Reactionary Feminism? Mary Harrington

Rebel Wisdom

Mary recently took part in Rebel Wisdom's first 'Sex and Culture' event, where there was a great deal of interest in her concept of 'reactionary feminism'. She returns to Rebel Wisdom for a showcase event in our Digital Campfire, in dialogue with Raven Connolly. She says: "The central contention of reactionary feminism is that the ideas of 'freedom' and 'progress' themselves are now delivering diminishing returns for all but a shrinking elite. And this is impacting especially severely on women, meaning that in order to remain true to the central task of feminism - advocating for women's political interests - feminists must turn against the theology of progress." To join live and take part in conversations like this one, in Rebel Wisdom's Digital Campfire, check out the upcoming sessions here: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/campfire-ev...​ Mary is a writer and journalist. After graduating from Oxford University in 2002 with a first-class degree in English Literature, she was an early adopter of millennial precarity, via a twenties spent experimenting with gig economy work, intentional communities, gender nonconformity and unconventional relationship forms. Along the way she discovered digital culture and web 2.0, co-founding the digital learning marketplace ‘School of Everything’; working as a researcher with the New York-based digital culture think tank ‘The Institute for the Future of the Book’; and curating cult art events. After the crash of 2008 she worked in marketing while training as a psychotherapist, before discovering marriage, motherhood and small town life - along with an audience as a writer via her political blog. Her writing has been published by the New Statesman, The Spectator and Mail on Sunday, and she is a contributing editor at the influential online magazine UnHerd.