Making waves, and beyond

In evaluating the current state of feminism and gender studies it has become increasingly challenging to avoid the conclusion that these fields are in a state of disarray; or, less calamitously, that they are in a state of considerable flux. While the presence of a diverse range of theoretical/political positions may simply reflect the vitality of the feminist movement - it does raise any number of fundamental questions. For example, what role (if any) should the second wave distinction between (biological) sex and (social/cultural) gender play in twenty-first-century feminism and gender studies? What consequences does any negation or affirmation of this opposition have for the place of trans-politics within feminism? It seems ill-advised to imagine that it would be possible to develop a satisfactory understanding of the three ‘waves’ that are conventionally held to make up the history of feminism without taking into consideration the role that philosophical and methodological fissures have played in bringing about and solidifying them.