Contrary to the popular belief that feminism has gained a foothold in the many disciplines of the academy, the essays collected in Theorizing Backlash argue that feminism is still actively resisted in mainstream academia. Contributors to this volume consider the professional, philosophical, and personal backlashes against feminist thought, and reflect upon their ramifications. The conclusion is that the disdain and irrational resentment of feminism, even in higher education, amounts to a backlash against progress.

Distinguished scholars and practitioners commemorate and expand upon the work of international judge, arbitrator, and professor, David D. Caron (1952-2018). By Peaceful Means is an insightful examination of how international dispute resolution seeks to avert disaster and mitigate discord, and how it might continue to do so in our uncertain future.

Anita Superson challenges the traditional picture of the skeptic who asks, "Why be moral?" While holding that the skeptic's position is important, she builds an argument against it by understanding it more deeply, and then shows what it would take to successfully defeat it. Superson argues that we must defeat not only the action skeptic, but the disposition skeptic, who denies that being morally disposed is rationally required, and the motive skeptic, who believes that merely going through the motions in acting morally is rationally permissible. We also have to address the amoralist, who is not moved by moral reasons he recognizes. Superson argues for expanding the skeptic's position from self-interest to privilege to include morally unjustified behavior targeting disenfranchised social groups, as well as revising the traditional expected utility model to exclude desires deformed by patriarchy as irrational. Lastly she argues that the challenge can be answered if it can be shown that it is, in an important way, inconsistent and therefore irrational to privilege oneself over others. The Moral Skeptic makes an important contribution to both metaethics/moral theory and feminist philosophy, and brings feminist thinking into the larger discussion of the skeptical challenge.

This work examines the contemporary men’s rights movement (MRM), a mainly online movement that claims men are oppressed by gender norms, women, and feminism. While some feminists and other progressives have dismissed the movement as simple misogyny, this book argues that the MRM expresses a growing cultural trend in male anger and frustration, and is an extreme manifestation of what has been previously referred to as a “masculinity crisis.” In order to assess the implications of the MRM for gender politics, this book explores the movement politically, investigating the ways in which online communication and media outlets have impacted contemporary meanings of identity, gender, language, and political engagement. Furthermore, a discussion of various issues promoted by the MRM, such as parenting, divorce, employment, and violence, provide deeper insights into the issues surrounding masculinity and gender politics in current sociopolitical contexts.

With this remarkable study, historian Keira V. Williams shows how fictional matriarchies—produced for specific audiences in successive eras and across multiple media—constitute prescriptive, solution-oriented thought experiments directed at contemporary social issues. In the process, Amazons in America uncovers a rich tradition of matriarchal popular culture in the United States. Beginning with late-nineteenth-century anthropological studies, which theorized a universal prehistoric matriarchy, Williams explores how representations of women-centered societies reveal changing ideas of gender and power over the course of the twentieth century and into the present day. She examines a deep archive of cultural artifacts, both familiar and obscure, including L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz series, Progressive-era fiction like Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s utopian novel Herland, the original 1940s Wonder Woman comics, midcentury films featuring nuclear families, and feminist science fiction novels from the 1970s that invented prehistoric and futuristic matriarchal societies. While such texts have, at times, served as sites of feminist theory, Williams unpacks their cyclical nature and, in doing so, pinpoints some of the premises that have historically hindered gender equality in the United States. Williams also delves into popular works from the twenty-first century, such as Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise and DC Comics/Warner Bros.’ globally successful film Wonder Woman, which attest to the ongoing presence of matriarchal ideas and their capacity for combating patriarchy and white nationalism with visions of rebellion and liberation. Amazons in America provides an indispensable critique of how anxieties and fantasies about women in power are culturally expressed, ultimately informing a broader discussion about how to nurture a stable, equitable society.

Ob bei Kant oder unter Konservativen, im Internet, in Umweltdiskursen oder in Sansibar: Dieses Buch untersucht, wie sich Menschen Normen geben, diese hinterfragen und legitimieren. Die Beiträge machen deutlich, dass Normen nach wie vor in allen Lebensbereichen eine zentrale Rolle einnehmen. Zusammen mit Werten und Narrativen bilden sie normative Ordnungen, mit denen politische Autorität und die Verteilung von Rechten und Gütern legitimiert wird: im Strafrecht, bei der Kindererziehung, im Territorialstaat, in Fortschrittsdiskursen, im Anthropozän.

Tales of shipwreck have always fascinated audiences, and as a result there is a rich literature of suffering at sea, and an equally rich tradition of visual art depicting this theme. Exploring the shifting semiotics and symbolism of shipwreck, the interdisciplinary essays in this volume provide a history of a major literary and artistic motif as they consider how depictions have varied over time, and across genres and cultures. Simultaneously, they explore the imaginative potential of shipwreck as they consider the many meanings that have historically attached to maritime disaster and suffering at sea. Spanning both popular and high culture, and addressing a range of political, spiritual, aesthetic and environmental concerns, this cross-cultural, comparative study sheds new light on changing attitudes to the sea, especially in the West. In particular, it foregrounds the role played by the maritime in the emergence of Western modernity, and so will appeal not only to those interested in literature and art, but also to scholars in history, geography, international relations, and postcolonial studies.