Dangerous Women: fifty reflections on women, power and identity

Ben Fletcher-Watson, MA 2003; PhD 2016

What does it mean to be a dangerous woman? ‘The most dangerous woman in Britain’ – the Sun ‘Meet the most dangerous wee woman in the world’ – Daily Mail. We may laugh at the media’s label for women such as Shami Chakrabarti or First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, but behind it lie serious questions about the dynamics, conflicts and power relations with which women live today.

The idea that women are dangerous individually or collectively permeates many historical periods, cultures and areas of contemporary life. But what does it mean for a woman to be dangerous? Who, or what, does she present a danger to? Who gets to say she’s dangerous? Why do they want to say it? Does she consider herself dangerous? Is feminism dangerous? And what do the answers to those questions tell us about societies past and present? About our social and political structures, about our everyday lives, our attitudes and our very identities?

"Dangerous Women" gives fifty wide-ranging perspectives on these questions. Co-edited by Peta Freestone, Ben Fletcher-Watson and Abrisham Ahmadzadeh, "Dangerous Women" is for anyone and everyone who questions how to be dangerous, and indeed what that means.

Contributors include Nicola Sturgeon MSP, broadcaster and journalist Bidisha, playwright Jo Clifford, prize-winning novelist Irenosen Okojie, acclaimed journalist Jean Rafferty, essayist and writer Laura Elizabeth Woollett, novelist and architect Yewande Omotoso, poet and performer Rachel McCrum, prize-winning novelist and poet Claire Askew, celebrated author Nada Awar Jarrar, critic and publisher Laura E. Waddell, BBC comedy writer Jasmine Tonie, writer and editor Annee Lawrence, award-winning poet and translator A.C. Clarke, poet, writer and presenter Mab Jones and feminist historian Chiara Bonfiglioli. You can pledge to support the book at https://unbound.com/books/dangerous-women/

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