The feminine bravery construct: the crisis of neoliberal feminine bravery in the #MeToo moment

ABSTRACT

There is an outpouring of sexual assault stories being told by women in the #MeToo moment. The moment feels celebratory because there have been serious consequences for high-profile abusers such as Harvey Weinstein. It is significant that the women allowed to visibly tell their stories present as brave, postfeminist woman-subjects. The expanded characterisation of feminine bravery in the contemporary context has contributed to a belief that the confessions we are witnessing are emblematic of a new porosity between the public and the private; Carol Hanisch’s “Personal is Political” in action. However, in celebrating the ideal brave behaviour of certain postfeminist-types, women continue to be subject to insidious forms of silencing. Utilising a feminist content and discourse analysis, this research explores the contemporary iteration of the Feminine Bravery Construct (FBC) through two (white) publicly confessing subjects: Saxon Mullins and Rose McGowan. The research reveals that these dramatized woman-types serve to reinforce contemporary standards of bravery for women in the neoliberal context.

KEYWORDS:

• Feminine bravery
• feminine brave construct
• neoliberal feminism
• postfeminist culture
• #MeToo
• sexual assault

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karike Ashworth

Dr Karike Ashworth is an Australian feminist contemporary visual artist and sessional academic at the Queensland University of Technology. She has recently completed her doctoral studies in Visual Arts. The focus of her research are the expectations that govern the lives of women. www.karikeashworth.com. E-mail: [email protected]

Courtney Pedersen

Dr Courtney Pedersen is an Australian artist/researcher and Senior Lecturer in art history and theory at Queensland University of Technology, specialising in feminist creative practice research and creative pedagogies. She is currently affiliated with the Centre for Child and Family Studies and the More-Than-Human Futures research group at QUT. E-mail: [email protected]