Offers deeply researched entries on nearly 200 essential people, events, organizations, laws, concepts, and issues that have defined US feminist movements, from the founding era through today.
US feminist movements are defined by persistence, bravery, and a steadfast belief in the fundamental worth of girls and women. These carefully curated entries delve thoughtfully into topics of significant public and scholarly interest in the realms of feminism, women's rights, and gender dynamics in both public and private spaces. Featured here are the activists and ideas that have challenged--and in many instances prevailed over--inequities in US society, from key figures such as Angela Davis and Betty Friedan to significant events such as the Women's March on Washington in 2017 and the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. America's feminist movements have fundamentally changed the lives of millions of people of every sex, gender, race, ethnicity, faith, and sexual orientation. This resource shows how feminist movements have also been integral in championing the many women who have made pioneering contributions in fields ranging from science and medicine to politics and advocacy. It also casts an unflinching light on the issues that women continue to face every day in fighting for equality in the home, workplace, classroom, and popular media in the 21st century.
Authored by feminist scholars, activists, and practitioners, this is an essential first stop for readers looking for a comprehensive introduction to US feminism’s most relevant milestones and the concepts needed to contextualize its history and chart its future.
Edited by:
Sarah Kornfield (Hope College USA)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 258mm,
Width: 182mm,
Spine: 36mm
Weight: 1.099kg
ISBN: 9798216184409
Pages: 496
Publication Date: 02 April 2026
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Entries Reading Guide Preface Editor's Introduction Entries A to Z #BlackLivesMatter #MeToo #SayHerName 19th Amendment (1920) Abortion Affirmative Action Anarchy Anger Anti-miscegenation Laws Anzaldúa, Gloria Asian American Feminist Collective Backlash Beauty The Bechdel Test Bethune, Mary McLeod Biblical Complementarianism Bioethics Biopower Black Arts Movement Black Liberation Theology Bodily Autonomy Body Positivity Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) Burke, Tarana Butch Butler, Judith Butler, Octavia E. Capitalism Chisholm, Shirley Choice Civil Rights Act (1964) Civil Rights Act: Title VII Civil Rights Movement Collins, Patricia Hill Colonialism Combahee River Collective Consciousness Raising Crenshaw, Kimberlé Critical Race Theory Cult of True Womanhood Cyberfeminism Cyborg Manifesto Davis, Angela Y. Decolonialism Deconstruction Disability Disciplinary Power Divorce Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022) Domestic Labor Drag Dress Reform Movement Dworkin, Andrea Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) Emotional Labor Enthusiastic Consent Environmental Feminism Equal Pay Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Essentialism Eugenics Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA, 1993) Fat The Feminine Mystique Feminist Killjoy Feminist Methodologies Feminist Pedagogy Feminist Theology Feministing.com Feminization of Poverty Femme First Step Act (2018) Friedan, Betty Gaslighting Gay, Roxane Gender Gender Discrimination Gender Performance Gender-neutral Language and Pronouns Girl Power Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) Guerrilla Girls Haaland, Deb Hashtag Activism Hegemonic Masculinity Hill, Anita hooks, bell Huerta, Dolores Hyde Amendment Intensive Mothering Interlocking Oppression Internalized Sexism Intersectionality Intersex Intimate Partner Violence Kinsey Institute Kochiyama, Yuri Kramer, Larry Labor Activism Lacks, Henrietta Lawrence v. Texas (2003) Lesbian Connection The Lesbian Continuum Liberal Feminism Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (2009) Lorde, Audre Male Gaze MANA: A National Latina Organization Marxist Feminism Matriliny The May Test Men's Rights Movements Menstruation Menstruation Activism Military-industrial Complex Mind/Body Split Misogyny Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Morrison, Toni National Indigenous Women's Resource Center National Organization for Women Neoliberalism Non-binary Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) Online Dating and the Burned Haystack Dating Method Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act (2003) Patriarchy The Personal is Political Phallocentrism Pink Tax Popular Feminism Post-racism Postcolonial Feminism Postfeminism Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978) Prison Abolition Movement Prison-industrial Complex Punk Feminism and the Riot Grrrl Manifesto Purity Culture Queer Theory Racist Stereotypes Racist Stereotypes of Arab and Muslim People Racist Stereotypes of Asian People Racist Stereotypes of Black People Racist Stereotypes of Indigenous People Racist Stereotypes of Jewish People Racist Stereotypes of Latinx People Radical Feminism Rankin, Jeanette Rape Culture Rape Myths The Redstockings and the Redstockings Manifesto Religious Right Reproductive Justice Reproductive Labor Right to Privacy Roe v. Wade (1973) Schlafly, Phyllis Seneca Falls Convention (1848) Settler Colonialism Sex Education Sexual Objectification Sexual Pleasure Sexual Revolution SisterSong Socialism Standpoint Theory Stonewall Riots (1969) Strategic Essentialism Structural Oppression Suffrage Survivors' Bill of Rights Act (2016) Temperance Third World Women's Alliance and Black Woman's Manifesto Title IX (1972) Tokenism Trans Theory Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs) Transnational Feminism Vagina Monologues Violence Against Women Act (1994) Virginity White Privilege White Supremacy Whiteness as Property Witches Woman-Identified Woman Manifesto Womanism Women's Liberation Movement Women's March on Washington (2017) Editor's Afterword About the Editor and Contributors Index
Sarah Kornfield is a professor of communication and women's and gender studies at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, USA. Dr. Kornfield is a feminist communication scholar who studies the public persuasion of sexism, and she is the author of Contemporary Rhetorical Criticism (2021), Invoking the Fathers: Dangerous Metaphors and Founding Myths in Congressional Politics (2024), and Watching Women: Femininity on TV (2025).
