Marching Dykes, Liberated Sluts, and Concerned Mothers

This project examines the ways in which women's public protests in the 21st century create spaces for involvement in cultural and political publics focused on a range of timely issues including gender identity, sexuality, war, corporate greed, and reproductive rights. Based on participant observation, interviews, and analysis of archival and published sources, this interdisciplinary study blends feminist, queer, critical race and performance studies with explorations of public space in order to explore what public protests do, and why they are culturally important. The public demonstrations examined include Take Back the Night marches, Dyke marches, CODEPINK direct actions, Women in Black vigils, the 2004 March for Women's Lives, and the 2004 Million Mom March. Key to this project is the argument that these demonstrations share significant characteristics as performances in their own right, and are not simply one feature of the broader social movements they're a part of. The author suggests that an analysis of these women-organized demonstrations offers a distinct opportunity to explore the relationship of gender to public space in contemporary U.S. political culture--