Contemporary feminist theory and postmodernism have left significant marks on how we think about practical matters, most notably the old and new forms of gender struggles that many women confront in their daily lives. The essays collected in Gender Struggles are designed to highlight those influences by addressing the following questions: What is practical feminism in a postmodern world? How does rethinking the nature and boundaries of philosophy affect the way we understand practical issues that we confront daily? What new forms of freedom, autonomy, subjectivity, social welfare, motherhood, public and private space, and political resistance have emerged from this new philosophical sense? Together, the sixteen essays in this volume represent many different voices of feminists who boldly take up familiar, everyday concerns from unorthodox vantage points within new conceptual and theoretical frameworks. The essays in Gender Struggles address a wide range of issues in gender struggles, from the more familiar ones that, for the last thirty years, have been the mainstay of feminist scholarship, such as motherhood, beauty, and sexual violence, to new topics inspired by post-industrialization and multiculturalism, such as the welfare state, cyberspace, hate speech, and queer politics, and finally to topics that traditionally have not been seen as appropriate subjects for philosophizing, such as adoption, care work, and the home. Incorporating the latest, most 'cutting-edge' material on feminism, this volume aims at reaching a broad spectrum of readers by connecting postmodern feminist theory with concrete issues that are practical and relevant to their daily lives and experiences.

This open access book seeks to understand how politics is being made in a pluralistic sense, and explores how these political struggles are challenging and transforming gender, sexuality, and colonial norms. As researchers located in Sweden, a nation often cited as one of the most gender-equal and LGBTQ-tolerant nations, the contributions investigate political processes, decolonial struggles, and events beyond, nearby, and in between organizations, states, and national territories. The collection represents a variety of disciplines, and different theoretical conceptualizations of politics, feminist theory, and postcolonial and queer studies. Students and researchers with an interest of queer studies, gender studies, critical whiteness studies, and civil society studies will find this book an invaluable resource.

We Still Demand! recovers vibrant and unsung histories of sex and gender activism across Canada from the 1970s to the present. Departing from conventional accounts, this book demonstrates the varied nature of resistance and the productive power of remembering sex and gender struggles. In attending to the records and accounts that have slipped out of view, it also redraws the boundaries between activism and scholarship. The first part of the book remembers these struggles. Drawing on a rich history of activism, the contributors recall 1970s same-sex marriage activism; early queer union organizing; organizing against police repression; early trans organizing; the emergence of dyke marches; the organization of black queer space at Toronto Pride events. The second part of the book rethinks past and current struggles. The authors address gender “passing” in historical research; lesbian s/m porn; sex-worker organizing; problems with organizing against “human trafficking”; queer immigration and refugee struggles; and trans identity. By recovering the history of activism and outlining contemporary challenges, We Still Demand! provides a vital rewriting of the history of sex and gender activism that will enlighten current struggles and activate new forms of resistance.

The second edition of A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health provides a comprehensive review of the sociology of mental health. Chapters by leading scholars and researchers present an overview of historical, social and institutional frameworks. Part I examines social factors that shape psychiatric diagnosis and the measurement of mental health and illness, theories that explain the definition and treatment of mental disorders and cultural variability. Part II investigates effects of social context, considering class, gender, race and age, and the critical role played by stress, marriage, work and social support. Part III focuses on the organization, delivery and evaluation of mental health services, including the criminalization of mental illness, the challenges posed by HIV, and the importance of stigma. This is a key research reference source that will be useful to both undergraduates and graduate students studying mental health and illness from any number of disciplines.

Gender encompasses biological sex but extends beyond it to the socially prescribed roles deemed appropriate for each sex by the culture in which we live. The gender roles we each carry out are highly individualistic, built on our biological and physical traits, appearance and personality, life experiences such as childhood, career and education, and history of sexual and romantic interactions. Each element influences perceptions and expectations. Gender-related experiences influence and shape the ways we think about others and ourselves including self-image, behaviour, mood, social advancement and coping strategies. This new book brings together leading international research devoted to this subject.

This book argues for the importance of age as a source of diversity and difference amongst women. It compares three generations of women’s accounts of a range of gender issues, including the domestic division of labour, equality, abortion and sexuality. It also compares their understandings of and orientations toward the feminist movement. Drawing on Karl Mannheim’s argument that an individual’s location in historical time shapes their social outlooks or world views, it is shown that women of different ages do not share the same gendered life courses due to differing cohort memberships. Consequently, women of different ages interpret, define and give meaning to gender issues and to feminism in varied and contrasting ways. A key concern of the book is to show that findings from qualitative studies are an important supplement to surveys of cohort differences in women’s gender attitudes, in that they are more revealing of the complex ways cohort influences the construction of gender issues, including the very language used to do so.

In recent times where European welfare states are undergoing serious economic and social crises and being increasingly exposed to criticism, there has been a noticeable revival of feminist interest in the issues of equality. Focusing on a signature aspect of Scandinavian welfare states, Equality Struggles explores how gender equality and women’s rights are transforming the relationship between Scandinavian states and social actors. Indeed, drawing on in-depth analyses from fieldwork in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, this book examines the largest and most established women’s organizations and develops a multi-layered understanding of the entanglements between women’s movements, neoliberal markets and state political agendas in Scandinavia, as they give rise to feminist fractions and new feminist coalitions. Contributing to novel understandings of "equality struggles" within women’s organisations, this title will appeal to postgraduate students and scholars interested in fields such as Scandinavian Studies, Gender Studies, Political Science and International Relations and Social Theory.