Feminist media history: suffrage, periodicals and the public sphere

Abstract

This study highlights the contributions of feminist media history to a range of disciplines. Focusing on the feminist press emerging from and reacting to the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British suffrage campaign, the book situates these sources in the context of current debates about the public sphere, social movements, and media history. The case studies include official organs of the suffrage movement, and feminist reviews such as the Englishwoman and the notorious Freewoman. Based on original research, the case studies are designed to offer detailed and comparative analyses of key periodicals representing diverging ideological positions and genres. They demonstrate the complex and often conflicting internal dynamics of early women's movements and the central role of print media in their engagement with the wider public.