Truth Abandoned: How Can Democracy Survive? A Feminist Response.
Feminists speak about important political issues because the lives of women are complex. Recognising how power works and in whose favour underlies many of these discussions.
In this compelling and clear account of political structures, Betty McLellan asks important questions. What is truth and how do we understand it, especially when some say, that’s not my truth. Are there competing truths?
Modern and postmodern approaches to democracy impinge on issues of power and truth, especially with increasingly individualistic as opposed to collective approaches to politics. Populism has been used by politicians to shore up votes and sway entire sections of the voting public while identity politics has fractured that same voting public.
Is democracy dead or are there ways of fruitfully salvaging democracy? Could feminism be the answer?
Betty McLellan’s analysis and arguments are fundamentally about truth, its importance for a functioning democracy and radical feminists’ insistence on telling it.
—Kara Dansky, US lawyer and author of The Reckoning: How Democrats and the Left Betrayed Women and Girls.
8 OCTOBER 2024 | ISBN 9781922964168 | Paperback | 216 pages | 152 x 228 mm
Feminists speak about important political issues because the lives of women are complex. Recognising how power works and in whose favour underlies many of these discussions.
In this compelling and clear account of political structures, Betty McLellan asks important questions. What is truth and how do we understand it, especially when some say, that’s not my truth. Are there competing truths?
Modern and postmodern approaches to democracy impinge on issues of power and truth, especially with increasingly individualistic as opposed to collective approaches to politics. Populism has been used by politicians to shore up votes and sway entire sections of the voting public while identity politics has fractured that same voting public.
Is democracy dead or are there ways of fruitfully salvaging democracy? Could feminism be the answer?
Betty McLellan’s analysis and arguments are fundamentally about truth, its importance for a functioning democracy and radical feminists’ insistence on telling it.
—Kara Dansky, US lawyer and author of The Reckoning: How Democrats and the Left Betrayed Women and Girls.
8 OCTOBER 2024 | ISBN 9781922964168 | Paperback | 216 pages | 152 x 228 mm
Feminists speak about important political issues because the lives of women are complex. Recognising how power works and in whose favour underlies many of these discussions.
In this compelling and clear account of political structures, Betty McLellan asks important questions. What is truth and how do we understand it, especially when some say, that’s not my truth. Are there competing truths?
Modern and postmodern approaches to democracy impinge on issues of power and truth, especially with increasingly individualistic as opposed to collective approaches to politics. Populism has been used by politicians to shore up votes and sway entire sections of the voting public while identity politics has fractured that same voting public.
Is democracy dead or are there ways of fruitfully salvaging democracy? Could feminism be the answer?
Betty McLellan’s analysis and arguments are fundamentally about truth, its importance for a functioning democracy and radical feminists’ insistence on telling it.
—Kara Dansky, US lawyer and author of The Reckoning: How Democrats and the Left Betrayed Women and Girls.
8 OCTOBER 2024 | ISBN 9781922964168 | Paperback | 216 pages | 152 x 228 mm
Table of Contents
4. Creative Ways of Avoiding the Truth
Gradualism
Aged care
Indigenous wellbeing
Women’s safety
Equalism
Whataboutism
Waititoutism
Hideandseekism
5. Individualism, Populism and Identity Politics
Liberalism – earlier times
Liberalism today
Liberalism’s excesses
Speech
Greed
Exploitation of the less powerful
Wreaking havoc on the planet
Wanton destruction of historical sites
Sexual exploitation of women
Violence
Sexual violence
Violence in the community
Violence in relationships
Populism
Populism as a response to powerlessness
Populism as a response to contempt
Populism as a response to humiliation
Identity politics
6. Leading the Way
Uncovering root causes
Changing narratives
Action across all areas
Moving forward together
A glimpse into a future that has already begun
Transgender truth and lies
Sex-based crimes against women
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
Truth
Democracy
Feminism
Liberal feminism
Radical feminism
1. Feminist Focus on Truth and Truth-telling
Power
Sexual exploitation
Pornography
Prostitution
Sexual assault
Surrogacy
Domestic violence
Discrimination on the basis of sex
Language
Naming
Silencing
Obscurantism
Attempted erasure of women
2. Speaking Truth to Power
A note about defamation
3. Lies, Damned Lies and the Death of Democracy
Characteristics of a democracy
Free and fair elections
Power belongs to all adult citizens through their freely elected representatives
Majority rules
Individual rights and responsibilities
Freedom of the press
Independent judiciary and acceptance of the rule of law
Threats to democracy
Tribalism
Abuse of democratic principles
Ingrained inequality
Political extremism
Lies and disinformation
How has it come to this?
Neoliberalism
Postmodernism
Liberalism
Libertarianism