Infidel feminism: Secularism, religion and women's emancipation, England 1830-1914 (Gender in History) - Softcover

Schwarz, Laura

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0719097282 ISBN 13: 9780719097287

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2015

Synopsis

Infidel feminism is the first in-depth study of a distinctive brand of women's rights that emerged out of the Victorian Secularist movement. Anti-religious or secular ideas were fundamental to the development of feminist thought, but have, until now, been almost entirely passed over in the historiography of the Victorian and Edwardian women's movement. In uncovering an important tradition of Freethinking feminism, this book reveals an ongoing radical and free love current connecting Owenite feminism with the more 'respectable' post-1850 women's movement and the 'New Women' of the early twentieth century. Schwartz looks at the lives and work of a number of female activists associated with organised Secularism, whose renunciation of religion encouraged and shaped their support for women's emancipation. These self-proclaimed 'infidel' feminists championed moral autonomy, free speech, and the democratic dissemination of knowledge. Alongside their rejection of god-given notions of sexual difference and a critique of the Christian institution of marriage such Freethinking principles provided powerful intellectual tools with which to challenge dominant and oppressive constructions of womanhood. Their contribution to the wider feminist movement was significant at a time when the issue of women's rights was integral to the creation of modern definitions of 'religion' and 'secularism' and when feminists and anti-feminists, Christians and Freethinkers battled over who had women's best interests at heart. This book will be invaluable to both scholars and students of social and cultural history and feminist thought, and to interdisciplinary studies of religion and secularisation. Its accessible style will also ensure that it appeals to those interested in the history of women's movements more broadly.

About this title

Review:

An illuminating read'. -- June Purvis, THE, 21st March 2013

In sum, this book is a fascinating read, and a rigorously written history of a radical women's movement. As such, it merits reading, and inclusion into our studies of feminism and women's movement in Victorian times.' -- (Sneha Krishnan, Wolfson College, Oxford, LSE Reviews, 20/11/2013)

Infidel Feminists makes an important, thorough and very compelling contribution to our understanding of the richness and diversity of both religious culture and feminism in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.' -- (Alison Twells, Sheffield Hallam, Women's History Review, 03/10/2013

This important work is long overdue' -- (Dr Edward Royle, University of York, Reviews in History, 14/11/2013)

About the Author:

Laura Schwartz is Assistant Professor of Modern British History at the University of Warwick -- .

About this edition

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0719097282
• ISBN 13: 9780719097287
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 266