cover image Feminism Without Illusions: A Critique of Individualism

Feminism Without Illusions: A Critique of Individualism

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese. University of North Carolina Press, $34.95 (347pp) ISBN 978-0-8078-1940-1

A sweeping critique of feminist theory, this academic discourse charges that the feminist movement is mired in a politics of atomizing individualism that fails to recognize women and men as interdependent members of society. Director of women's studies at Emory University in Georgia, Fox-Genovese argues that slogans of sisterhood and community tend to involve middle-class women while disregarding lower-class and minority women. Frequently heavy sledding, the book is most interesting and controversial when it discusses abortion (Fox-Genovese faults pro-choicers' ``extreme individualistic view of society''), pornography (she berates anti-porn radical feminists but favors some regulation), affirmative-action programs, and Afro-American studies programs. (Apr.)