How has feminism changed in the UK since the 1960s? This was the question I set out to explore in my research on the British Women’s Liberation Movement, published as Radical Feminism: Feminist Activism in Movement (2015). I found that the motivations and aspirations of activists today were similar to those reported by feminists of the Second Wave; but the methods and tactics were more professionalized and there was less of a focus on women-only space.

This is a particularly important time to be reconsidering and revisiting radical feminism. The contemporary visibility of trans rights movements, and the unsurprising, accompanying backlash from a variety of camps makes this a politically charged and tense moment for reflection on the herstory, present, and future of this school of feminism.

Generally, saying: ‘feminist’, is revolutionary enough in this day and age, it's far more of a statement now than it was back in the eighties. And no, I wouldn't say I was a Revolutionary Feminist now ‘cos I'm less separatist than I was at that time and I think it's got overladen with such baggage that I'd have to spend about ten minutes defining what I meant. (Interview with Al Garthwaite, Leeds, 20 January 2012).