The Fire This Time: Young Activists and the New Feminism by Vivien Labaton

The Fire This Time: Young Activists and the New Feminism Reviews

• 
  Craig Werner

  This anthology's heart is in the right place, but it's very badly dated. The sensibility is very much 1990s political correctness. Sort of a grab bag of issues loosely organized around feminism, defined in "not what the 60s and 70s feminists were like). Way too rhetorical. I'd like a more nuanced contemporary version.
• 
  Maggie

  Wonderful feminist anthology. The chapters on the School of the Americas, domestic workers rights, and a writer's black feminist perspective on hip hop were stand outs for me.
• 
  Rebecca

  1 of 2 books that made me switch majors and put a name to my philosophy on life...must read for any gender or feminist studies
• 
  Susan Robertson

  The book is a compilation of essays by third wave feminists. These essays were written in the early part of the twenty-first so they are somewhat dated. Many of these writers are Generation Xers now in their 40s and 50s and the issues discussed have ripened and taken center stage such LBGTQ rights, police brutality and prison reform. I was most interested in the essay that discussed the School of the Americas which served as a training facility for right wing Latin American dictators who furthered US corporate interests at the expense of the rights of indigenous peoples.
• 
  Becky

  felt dated (especially after 2016 campaign) but still provided excellent perspective
• 
  Adam

  I wrote this review a few years back for my friend's zine. If you're interested in the zine, let me know. Here's the review:
  
  Today’s feminism is generally referred to as the “Third Wave,” and is typified by deliberate inclusionary efforts (in response to feminism’s history of internal racism, classism, and homophobia), coalition-building, a return to the grassroots, and a recognition of the role of global capitalism in perpetuating oppressions. This work is being done by increasing numbers of men, young people, and people of color.
  
  THE FIRE THIS TIME is an excellent contribution to today’s period of feminist reflection. This collection of essays successfully identifies new areas of feminist struggle and documents the activists who are responsible for new strategies of organizing.
  
  The editors choose to embrace the word “feminism” despite its negative associations, misuse in the popular media, and co-optation by corporate fashion and entertainment. I agree with the editors that it is important to still use the word feminism and assert the new definition that is taking form. I understand the word to have the same meaning that they do: it is a belief and a movement that attacks our culture’s oppressive gender roles. The constructed roles of “men” and “women” are impossibly constringent and are the source of a multitude of social anxieties, ills, and violences.
  
  With that said, the twelve essays investigate how patriarchy is manifest in many forms in American society: the missing or degrading portrayal of women in the arts, the exclusion of women in media and other technological sectors, the disproportionate effect of colonial oppression on women, the marginal position of female informal laborers, the double oppression of being an immigrant and being a woman, the threat posed by the xenophobic environmentalism movement to women, among others. Importantly, the articles give voice to the young, the transgendered, people of color, and other marginalized feminists.
  
  Women organizing against the prison-industrial complex, youth creating their own independent media, immigrants organizing for their human rights, and others give us hope for a brighter, feminist America.
  
  More than simply a review of activism, the authors in The Fire This Time urge the reader to get involved, and a “Recommended Organizations” section in the back of the book helps the reader connect with groups in their community.
  
  I highly recommend this book. It is an accessible and enjoyable read for academics, activists, and strangers to feminism.
• 
  Kaethe

  Reading this was quite the challenge. On the one hand, as a not-even-slightly-new feminist, I know this. I got it. There's a lot of intersectionalism here, a broad view of feminism as social justice, and the horrible assaults on humanity to maintain the status quo. Kathryn Temple's piece, "Exporting Violence" just broke my heart.
  
  I'd recommend it highly to anyone new to feminism, or who only knows it as being about reproductive rights. It's a marvelous introduction to issues and actions.
• 
  Lisa Bourbonnais

  This work is a sad but accurate look into the devastating working and living conditions placed upon migrant women working in domestic roles for wealthy Americans in the U.S. These women have no rights as U.S. citizens since they have only been granted work visas temporarily. For this reason, many of their employers see no problem with underpaying, underfeeding, and maltreating the women working for them to the point of emotional and physical abuse These wealthy employers are well aware that as migrants in a foreign country, the workers are essentially helpless victims.
• 
  Anna Domestico

  An essential reader for any young feminist. I wish I had discovered this when I was in college. I wish I had the time to adequately explore all the subjects addressed here. I wish I had time to read this that didn't consist of sitting on a train, half asleep. There's so much in here. So much necessary information to resist our current presidency. Pick up this book. Even if you read one essay. Research. Learn. Stay active, friends.
• 
  anique

  Finally! A young, diverse range of feminists talk about more than reproductive rights. Goodbye to the vapid and hello to an interesting collection of essays from young feminists. Choice reads include, Elisha Maria Miranda's, "Baptism by Fire"; Kathryn Temple's, "Exporting Violence"; Syd Lyndsley's "Bearing the Blame: Gender, Immigration, Reproduction and the Environment."
• 
  Julia Glassman

  This quote sums up this book's proposal for third wave feminism really well: "This revised feminist movement has replaced the goal of having white women in power reach out to woman of color with the goal of having women of color as full partners in leading the movement and framing its issues" (293).
• 
  Cambra

  third wave/po mo/feels good
  
  update: introduction = most relevant. would you like theory or practice with that?
• 
  Patricia

  Short activist narratives; good intro to feminist practice.
• 
  Teresa

  I jump around in this book on occasion, so I feel like I'm always reading it.
• 
  Carrie

  essays,women's studies