Date of Completion
5-1-2022
Thesis Advisor(s)
Kathy Knapp
Honors Major
English
Disciplines
English Language and Literature | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Film and Media Studies | Social Media | Television
Abstract
On-screen and literary works have increasingly represented a new, digital-age wave of postfeminism: dissociative feminism, which rejects happy-go-lucky, sex-positive fourth-wave feminism, instead embracing nihilism. Fleabag, the titular character of the hit BBC miniseries Fleabag (2016–9), embodies dissociative feminism, though she ultimately comes to reject this darkly relatable perspective. However, social media largely ignores this latter, essential aspect of her character arc and has taken to romanticizing Fleabag’s feminist ideology, effectively constructing a harmful and dangerous virtual echo chamber of dissociative feminism. Participants in this online discourse should instead turn to the HBO limited series I May Destroy You (2020) for guidance on exiting the dissociative feminism echo chamber, and to Fleabag for guidance on wholly abandoning the movement in favor of a more hopeful feminism: individualized feminism.
Recommended Citation
Flaherty, Michaela Elizabeth, "“And We’re Happy, So Happy, to Be Modern Women”: Dissociative Feminism on Screen and in Literature" (2022). Honors Scholar Theses. 905.
https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/srhonors_theses/905