In search of social justice for women

Jo Bartosch

AT 40, I AM NOW APPROACHING the foothills of Hagdom. Two of the Gen-X women in whose sensible shoes I’m following are established writers, and now first-time authors, Mary Harrington and Victoria Smith. In Feminism Against Progress, the provocative Harrington warns of a future in which humans are conceived of as products. In Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women, the insightful Smith digs into layers of intergenerational misogyny. Both have taken a moment to survey the path below and ahead of them. Each recall how as university students they flirted with attractively airy concepts about identity, before material reality kicked in: “Feminism”, says Smith, “is an idea, not a body; it’s not dragged down by the accumulation of flesh, relationships and compromise.” As with so many women, for Smith (below)…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2023

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