Sophie Lewis, "Enemy Feminisms: Terfs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation" (Haymarket Books, 2025)
Apr 19, 2025
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Sophie Lewis, an Anglo-German writer and feminist theorist, dives into her new book, exploring the complexities of 'enemy feminisms' that range from imperial feminists to today’s TERFs. She passionately critiques how certain feminist ideologies can reinforce patriarchal structures and advocates for a more inclusive, anti-fascist feminism. Highlights include the historical ties of feminism to oppression, the troubling intersections with violence and militarism, and the necessity for solidarity with future generations to redefine feminist care and justice.
Sophie Lewis critiques various strands of 'enemy feminisms' that have historically aligned with oppressive systems, challenging their progressive claims.
The podcast emphasizes the necessity of recognizing feminism's troubling history to avoid repeating past mistakes and craft inclusive feminist strategies.
Lewis advocates for a future feminism that incorporates children's autonomy and solidarity, highlighting interconnected struggles against oppression for a truly liberatory movement.
Deep dives
Analysis of Enemy Feminisms
Sophie Lewis's work critically examines various strands of what she terms 'enemy feminisms,' which comprise a spectrum of feminist ideologies that have aligned with or supported oppressive systems. This encompasses historical figures from the 19th century to modern anti-abortion activists and TERFs, who often undermine the broader feminist agenda by aligning themselves with racism, capitalism, and patriarchy. The exploration reveals that feminism is not inherently progressive or liberatory; rather, it can perpetuate structures of domination depending on its practices and ideologies. By engaging with this complicated history, Lewis argues for a re-evaluation of feminist strategies that are necessary for crafting effective anti-fascist stances in contemporary society.
The Importance of Context in Feminist History
Lewis emphasizes the need to confront feminism's troubling history, particularly in light of the ongoing rise of fascism and attacks on reproductive rights. She argues that by failing to acknowledge the ties between early feminisms and various forms of oppression, contemporary feminists risk repeating these historical mistakes. Lewis asserts that a clear understanding of this legacy is essential for developing a radically inclusive feminist politics that actively resists oppression rather than inadvertently reinforcing it. It is crucial to grasp how historical feminisms were often intertwined with colonialism and social stratification, prompting a call for a transformative reimagining of feminist ideology.
Dismantling Biological Essentialism
A significant focus of the podcast is Lewis's critique of biological essentialism within certain factions of feminism, particularly TERFs and pro-life feminists. She describes how these groups claim to uphold women's rights and solidarity while enforcing narrow, exclusionary definitions of womanhood that ultimately undermine broader feminist goals. By framing womanhood in biological terms, these feminists perpetuate a restrictive view that equips them to actively oppose trans inclusion and reproductive rights. Lewis provocatively positions this biological essentialism as a form of reactionary politics that manifests as a backlash against more liberatory feminist ideals.
Intersection of Feminism and Violence
Lewis discusses how some feminists have historically aligned themselves with violent and oppressive systems under the guise of progressivism, often romanticizing colonialism and militarism as benevolent. This relationship between feminism and violence is exemplified in the narratives fostered by early feminists who saw themselves as 'civilizers' in colonial contexts, thus justifying atrocities against marginalized groups. She highlights this paradoxical legacy, where some feminist ideologies have not only ignored but actively supported systems of oppression, betraying feminist principles of liberation. This complex interplay necessitates a deeper examination of how feminist movements can perpetuate violence rather than curtail it, urging a rethinking of practices that celebrate resistance without romanticizing oppression.
Vision for a Liberatory Future
Finally, Lewis offers a hopeful vision for future feminism that incorporates children's autonomy and solidarity into the feminist movement, advocating for a politics that values care and community over individualism. By addressing issues like climate change and the impacts of a capitalist work structure on children, she seeks to broaden the feminist discourse beyond traditional boundaries. Lewis suggests that a truly liberatory feminism must recognize the interconnectedness of all forms of struggle against oppression, thus fostering coalitions that include children's voices. Her commitment to reviving radical feminist politics is encapsulated in her forthcoming work, which promises to further interrogate the relationships between childhood, liberation, and feminism's evolution.
Enemy Feminisms: Terfs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation(Haymarket Books, 2025) is a provocative compendium of the feminisms we love to dismiss and making the case for the bold, liberatory feminist politics we'll need to stand against fascism, nationalism, femmephobia, and cisness.
In recent years, "white feminism" and girlboss feminism have taken a justified beating. We know that leaning in won't make our jobs any more tolerable and that white women have proven to be, at best, unreliable allies. But in a time of rising fascism, ceaseless attacks on reproductive justice, and violent transphobia, we need to reckon with what Western feminism has wrought if we have any hope of building the feminist world we need. Sophie Lewis offers an unflinching tour of enemy feminisms, from 19th century imperial feminists and police officers to 20th century KKK feminists and pornophobes to today's anti-abortion and TERF feminists. Enemy feminisms exist. Feminism is not an inherent political good. Only when we acknowledge that can we finally reckon with the ways these feminisms have pushed us toward counterproductive and even violent ends. And only then can we finally engage in feminist strategizing that is truly antifascist. At once a left transfeminist battlecry against cisness, a decolonial takedown of nationalist womanhoods, and a sex-radical retort to femmephobia in all its guises, Enemy Feminisms is above all a fierce, brilliant love letter to feminism.
About the Author
Sophie Lewis is a writer. Her books, Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family, and Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation, have been translated into nine languages.Sophie grew up in France, half-British, half-German, but now lives in Philadelphia and teaches online courses on utopian theory at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. She also has a visiting affiliation with the Center for Research on Feminist, Queer and Transgender Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
About the Host
Stuti Roy has recently graduated with an MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies from the University of Oxford. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
