Postfeminist Gothic

Two troubling, troublesome and nebulous terms, Gothic and postfeminism combine in postfeminist Gothic to disturb comfortable ignorance and blinkered constructions of gender, identity, sexuality, relationships and culture. Despite the energies of feminism, maligned as outdated in some postfeminist texts, the demise of sexism, heterophobia and racism are overstated, and equality is far from our grasp. Complacency is a major target of the Gothic, and postfeminist Gothic texts disturb complacent assumptions of the radical achievements of feminism. They also reassert how very necessary and contemporary the morphed and ever-morphing feminist worldviews and active challenges must be.