Book review: Me, Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism

Berenice Golding

Research output: Contribution to journalBook/Film/Dance Article review

Abstract

Alison Phipps, Me, Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism. Manchester University Press: Manchester, 2020; 216 pp.: ISBN: 978 1 5261 4717 2, £12.99 hbk.

In this book, Alison Phipps, Professor of Gender Studies, University of Sussex, presents, from the outset, a text that unpacks some of the dominant discourses linked to mainstream feminism. Reflecting upon the title, Phipps states that the Me in the title is linked to her positionality; as a White feminist writing about White feminism. This reflexive turn is particularly insightful especially when it is considered alongside the statement that ‘often the message is not “Me, Too” but “Me, Not You”’ (p. 3). Phipps goes on to exemplify this point in her discussions about the concepts of privilege, specifically, how ‘Privileged white women also sacrifice more marginalised people to achieve our aims, or even define them as enemies when they get in our way’ (p. 3). It is this assertion that contextualises the book’s central narrative as Phipps discusses the way that key issues around the quest to fight sexual violence are responded to and how this links to mainstream feminism.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)285-287
Number of pages3
JournalEuropean Journal of Women's Studies
Volume28
Issue number2
Early online date21 Feb 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2021

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