Old Pictures: The Discursive Instability of Feminist SF‪.‬

Introduction: Generational Shifts in (Feminist) Terms of Reference I've lately been forced to acknowledge that the language of feminism changes so swiftly and unconsciously that numerous texts of the early second-wave of US feminism have become prone to misunderstanding by readers not already saturated in the political and scholarly literature that provided a context for them. (1) Often the change in language reflects a shift in conceptual theorization. And many of the terms of earlier feminist discourse have vanished altogether. One almost never sees, for example, the expressions "sex role" or "sex differences" now. Mostly we don't notice the change because we seldom read texts that have gone out of fashion. Nor do many of us spend time reflecting on the numerous changes in gender arrangements and attitudes that have occurred since the resurgence of feminist activism in the early second wave. (2)