In memory of Annette Fitzsimons
polity
Copyright © Kathleen Lennon & Rachel Alsop 2020
The right of Kathleen Lennon & Rachel Alsop to be identified as Authors of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2020 by Polity Press
Polity Press
65 Bridge Street
Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Polity Press
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Suite 300
Medford, MA 02155, USA
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8301-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8302-7 (pb)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lennon, Kathleen, author. | Alsop, Rachel, author.
Title: Gender theory in troubled times / Kathleen Lennon & Rachel Alsop.
Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: «This timely and necessary intervention revisits gender theory for contemporary times. The authors explore the multiple strands which go into making our gendered identities and refuse a singular ‹truth about gender›, resulting in the ideal critical overview»-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019024006 | ISBN 9780745683010 (hardback) | ISBN 9780745683027 (paperback) | ISBN 9780745683058 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Gender identity. | Queer theory. | Sex (Psychology)
Classification: LCC HQ18.55 .L46 2020 | DDC 305.3--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024006
Typeset in 11 on 13pt Scala
by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NL
Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon
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This book began as a second edition of our Theorizing Gender (2002) and then morphed into a new work that revisits many of the same concerns, but in a changed political and social, as well as theoretical, context. The original Theorizing Gender was written in collaboration with Annette Fitzsimons and Ros Minsky. Both are sadly no longer with us, but we remain informed by their knowledge and insights. Regretfully also gone is the Hull Centre for Gender Studies, which for thirty-five years sustained and supported the research of many scholars and activists, including our own. We pay tribute to the commitment and expertise of those who made Hull an important centre of excellence for gendered research, maintained close links with activist groups in the local community, and established and perpetuated a set of international networks. Collectively they/we promoted a commitment to internationalism and localism as key to any feminist agenda, interweaving feminist and LGBTQI+ concerns internationally with those of migration and borders. The legacy of the centre burns bright, however, in the transfer of the Erasmus Mundus GEMMA Masters of Excellence to the Centre for Women’s Studies at the University of York and the ongoing research and teaching of the centre’s alumni across the world, including within the inspiring Global Grace Project. We would also like to thank each other for many years of fruitful and enjoyable collaboration in both teaching and research.