Feminist identity, collective action, and individual resistance among contemporary U.S. feminists

• There was wide variety in participants' descriptions of their feminist identities.
• Feminist identity was inconsistently associated with feminist activism.
• Participants put significant emphasis on individual resistance or “everyday feminism.”

SynopsisThis article examines the relationship between feminist identities and engagement with feminist activism in everyday life, including collective action and individual resistance. I draw on in-depth interviews with women and men in knitting communities, which some have identified as part of contemporary feminist culture. I found variety in feminist identities, including those who identified publicly as feminists and those who identified as feminists only privately. Other participants held postfeminist positions, represented by support for feminist issues but declining a feminist identity. I found that feminist identity was inconsistently associated with feminist activism. Participants with public feminist identities, with definitions of feminism that drew on discourses of equality (rather than choice), and those with broader knowledge of feminist issues were more likely to be engaged with feminist activism. In defining activism, participants put significant emphasis on individual resistance or everyday feminism.