalism, the economic situation and social trends on feminism.
*I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
September 4, 2020
I received a review copy from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
-------
Those who regularly read my reviews know that I’m a feminist and that I’m interested in literature on feminism and gender; so naturally I had to get a review copy as soon as I saw this book on Netgalley. They Didn’t See Us Coming talks about the feminist movement in the 1990s, exactly that feminism that is often called “Third Wave” or – as many anti-feminists and MRAs like to claim: the moment things started to go “wrong” with feminism.
I have to admit that I knew little about feminist activism and theory from the 90s and was therefore very eager to learn about an era of feminist activity that is vilified, mischaracterised and demonised so profoundly by people that know little to nothing about feminism.
Lisa Levenstein is the Director of the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and an Associate Professor of History at UNC Greensboro. They Didn’t See Us Coming is her second monograph and explores the history of US feminism during the 90s, beginning with the World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing. Right from the introduction it becomes clear that Levenstein is not writing about White feminism but intersectional feminism, a fact that is reflected in her studies on Black feminism and African American women and gender activism. This was really important to me because intersectionality is absolutely necessary for feminism to be successful and just.
One of the first stories is how participants from the US had trouble leaving the airport because they used wheelchairs and couldn’t leave the floor because the elevator they should be using was out of order and the working one right next to it was “inside the border” and therefore legally not accessible for travellers. These women had to literally crawl down the stairs while co-travellers carried their wheelchairs for them.
It is a shocking and frankly disgusting example but representative of how disabled people are treated. It’s not a problem exclusive to China but a global, systemic and institutional one that leads us right to the crux of all the book: Levenstein uses this story to explain how many White American middle and upper-class feminists were woefully unprepared for the conference. They saw themselves as the frontline of feminist activism who would teach others how to engage in feminism. Beijing was a wake-up call for many when they saw how ignorant, yet privileged they were. Womxn from the Global South; Muslim, Hindu and other non-Christian womxn; Latinx, indigenous womxn; queer womxn; disabled and neurodiverse womxn; poor womxn – all of them were present at the conference and brought with them a rich and vast feminist discourse from their home countries and Levenstein shows that for many White American women, this was the moment to listen and learn and to put their superiority and saviour complex aside.
In nine chapters, plus introduction and epilogue, Levenstein traces the history of US feminist activism in the 90s and consistently draws from global networks and situations because this was the moment were intersectional feminism started becoming mainstream. Levenstein uses a vast body of sources, from secondary academic literature to blogs and forums to interviews, to present the intricate yet fruitful transnational and interdisciplinary engagement. It is obviously a very complex topic so I absolutely applaud Levenstein for writing in such a clear, accessible and precise manner. As someone who also does historical research and writes for a living, I know how hard it is to combine dozens of sources into factual yet entertaining and understandable sentences. She achieves this by not merely reciting and summarising but telling a story with anecdotes and breaking paragraphs that explain organisations, historical events or legal jargon with personal passages about feminist activists. All of this, and I can’t stress this enough, is so eloquently and elegantly written that you easily follow the complex and multi-layered strands of stories. It is truly enjoyable to read because the craft is so good that you won’t even notice it unless you’ve had to write historical papers yourself.
Each chapter has such a wealth of information that I can’t possibly cover everything here and do it justice but I want to give an overview by showing you the chapter titles and then talking about a few points.
Chapters:
1 A Movement Without a Center
2 “We Had Far Less to Teach Than to Learn”
3 The Worldwide Debut of Online Activism
4 How Feminism Went Viral
5 Making a Living from Social Change
6 “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”
7 Tackling Women’s Poverty from Global Perspectives
8 Environmental Justice and Labor Activism
9 Heart Communities: SisterSong, SONG, and INCITE
What Levenstein really accomplishes is showing how the mainstream idea of what feminists are - White, middle to upper-class women from the US and Europe – represents only a small fraction of feminists and really highlights how important immigrant rights, social safety and abolition of poverty, food security, labour activism, sex workers’ rights, reproductive rights, LGBQT+ rights, environmental justice and reform of criminal and justice system are to the feminist cause. In fact, they are not merely important but vital as mainstream feminism only scratches the surface of what feminist activism truly is because it doesn’t fight the root cause of all the problems I just listed.
In using the conference in Beijing, Levenstein shows the importance of global networks and intersectional feminism on feminist activism in the 90s and how it changed the landscape in the US for good. She also doesn’t shy away from showing how racism and neoliberalism favoured a whitewashed version of feminism as many feminist organisations needed grants and donors to achieve their goals but the rewards were given to just a handful of people.
In fact, in many cases, the money didn’t flow to those who had lived a problem and knew how to combat it, for example the rampant poverty within Black communities and the problems Black women faced. Instead, those awarding the grants would give the money to White women who would then decide for the communities what was in their best interest. Certainly, this was not the case for ALL grants but the paternalistic angle did not disappear. All too often people were put in charge of communities who did not belong to those communities and thus, naturally, resentment and rightful criticism grew.
I was very intrigued in learning that the internet was paramount to connect global feminisms. Feminist activists would first connect locally via letters, telephones, zines and fax machines and later, thanks to computers and the internet, via email, forums, blogs and other avenues. Twitter, Facebook and other homepages and forums were not the start. It is important to remember that we didn’t invent online feminist activism, it was already here when many of us were still kids or not even born yet. Heck, I was just a child in 1995. It was beautiful to read how many women used the Beijing conference to teach other women about computers. They would set up a tent – mind you, the Chinese Government moved the whole conference into the middle of nowhere, out in the fields, which turned into a tiny swamp due to constant rain – and teach women for twelve whole days how to use computers, write emails and create documents. Yes, the conference must have been filled with heated discussions and even resentment in some cases but also so full of support, understanding and commitment to the cause. These women were full of curiosity and they would teach each other as much as possible way into the late hours of the night about their own activism, how to use modern tools of communication, how to navigate funding and laws and a dozen other things. I went to conferences for my own research and I can say that they are truly inspiring and I’ve met some amazing people doing fantastic work. This twelve-day extravaganza must have been just as mesmerising and intoxicating but on crack.
In the following chapters, Levenstein goes into the nitty-gritty of US feminism by talking about the revolutionary power of computers and the internet on feminist activism and discourse (including lots of very heated debates and the creation of the first etiquette in how to properly communicate via comment sections), the creation of organisations and foundation, the financial problems the orgs and women faced (including the conundrum of wanting to create a just system outside of the neoliberal hell hole yet being tied to said hell hole to achieve the financial funds to create networks for women…as Levenstein puts it, you can’t work outside capitalism when your inside of it), the global achievements of feminism and lastly, three organisation based in the US.
The slogan that women’s rights are human rights is not, as many Americans believe, by Hillary Clinton. It was created by a “Filipino women’s coalition called Gabriela […] as part of the protests against the dictatorship of Ferdinand E. Marcos”. They launched the campaign in 1988, seven yeas before Clinton spoke those words at the Beijing conference!
In fact, it is thanks to a global feminist struggle and activism that women’s rights have been incorporated into the UN program. It is also thanks to feminists that rape, domestic violence and sexual assault is now also recognised as a human rights issue and rape also included as an act of war crime. Something that seems so logical to us was, in fact, highly debated and negated by many and it was a global endeavour to bring this to the UN and make women’s rights central to the UN program.
I could go on and on about this book. There is so much information that I can’t possibly cover everything so I want to finish this review with two last comments:
1. Read this book! It’s accessible, a phenomenal resource and a great step into learning more about feminist history and how our current movement is built on the work done in the 90s.
2. And last but not least, one last titbit to finish this off: The GOP is adamant in further destroying social safety nets, including the AFDC, a program that financially supports poor single mothers. This welfare program is actually older than you think and it wasn’t until AFTER World War II that it became hated. Why? Well, this welfare program helped White women, until Black women started demanding access to this welfare program, as was their rightful claim. White women have always been the main beneficiary of this program but because Black women wanted their fair share, people (coughcough not droping names but you know who I mean) started demonising it and starting the mythos of the welfare queens racking in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Then they started saying that welfare programs would make these women “lazy” and thus incentivise them to be/stay unemployed, which was factually wrong because most were already working one or multiple jobs. Anyhow, just remember that welfare for single mothers and children was okay until BIPOC wanted what was rightfully theirs… As they say, white supremacy and racism are strong and so poor White people would rather starve than have to “share” with others.
This book is a rewarding read, leaving you with so much information and the need to learn even more about what feminism has accomplished. Because the main focus is on the US, I really want to find literature on feminist activism from around the world and I’m particularly interested in human rights activism, immigration, environmentalism and LGBQT+ rights. I wholeheartedly recommend this read as it is enjoyable in every way and a fantastic starting point for anyone interested in feminist history.
-------
Those who regularly read my reviews know that I’m a feminist and that I’m interested in literature on feminism and gender; so naturally I had to get a review copy as soon as I saw this book on Netgalley. They Didn’t See Us Coming talks about the feminist movement in the 1990s, exactly that feminism that is often called “Third Wave” or – as many anti-feminists and MRAs like to claim: the moment things started to go “wrong” with feminism.
I have to admit that I knew little about feminist activism and theory from the 90s and was therefore very eager to learn about an era of feminist activity that is vilified, mischaracterised and demonised so profoundly by people that know little to nothing about feminism.
Lisa Levenstein is the Director of the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and an Associate Professor of History at UNC Greensboro. They Didn’t See Us Coming is her second monograph and explores the history of US feminism during the 90s, beginning with the World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing. Right from the introduction it becomes clear that Levenstein is not writing about White feminism but intersectional feminism, a fact that is reflected in her studies on Black feminism and African American women and gender activism. This was really important to me because intersectionality is absolutely necessary for feminism to be successful and just.
One of the first stories is how participants from the US had trouble leaving the airport because they used wheelchairs and couldn’t leave the floor because the elevator they should be using was out of order and the working one right next to it was “inside the border” and therefore legally not accessible for travellers. These women had to literally crawl down the stairs while co-travellers carried their wheelchairs for them.
It is a shocking and frankly disgusting example but representative of how disabled people are treated. It’s not a problem exclusive to China but a global, systemic and institutional one that leads us right to the crux of all the book: Levenstein uses this story to explain how many White American middle and upper-class feminists were woefully unprepared for the conference. They saw themselves as the frontline of feminist activism who would teach others how to engage in feminism. Beijing was a wake-up call for many when they saw how ignorant, yet privileged they were. Womxn from the Global South; Muslim, Hindu and other non-Christian womxn; Latinx, indigenous womxn; queer womxn; disabled and neurodiverse womxn; poor womxn – all of them were present at the conference and brought with them a rich and vast feminist discourse from their home countries and Levenstein shows that for many White American women, this was the moment to listen and learn and to put their superiority and saviour complex aside.
In nine chapters, plus introduction and epilogue, Levenstein traces the history of US feminist activism in the 90s and consistently draws from global networks and situations because this was the moment were intersectional feminism started becoming mainstream. Levenstein uses a vast body of sources, from secondary academic literature to blogs and forums to interviews, to present the intricate yet fruitful transnational and interdisciplinary engagement. It is obviously a very complex topic so I absolutely applaud Levenstein for writing in such a clear, accessible and precise manner. As someone who also does historical research and writes for a living, I know how hard it is to combine dozens of sources into factual yet entertaining and understandable sentences. She achieves this by not merely reciting and summarising but telling a story with anecdotes and breaking paragraphs that explain organisations, historical events or legal jargon with personal passages about feminist activists. All of this, and I can’t stress this enough, is so eloquently and elegantly written that you easily follow the complex and multi-layered strands of stories. It is truly enjoyable to read because the craft is so good that you won’t even notice it unless you’ve had to write historical papers yourself.
Each chapter has such a wealth of information that I can’t possibly cover everything here and do it justice but I want to give an overview by showing you the chapter titles and then talking about a few points.
Chapters:
1 A Movement Without a Center
2 “We Had Far Less to Teach Than to Learn”
3 The Worldwide Debut of Online Activism
4 How Feminism Went Viral
5 Making a Living from Social Change
6 “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”
7 Tackling Women’s Poverty from Global Perspectives
8 Environmental Justice and Labor Activism
9 Heart Communities: SisterSong, SONG, and INCITE
What Levenstein really accomplishes is showing how the mainstream idea of what feminists are - White, middle to upper-class women from the US and Europe – represents only a small fraction of feminists and really highlights how important immigrant rights, social safety and abolition of poverty, food security, labour activism, sex workers’ rights, reproductive rights, LGBQT+ rights, environmental justice and reform of criminal and justice system are to the feminist cause. In fact, they are not merely important but vital as mainstream feminism only scratches the surface of what feminist activism truly is because it doesn’t fight the root cause of all the problems I just listed.
In using the conference in Beijing, Levenstein shows the importance of global networks and intersectional feminism on feminist activism in the 90s and how it changed the landscape in the US for good. She also doesn’t shy away from showing how racism and neoliberalism favoured a whitewashed version of feminism as many feminist organisations needed grants and donors to achieve their goals but the rewards were given to just a handful of people.
In fact, in many cases, the money didn’t flow to those who had lived a problem and knew how to combat it, for example the rampant poverty within Black communities and the problems Black women faced. Instead, those awarding the grants would give the money to White women who would then decide for the communities what was in their best interest. Certainly, this was not the case for ALL grants but the paternalistic angle did not disappear. All too often people were put in charge of communities who did not belong to those communities and thus, naturally, resentment and rightful criticism grew.
I was very intrigued in learning that the internet was paramount to connect global feminisms. Feminist activists would first connect locally via letters, telephones, zines and fax machines and later, thanks to computers and the internet, via email, forums, blogs and other avenues. Twitter, Facebook and other homepages and forums were not the start. It is important to remember that we didn’t invent online feminist activism, it was already here when many of us were still kids or not even born yet. Heck, I was just a child in 1995. It was beautiful to read how many women used the Beijing conference to teach other women about computers. They would set up a tent – mind you, the Chinese Government moved the whole conference into the middle of nowhere, out in the fields, which turned into a tiny swamp due to constant rain – and teach women for twelve whole days how to use computers, write emails and create documents. Yes, the conference must have been filled with heated discussions and even resentment in some cases but also so full of support, understanding and commitment to the cause. These women were full of curiosity and they would teach each other as much as possible way into the late hours of the night about their own activism, how to use modern tools of communication, how to navigate funding and laws and a dozen other things. I went to conferences for my own research and I can say that they are truly inspiring and I’ve met some amazing people doing fantastic work. This twelve-day extravaganza must have been just as mesmerising and intoxicating but on crack.
In the following chapters, Levenstein goes into the nitty-gritty of US feminism by talking about the revolutionary power of computers and the internet on feminist activism and discourse (including lots of very heated debates and the creation of the first etiquette in how to properly communicate via comment sections), the creation of organisations and foundation, the financial problems the orgs and women faced (including the conundrum of wanting to create a just system outside of the neoliberal hell hole yet being tied to said hell hole to achieve the financial funds to create networks for women…as Levenstein puts it, you can’t work outside capitalism when your inside of it), the global achievements of feminism and lastly, three organisation based in the US.
The slogan that women’s rights are human rights is not, as many Americans believe, by Hillary Clinton. It was created by a “Filipino women’s coalition called Gabriela […] as part of the protests against the dictatorship of Ferdinand E. Marcos”. They launched the campaign in 1988, seven yeas before Clinton spoke those words at the Beijing conference!
In fact, it is thanks to a global feminist struggle and activism that women’s rights have been incorporated into the UN program. It is also thanks to feminists that rape, domestic violence and sexual assault is now also recognised as a human rights issue and rape also included as an act of war crime. Something that seems so logical to us was, in fact, highly debated and negated by many and it was a global endeavour to bring this to the UN and make women’s rights central to the UN program.
I could go on and on about this book. There is so much information that I can’t possibly cover everything so I want to finish this review with two last comments:
1. Read this book! It’s accessible, a phenomenal resource and a great step into learning more about feminist history and how our current movement is built on the work done in the 90s.
2. And last but not least, one last titbit to finish this off: The GOP is adamant in further destroying social safety nets, including the AFDC, a program that financially supports poor single mothers. This welfare program is actually older than you think and it wasn’t until AFTER World War II that it became hated. Why? Well, this welfare program helped White women, until Black women started demanding access to this welfare program, as was their rightful claim. White women have always been the main beneficiary of this program but because Black women wanted their fair share, people (coughcough not droping names but you know who I mean) started demonising it and starting the mythos of the welfare queens racking in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Then they started saying that welfare programs would make these women “lazy” and thus incentivise them to be/stay unemployed, which was factually wrong because most were already working one or multiple jobs. Anyhow, just remember that welfare for single mothers and children was okay until BIPOC wanted what was rightfully theirs… As they say, white supremacy and racism are strong and so poor White people would rather starve than have to “share” with others.
This book is a rewarding read, leaving you with so much information and the need to learn even more about what feminism has accomplished. Because the main focus is on the US, I really want to find literature on feminist activism from around the world and I’m particularly interested in human rights activism, immigration, environmentalism and LGBQT+ rights. I wholeheartedly recommend this read as it is enjoyable in every way and a fantastic starting point for anyone interested in feminist history.
April 14, 2020
I Enjoyed everything about this book there was nothing I didn't like about the book. I Like the story that was being told. I Like the setting,the writing style,the plot,the plot twists and the characters in the book were amazing.I would reread this again.I also like the concept of the book.I Would recommend this book to anyone.
September 1, 2020
I wanted to like this book. I wanted to like it so badly. The title was enticing. The topic was on something I wanted to learn more on. What better than learning about feminist movements during the decade of my birth? Apparently, almost anything. This just isn't a good book. I enjoyed parts of the epilogue... that's about it. The events described are boring. The writing is boring. The entire thing is boring. Which sucks because nothing about feminism in the 90s is boring. But after reading this it seems like nothing happened in that decade. I know that isn't true. I know there was a huge conference that occurred in China. The growth of the Internet changed the way feminists connected around the world. And feminists of color came into their own and reworked how to work with their white counterparts. But this book didn't do a good job of showing much else. I think Levenstein was trying so hard to include as many names and stories as possible that it ended up being a paragraph on each, and not enough space to differentiate each activist. In the end, their stories all blurred together. The dryness of the entire work nearly put me to sleep; I ended up skimming most of it. It was too much of a struggle to read more than a few sentences at a time. Taking suggestions for other books on the topic.
July 26, 2020
Step by step They Didn't See Us Coming details how the feminist movement in the 90's formed the precursor for the movements we are seeing today in 2020--which shows us that Feminism is at the root of every movement. What a powerful realization!
Full of dates and names, facts and figures, this book is a must read for anyone wanting to know about the history of the feminist movement in the 90's and how it impacts us still today.
Full of dates and names, facts and figures, this book is a must read for anyone wanting to know about the history of the feminist movement in the 90's and how it impacts us still today.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2020
A solid overview of intersectional feminism in the nineties. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who first learned about intersectionality in the 2010s. (I only give this book three stars because it didn't feel quite as essential to me as other books I've read about feminism. It's well-written and researched, but some of the chapters feel like additional examples of the same thesis rather than new information fleshing out the story.)
January 12, 2025
TITLE: They Didn’t See Us Coming
AUTHOR: Lisa Levenstein
One Sentence Summary: This is a history of American feminism in the 1990s, centered around the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women.
Reaction: There is a lot of deeply interesting info in here, but the book lacked deep analytical insight or central thesis other than: “There was a lot of feminist activity happening in the ’90’s”. I was fascinated by how the widespread adoption of internet culture both exacerbated and offered outlets for the intersectional issues that the movement still grapples with today, but I wish there were a deeper level of insight into the significance of this period in relation to the overall timeline of feminist thought. There was also a lot of references to work being done by women outside the US that is reference but not elaborated upon that I was very curious about. Given the lack of narrative organization or through-line, I am not sure what Levenstein wants readers to take away from the book.
Rating: Eh?
Keywords: Internet chatrooms, feminism, intersectionality, globalism, Americans going abroad and getting owned by other philosophic organizations, badass ladies from the 90s
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.
AUTHOR: Lisa Levenstein
One Sentence Summary: This is a history of American feminism in the 1990s, centered around the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women.
Reaction: There is a lot of deeply interesting info in here, but the book lacked deep analytical insight or central thesis other than: “There was a lot of feminist activity happening in the ’90’s”. I was fascinated by how the widespread adoption of internet culture both exacerbated and offered outlets for the intersectional issues that the movement still grapples with today, but I wish there were a deeper level of insight into the significance of this period in relation to the overall timeline of feminist thought. There was also a lot of references to work being done by women outside the US that is reference but not elaborated upon that I was very curious about. Given the lack of narrative organization or through-line, I am not sure what Levenstein wants readers to take away from the book.
Rating: Eh?
Keywords: Internet chatrooms, feminism, intersectionality, globalism, Americans going abroad and getting owned by other philosophic organizations, badass ladies from the 90s
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.
July 17, 2020
DNF at 1/3 of the way in (and it took me weeks to get to even that). I am a feminist, I came of age in the 90s, this book should've been right up my alley. But it was just. So. BORING. No real narrative, no real story, just a bunch of bits and pieces strung together without much structure or anything really to pull the reader in. Like listening to an acquaintance tell a rambling story about something that happened at work or something they thought was just *ah-mah-zing* from some other time in their life, but which you can't understand because you weren't there and don't know the people or places they're talking about and they leave out any semblance of narrative or description, so it's not so much an actual story or tale but more of a pile of words.
December 6, 2021
Lisa Levenstein, in They Didn’t See Us Coming, discusses the growth of feminist movements in the United States in the 1990s, arguing that modern feminist activism owes its roots to those such as participants in the 1995 Beijing conference. She details the connections made by disparate groups through overseas events and the lessons American feminists learned from activists in other nations. Illustrating the ways in which these women returned to the U.S. and implemented what they saw in their own homes, she narrates the difficulties of navigating full-time feminism and the interests of those who funded them. Despite offers to finance activism, many feminists rejected state and business investments, both to preserve their own values and to challenge the capitalist systems that targeted many of the marginalized groups they sought to advocate for. The Beijing conference also spurred the growth of technology and the internet as a means of connecting feminists to share ideas in online forums. Women advocating for environmental and labor justice transformed discussions by inserting the voices of non-white women and redefining the environment to include not just the “natural” wilderness, but also the ordinary lives of people in all spaces. They Didn’t See Us Coming brings the conversation into the present, describing the development of organizations like IGNITE! And SisterSong to give voice to those still marginalized within the feminist movement and tying these groups to modern-day activism.
Kim Phillips-Fein debated the various methods of categorizing and defining the post-1973 period(s) in her 2011 article. She identifies some common themes: the rise of conservativism, growing movements for social equality and civil rights, and fascination with the free market and the private sphere. While initially viewed as an uneventful and disappointing decade, historians revised their views of the 1970s to account for the culmination of radical movements in the 60s and the conservative backlash to liberalism. Rather than viewing the era as the swan song for civil rights movements, she argues that activism continued to grow and change, following Jacquelyn Hall’s idea of a “long civil rights movement.” The 80s and 90s saw the “Reagan Revolution” and its effects, noting that even Democratic president Bill Clinton reduced the reach of government, scaling back welfare and other social programs, a decision that provoked activists as described in the seventh chapter of Levenstein’s book. Levenstein, like Phillips-Fein, brings the recent past into the arena of historical analysis, evaluating the not-so-distant roots of today’s social ills and activist movements.
They Didn’t See Us Coming is highly intersectional, evaluating women’s activism through racial, gendered, and ethnic lenses. It is also transnational, and it does well to combat American exceptionalism by showing how American activists learned from international groups and navigated the complex imperial roots of the United States. Her analysis of the role of the internet in offering a space for engagement is unique, and it contributes to a broader historiography of technology in the modern age. She follows the feminist movements of the 1990s both chronologically and topically, artfully building on the issues discussed in each chapter and culminating in the organizations formed by those still in the margins of the movements.
The intersectionality of Levenstein’s work is one of its greatest strengths. It incorporates groups that are often neglected in history, highlighting the activism of not only women, but also the LGBTQ community, Asian-Americans, indigenous peoples, Black Americans, and members of these groups in other countries. She does not ignore the divisions within feminism, noting that U.S. groups tended to be isolated from each other despite the growing technology that helped spread their ideas. She is also careful to include the struggles of non-white women to be heard in movements such as Ms. which had a tendency to elevate only white women to positions of leadership. However, as Levenstein points out, these women of color (a term she uses because they themselves embraced this label) avidly defended their right to not only participate in but also to lead these movements which aimed to protect their rights. They Didn’t See Us Coming is a valuable analysis of the recent past, and it gratefully acknowledges the pioneers of modern activism, highlighting the fact that we were not born feminists.
Kim Phillips-Fein debated the various methods of categorizing and defining the post-1973 period(s) in her 2011 article. She identifies some common themes: the rise of conservativism, growing movements for social equality and civil rights, and fascination with the free market and the private sphere. While initially viewed as an uneventful and disappointing decade, historians revised their views of the 1970s to account for the culmination of radical movements in the 60s and the conservative backlash to liberalism. Rather than viewing the era as the swan song for civil rights movements, she argues that activism continued to grow and change, following Jacquelyn Hall’s idea of a “long civil rights movement.” The 80s and 90s saw the “Reagan Revolution” and its effects, noting that even Democratic president Bill Clinton reduced the reach of government, scaling back welfare and other social programs, a decision that provoked activists as described in the seventh chapter of Levenstein’s book. Levenstein, like Phillips-Fein, brings the recent past into the arena of historical analysis, evaluating the not-so-distant roots of today’s social ills and activist movements.
They Didn’t See Us Coming is highly intersectional, evaluating women’s activism through racial, gendered, and ethnic lenses. It is also transnational, and it does well to combat American exceptionalism by showing how American activists learned from international groups and navigated the complex imperial roots of the United States. Her analysis of the role of the internet in offering a space for engagement is unique, and it contributes to a broader historiography of technology in the modern age. She follows the feminist movements of the 1990s both chronologically and topically, artfully building on the issues discussed in each chapter and culminating in the organizations formed by those still in the margins of the movements.
The intersectionality of Levenstein’s work is one of its greatest strengths. It incorporates groups that are often neglected in history, highlighting the activism of not only women, but also the LGBTQ community, Asian-Americans, indigenous peoples, Black Americans, and members of these groups in other countries. She does not ignore the divisions within feminism, noting that U.S. groups tended to be isolated from each other despite the growing technology that helped spread their ideas. She is also careful to include the struggles of non-white women to be heard in movements such as Ms. which had a tendency to elevate only white women to positions of leadership. However, as Levenstein points out, these women of color (a term she uses because they themselves embraced this label) avidly defended their right to not only participate in but also to lead these movements which aimed to protect their rights. They Didn’t See Us Coming is a valuable analysis of the recent past, and it gratefully acknowledges the pioneers of modern activism, highlighting the fact that we were not born feminists.
August 25, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
They Never Saw Us Coming is a rather interesting dive into the feminist movements of the 90s. Rather than going over the same movements that have been covered multiple times in the past, Lisa Levenstein chooses to go into a number of movements (many in the POC/lgbt/immigrant vein). Levenstein provides a great level of detail about those people who helped these movements grow.
Having grown up in the 90s myself, it was a welcome change to learn about groups that were outside of my standard POV (primarily the riot grrl movement). I’ve also been infested in learning more about feminism as I get older. And Levenstein is sure to provide you with a wealth of detail on this.
One thing I found a bit disappointing was that at times, it can come off like these chapters were written as standalone articles. This was due to some activists being brought up in one chapter, in great detail, only to be referenced in the following chapter using many of the same references. At times, it could feel repetitive.
I also found it a bit curious that the last 40% or so of my digital copy is pretty much just the acknowledgements and bibliography.
Overall, if you’re just casually wanting to read about feminist movements, this may not be your thing. But if you’re wanting to get a bit more of an in-depth background on less frequently talked about movements, Levenstein will have you covered.
They Never Saw Us Coming is a rather interesting dive into the feminist movements of the 90s. Rather than going over the same movements that have been covered multiple times in the past, Lisa Levenstein chooses to go into a number of movements (many in the POC/lgbt/immigrant vein). Levenstein provides a great level of detail about those people who helped these movements grow.
Having grown up in the 90s myself, it was a welcome change to learn about groups that were outside of my standard POV (primarily the riot grrl movement). I’ve also been infested in learning more about feminism as I get older. And Levenstein is sure to provide you with a wealth of detail on this.
One thing I found a bit disappointing was that at times, it can come off like these chapters were written as standalone articles. This was due to some activists being brought up in one chapter, in great detail, only to be referenced in the following chapter using many of the same references. At times, it could feel repetitive.
I also found it a bit curious that the last 40% or so of my digital copy is pretty much just the acknowledgements and bibliography.
Overall, if you’re just casually wanting to read about feminist movements, this may not be your thing. But if you’re wanting to get a bit more of an in-depth background on less frequently talked about movements, Levenstein will have you covered.
September 8, 2020
The book covers what the title says - a new wave of feminism in the 1990s that help set up the current surge in female activity that we're currently living through. The jumping off point for this book is the 1995 worldwide feminist conference in China that a few thousand Americans attended. That conference helped popularize the slogan, "Women's right are human rights" and kicked off new avenues of engagement and interaction between women.
The main theme of this book is intersectionality, as women connect women's movements to other movements that hadn't always been associated with them - from environmental concerns, to labor concerns, to minority concerns. In all these areas, women bore the brunt of unfair policies so addressing these areas made things better for women. There is some back-and-forth between established (normally white-led) feminist organizations and the ones being established in this period by minorities (SisterSong, INCITE!, SONG).
The end of the book argues that millennials weren't born woke or full of intersectional concerns, but the groundwork laid since the 1990s have allowed seeded the ground to allow for the new generation to buy into.
It's a good book. It's often hard to see how much progress is being made by these groups. Also, it's hard to tell how much is actually going on, or if it's just groups being founded. Those would be my main concerns, but overall the book hits its points about how 1990s feminism helped lead us to hear.
The main theme of this book is intersectionality, as women connect women's movements to other movements that hadn't always been associated with them - from environmental concerns, to labor concerns, to minority concerns. In all these areas, women bore the brunt of unfair policies so addressing these areas made things better for women. There is some back-and-forth between established (normally white-led) feminist organizations and the ones being established in this period by minorities (SisterSong, INCITE!, SONG).
The end of the book argues that millennials weren't born woke or full of intersectional concerns, but the groundwork laid since the 1990s have allowed seeded the ground to allow for the new generation to buy into.
It's a good book. It's often hard to see how much progress is being made by these groups. Also, it's hard to tell how much is actually going on, or if it's just groups being founded. Those would be my main concerns, but overall the book hits its points about how 1990s feminism helped lead us to hear.
May 14, 2020
If you enjoy learning about feminism and history, you will love this book. A primer on the feminist rise in the 90s, Lisa Levenstein tackles specific topics and how they relate to feminism, such as the dawn of the online era, economics, the environment, and the conferences and groups of feminists that brought us to where we are today. It was an interesting and in-depth look at some of the most pivotal feminist figures of that decade.
However, I frequently found myself struggling to bond with the material. I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review, and I must say that I still feel this book could use some serious editing. There are several repeats of information due to the structure, and sometimes I felt as if we were going far too deep into the background of particular figures, and not deep enough into the topics she was discussing. This book is clearly a well-researched work, but I would classify it as more educational and professorial than energizing and vividly interesting. Maybe I was deceived by the cover in thinking this would be an invigorating read, but I think this work would be more suited and a fabulous choice for college classes to read on the subject,
All in all, this book is chock-full of vital information, I just did not enjoy the way it was presented.
However, I frequently found myself struggling to bond with the material. I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review, and I must say that I still feel this book could use some serious editing. There are several repeats of information due to the structure, and sometimes I felt as if we were going far too deep into the background of particular figures, and not deep enough into the topics she was discussing. This book is clearly a well-researched work, but I would classify it as more educational and professorial than energizing and vividly interesting. Maybe I was deceived by the cover in thinking this would be an invigorating read, but I think this work would be more suited and a fabulous choice for college classes to read on the subject,
All in all, this book is chock-full of vital information, I just did not enjoy the way it was presented.
April 13, 2021
"They Didn't See Us Coming" is a wonderful addition to anyone's study of feminism and how the movements have changed and become more inclusive. The "how" that happens is the crux of Levenstein's work and it is good work. I read the book first because I teach Psychology of Women and Gender and I assigned this book as extra reading for a book club discussion. I will add excerpts as required reading from now on because it fills a gap in the history of feminism and provides an excellent framework for understanding intersectional feminism and the difference between the mainstream organizations and the smaller, community based organizations world-wide who are creating real change. It is academic and dense but a really well done overview of a decade often overlooked in the study of feminism.
June 7, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. I found it interesting and informative. The book would be great for anyone interested in the feminist movement at that time, with resources to continue your education on the topic.
Took me back to my college years when emailing and the internet were the new frontier and how they were used in movement.
I found the History of how white feminism tried to lead the agenda of the feminist movement in the USA and how black feminists took on that fight and where heard thought provoking.
Then bringing us right into the feminists movement of today and how it links with 90s feminism.
I recommend this book if you have a interest in feminism, history and society.
Took me back to my college years when emailing and the internet were the new frontier and how they were used in movement.
I found the History of how white feminism tried to lead the agenda of the feminist movement in the USA and how black feminists took on that fight and where heard thought provoking.
Then bringing us right into the feminists movement of today and how it links with 90s feminism.
I recommend this book if you have a interest in feminism, history and society.
November 27, 2020
While mainly US focused, this account of feminist and women-driven organizing throughout the world during the 1990's is amazing and inspiring. Starting with the Fourth World Conference on Women in UN Beijing in 1995, the narrative spreads out and covers organizing before, during, and after the conference.
Not shying away from the differences and conflicts between women of different races, countries, and economic backgrounds, Levenstein highlights the women and organizations fighting for a more just, equal future.
While history focuses on governments and corporate technological advancements, real people push real change for the margins and the bottom-up.
Recommended.
Not shying away from the differences and conflicts between women of different races, countries, and economic backgrounds, Levenstein highlights the women and organizations fighting for a more just, equal future.
While history focuses on governments and corporate technological advancements, real people push real change for the margins and the bottom-up.
Recommended.
November 15, 2020
I was provided an advanced copy of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a history book, and Levenstein is a scholar of women's studies; it is academic in nature and just like the title says, if you were expecting something different you won't see this book coming.
This is an important and necessary book that fills a hole in the timeline of feminism's history that shows where intersectionality gains momentum through evolving technology and redefining what a feminist and feminist discourse is and can entail.
This is a history book, and Levenstein is a scholar of women's studies; it is academic in nature and just like the title says, if you were expecting something different you won't see this book coming.
This is an important and necessary book that fills a hole in the timeline of feminism's history that shows where intersectionality gains momentum through evolving technology and redefining what a feminist and feminist discourse is and can entail.
July 15, 2020
Having graduated in 1996, I never viewed the 90's as being influential in any way. It seemed like nothing really important happened that had an influence on changing society. After reading this, I admit that I was so wrong. The 90's were full of moments that laid the groundwork for the women's movement we are experiencing now. The author did a great job of weaving the 90's with today's movement. I highly recommend this!
June 7, 2023
lessons on why the non-profit industrial complex maintains the status quo and social movement organizing
i would have liked to have discussion of trans women movements at this time, they are excluded from the narrative without any discussion of why
the book does feature this great quote from activist Pat Hussain “When the South is in motion for justice the whole country shakes,” (170)
i would have liked to have discussion of trans women movements at this time, they are excluded from the narrative without any discussion of why
the book does feature this great quote from activist Pat Hussain “When the South is in motion for justice the whole country shakes,” (170)
July 12, 2025
They Didn't See Us Coming... this book is incredibly researched and eye opening! I was not expecting this much information. I had no idea there were so many women led organizations engaged in leading the charge of feminism. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who enjoys history or interested in learning more about feminism's roots.
October 5, 2020
I had to read this one for class, but it was really good I couldn't put it done. It went super in depth of the feminist movements in the 90s, and I learned A LOT.
If you are at all interested in the rise of Intersectional Feminism, I highly recommend this book.
If you are at all interested in the rise of Intersectional Feminism, I highly recommend this book.
October 14, 2025
This is a tunnel vision laden account of the minutiae of the mainstream feminist movement. Probably a fifth of the book is devoted to infighting at a single conference, written in a ludicrously self congratulating manner. It reads like pages from the writer's diary. I couldn't finish it.
August 29, 2020
This was really interesting, but pretty dry. I'm thinking it's more appropriate for scholarly uses.
October 30, 2020
A very welcome book on feminism in the 90’s, with great emphasis on the work of multi-cultural and minority groups.
June 16, 2021
I learned so much from this book, despite living through many of the events she explores. I wish she would have had more analysis of social movement theory.
April 22, 2025
Case studies of the diverse set of feminisms that emerged in the era of the conservative backlash. Easy to read and digest.
August 23, 2020
This book covers the ground work of the modern day women who laid the foundation for the feminism movement of the late 20th and early 21st century. I found this book to be very informative to me. I am all for female empowerment. And they really didn't see us coming! Five Stars. And thank you to the publisher for the ability to review a finished copy of this book. This tells the story of 1990s feminist action and is a great addition to feminist literature.
April 13, 2020
A wonderful feminist read. A little sad to see that we’ve been fighting for more than a decade for our rights! The feelings and the life of the movement that started it all has been captured well by the author. The Lisa’s words give more than hope and is confident!
Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for this ARC. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way!
Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for this ARC. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way!
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