My Transformative Desires: Enacting Feminist Social Justice Leisure Research

Abstract

Many feminist scholars avow social justice as the ultimate goal of their research, but the process remains poorly conceptualized. With this in mind, the purpose of this article is to use feminist leisure scholarship to provide insight into the ways that I see myself and others enacting social justice. In particular, I outline how a politics of hope, transformative encounters, and activism enable feminist leisure scholars to make the world more just. I consider future areas of feminist leisure research that would benefit from a social justice agenda and conclude with a cautionary note about the seductive postfeminist message that the work of feminism is done.

Keywords:

• gender injustice
• patriarchy
• quality of life
• transformation

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Bill Stewart, Corey Johnson, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback on this manuscript. This paper is for Laura, one of the most influential feminists in my life.