Stevi Jackson (born 23 June 1951), is an academic and writer working in the field of gender and sexuality. She has been Professor of

Women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

at the University of York, England since 1998,University of York, 2014 and is Director of the University's Centre for Women's Studies.

Education

Stevi Jackson earned her degree in Sociology from the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

in 1972. In 1973 she gained her master's from the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

Writings

She has been writing on feminist topics since 1973, and describes her research as an attempt to explain and theorise her own experience of being a heterosexual woman. She explicitly states throughout her work that she is a heterosexual feminist working within a materialist framework. Jackson has been politically active throughout her life, particularly in the 1970s when she engaged in

consciousness raising Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or ...

groups, went to national conferences and helped to set up Rape Crisis in Cardiff. During the Thatcher years, she joined the Labour party to counter the damage she saw being done by the government. She says Labour was “a good base for feminist campaigning”.Jackson, 2009a In the 1980s, she shied away from action during the "sex wars" which attacked heterosexual feminists for fraternising with the "enemy".Jackson and Scott, 1996: 11 She found this period destructive for

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and as a heterosexual feminist, preferred to stay out of the debates on the issue. Recently, her political action has involved trying to keep women's studies alive as a space for women to explore feminism but regrets that rising higher in academia leaves less time for feminist action. She believes it is important to build a bridge between

feminist theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or Philosophy, philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's Gender role, social roles, experiences, intere ...

and practice which is why she particularly enjoyed writing for

radical feminist Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other ...

magazine ''Trouble and Strife''.Jackson, 2009a Jackson's

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

is an egalitarian world without gender where “your genitals matter as little as your hair colour”. A world where marriage is abolished, selective foetus abortion is legal and those who wish to commit to one another engage in civil partnerships. She advocates a collective model of

child rearing Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and educational development from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biological rel ...

and believes that heterosexual, monogamous couples are not necessarily the best parents.Jackson, 2009a

Selected works

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Stevi 1951 births Alumni of the University of Kent Alumni of the University of York British feminist writers Living people Materialist feminists Radical feminists Women's studies academics Place of birth missing (living people)