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They Didn't See Us Coming

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What an important book to the feminist movement and history. The digital age completely changes the movement. Excellent resource.

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When I think of the feminist revolution, I rarely think of the decade I was in high school. Yet, the 90s did offer an important contribution to the fight, and reading this book opened my eyes to that. A must-read for anyone who wants to learn about feminist theory and women's history.

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This book combined two of my favourite topics: feminism and the wonderful 90s, which seem to be making quite the comeback these days. Very informative, and I found it refreshing to reach a look-back on a decade in which I was actually alive. Will highly recommend to my network.

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I was provided an advanced copy of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a history book, and Levenstein is a scholar of women's studies; it is academic in nature and just like the title says, if you were expecting something different you won't see this book coming.

This is an important and necessary book that fills a hole in the timeline of feminism's history that shows where intersectionality gains momentum through evolving technology and redefining what a feminist and feminist discourse is and can entail.

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TITLE: They Didn’t See Us Coming
AUTHOR: Lisa Levenstein

One Sentence Summary: This is a history of American feminism in the 1990s, centered around the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women.

Reaction: There is a lot of deeply interesting info in here, but the book lacked deep analytical insight or central thesis other than: “There was a lot of feminist activity happening in the ’90’s”. I was fascinated by how the widespread adoption of internet culture both exacerbated and offered outlets for the intersectional issues that the movement still grapples with today, but I wish there were a deeper level of insight into the significance of this period in relation to the overall timeline of feminist thought. There was also a lot of references to work being done by women outside the US that is reference but not elaborated upon that I was very curious about. Given the lack of narrative organization or through-line, I am not sure what Levenstein wants readers to take away from the book.

Rating: Eh?

Keywords: Internet chatrooms, feminism, intersectionality, globalism, Americans going abroad and getting owned by other philosophic organizations, badass ladies from the 90s

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

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I received a review copy from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Those who regularly read my reviews know that I’m a feminist and that I’m interested in literature on feminism and gender; so naturally I had to get a review copy as soon as I saw this book on Netgalley. They Didn’t See Us Coming talks about the feminist movement in the 1990s, exactly that feminism that is often called “Third Wave” or – as many anti-feminists and MRAs like to claim: the moment things started to go “wrong” with feminism.
I have to admit that I knew little about feminist activism and theory from the 90s and was therefore very eager to learn about an era of feminist activity that is vilified, mischaracterised and demonised so profoundly by people that know little to nothing about feminism.

Lisa Levenstein is the Director of the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and an Associate Professor of History at UNC Greensboro. They Didn’t See Us Coming is her second monograph and explores the history of US feminism during the 90s, beginning with the World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing. Right from the introduction it becomes clear that Levenstein is not writing about White feminism but intersectional feminism, a fact that is reflected in her studies on Black feminism and African American women and gender activism. This was really important to me because intersectionality is absolutely necessary for feminism to be successful and just.
One of the first stories is how participants from the US had trouble leaving the airport because they used wheelchairs and couldn’t leave the floor because the elevator they should be using was out of order and the working one right next to it was “inside the border” and therefore legally not accessible for travellers. These women had to literally crawl down the stairs while co-travellers carried their wheelchairs for them.

It is a shocking and frankly disgusting example but representative of how disabled people are treated. It’s not a problem exclusive to China but a global, systemic and institutional one that leads us right to the crux of all the book: Levenstein uses this story to explain how many White American middle and upper-class feminists were woefully unprepared for the conference. They saw themselves as the frontline of feminist activism who would teach others how to engage in feminism. Beijing was a wake-up call for many when they saw how ignorant, yet privileged they were. Womxn from the Global South; Muslim, Hindu and other non-Christian womxn; Latinx, indigenous womxn; queer womxn; disabled and neurodiverse womxn; poor womxn – all of them were present at the conference and brought with them a rich and vast feminist discourse from their home countries and Levenstein shows that for many White American women, this was the moment to listen and learn and to put their superiority and saviour complex aside.

In nine chapters, plus introduction and epilogue, Levenstein traces the history of US feminist activism in the 90s and consistently draws from global networks and situations because this was the moment were intersectional feminism started becoming mainstream. Levenstein uses a vast body of sources, from secondary academic literature to blogs and forums to interviews, to present the intricate yet fruitful transnational and interdisciplinary engagement. It is obviously a very complex topic so I absolutely applaud Levenstein for writing in such a clear, accessible and precise manner. As someone who also does historical research and writes for a living, I know how hard it is to combine dozens of sources into factual yet entertaining and understandable sentences. She achieves this by not merely reciting and summarising but telling a story with anecdotes and breaking paragraphs that explain organisations, historical events or legal jargon with personal passages about feminist activists. All of this, and I can’t stress this enough, is so eloquently and elegantly written that you easily follow the complex and multi-layered strands of stories. It is truly enjoyable to read because the craft is so good that you won’t even notice it unless you’ve had to write historical papers yourself.

Each chapter has such a wealth of information that I can’t possibly cover everything here and do it justice but I want to give an overview by showing you the chapter titles and then talking about a few points.

Chapters:

1 A Movement Without a Center
2 “We Had Far Less to Teach Than to Learn”
3 The Worldwide Debut of Online Activism
4 How Feminism Went Viral
5 Making a Living from Social Change
6 “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”
7 Tackling Women’s Poverty from Global Perspectives
8 Environmental Justice and Labor Activism
9 Heart Communities: SisterSong, SONG, and INCITE

What Levenstein really accomplishes is showing how the mainstream idea of what feminists are - White, middle to upper-class women from the US and Europe – represents only a small fraction of feminists and really highlights how important immigrant rights, social safety and abolition of poverty, food security, labour activism, sex workers’ rights, reproductive rights, LGBQT+ rights, environmental justice and reform of criminal and justice system are to the feminist cause. In fact, they are not merely important but vital as mainstream feminism only scratches the surface of what feminist activism truly is because it doesn’t fight the root cause of all the problems I just listed.
In using the conference in Beijing, Levenstein shows the importance of global networks and intersectional feminism on feminist activism in the 90s and how it changed the landscape in the US for good. She also doesn’t shy away from showing how racism and neoliberalism favoured a whitewashed version of feminism as many feminist organisations needed grants and donors to achieve their goals but the rewards were given to just a handful of people.
In fact, in many cases, the money didn’t flow to those who had lived a problem and knew how to combat it, for example the rampant poverty within Black communities and the problems Black women faced. Instead, those awarding the grants would give the money to White women who would then decide for the communities what was in their best interest. Certainly, this was not the case for ALL grants but the paternalistic angle did not disappear. All too often people were put in charge of communities who did not belong to those communities and thus, naturally, resentment and rightful criticism grew.

I was very intrigued in learning that the internet was paramount to connect global feminisms. Feminist activists would first connect locally via letters, telephones, zines and fax machines and later, thanks to computers and the internet, via email, forums, blogs and other avenues. Twitter, Facebook and other homepages and forums were not the start. It is important to remember that we didn’t invent online feminist activism, it was already here when many of us were still kids or not even born yet. Heck, I was just a child in 1995. It was beautiful to read how many women used the Beijing conference to teach other women about computers. They would set up a tent – mind you, the Chinese Government moved the whole conference into the middle of nowhere, out in the fields, which turned into a tiny swamp due to constant rain – and teach women for twelve whole days how to use computers, write emails and create documents. Yes, the conference must have been filled with heated discussions and even resentment in some cases but also so full of support, understanding and commitment to the cause. These women were full of curiosity and they would teach each other as much as possible way into the late hours of the night about their own activism, how to use modern tools of communication, how to navigate funding and laws and a dozen other things. I went to conferences for my own research and I can say that they are truly inspiring and I’ve met some amazing people doing fantastic work. This twelve-day extravaganza must have been just as mesmerising and intoxicating but on crack.

In the following chapters, Levenstein goes into the nitty-gritty of US feminism by talking about the revolutionary power of computers and the internet on feminist activism and discourse (including lots of very heated debates and the creation of the first etiquette in how to properly communicate via comment sections), the creation of organisations and foundation, the financial problems the orgs and women faced (including the conundrum of wanting to create a just system outside of the neoliberal hell hole yet being tied to said hell hole to achieve the financial funds to create networks for women…as Levenstein puts it, you can’t work outside capitalism when your inside of it), the global achievements of feminism and lastly, three organisation based in the US.
The slogan that women’s rights are human rights is not, as many Americans believe, by Hillary Clinton. It was created by a “Filipino women’s coalition called Gabriela […] as part of the protests against the dictatorship of Ferdinand E. Marcos”. They launched the campaign in 1988, seven yeas before Clinton spoke those words at the Beijing conference!
In fact, it is thanks to a global feminist struggle and activism that women’s rights have been incorporated into the UN program. It is also thanks to feminists that rape, domestic violence and sexual assault is now also recognised as a human rights issue and rape also included as an act of war crime. Something that seems so logical to us was, in fact, highly debated and negated by many and it was a global endeavour to bring this to the UN and make women’s rights central to the UN program.

I could go on and on about this book. There is so much information that I can’t possibly cover everything so I want to finish this review with two last comments:

1. Read this book! It’s accessible, a phenomenal resource and a great step into learning more about feminist history and how our current movement is built on the work done in the 90s.
2. And last but not least, one last titbit to finish this off: The GOP is adamant in further destroying social safety nets, including the AFDC, a program that financially supports poor single mothers. This welfare program is actually older than you think and it wasn’t until AFTER World War II that it became hated. Why? Well, this welfare program helped White women, until Black women started demanding access to this welfare program, as was their rightful claim. White women have always been the main beneficiary of this program but because Black women wanted their fair share, people (coughcough not droping names but you know who I mean) started demonising it and starting the mythos of the welfare queens racking in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Then they started saying that welfare programs would make these women “lazy” and thus incentivise them to be/stay unemployed, which was factually wrong because most were already working one or multiple jobs. Anyhow, just remember that welfare for single mothers and children was okay until BIPOC wanted what was rightfully theirs… As they say, white supremacy and racism are strong and so poor White people would rather starve than have to “share” with others.


This book is a rewarding read, leaving you with so much information and the need to learn even more about what feminism has accomplished. Because the main focus is on the US, I really want to find literature on feminist activism from around the world and I’m particularly interested in human rights activism, immigration, environmentalism and LGBQT+ rights. I wholeheartedly recommend this read as it is enjoyable in every way and a fantastic starting point for anyone interested in feminist history.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

They Never Saw Us Coming is a rather interesting dive into the feminist movements of the 90s. Rather than going over the same movements that have been covered multiple times in the past, Lisa Levenstein chooses to go into a number of movements (many in the POC/lgbt/immigrant vein). Levenstein provides a great level of detail about those people who helped these movements grow.

Having grown up in the 90s myself, it was a welcome change to learn about groups that were outside of my standard POV (primarily the riot grrl movement). I’ve also been infested in learning more about feminism as I get older. And Levenstein is sure to provide you with a wealth of detail on this.

One thing I found a bit disappointing was that at times, it can come off like these chapters were written as standalone articles. This was due to some activists being brought up in one chapter, in great detail, only to be referenced in the following chapter using many of the same references. At times, it could feel repetitive.

I also found it a bit curious that the last 40% or so of my digital copy is pretty much just the acknowledgements and bibliography.

Overall, if you’re just casually wanting to read about feminist movements, this may not be your thing. But if you’re wanting to get a bit more of an in-depth background on less frequently talked about movements, Levenstein will have you covered.

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DNF at 1/3 of the way in (and it took me weeks to get to even that). I am a feminist, I came of age in the 90s, this book should've been right up my alley. But it was just. So. BORING. No real narrative, no real story, just a bunch of bits and pieces strung together without much structure or anything really to pull the reader in. Like listening to an acquaintance tell a rambling story about something that happened at work or something they thought was just *ah-mah-zing* from some other time in their life, but which you can't understand because you weren't there and don't know the people or places they're talking about and they leave out any semblance of narrative or description, so it's not so much an actual story or tale but more of a pile of words.

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Having graduated in 1996, I never viewed the 90's as being influential in any way. It seemed like nothing really important happened that had an influence on changing society. After reading this, I admit that I was so wrong. The 90's were full of moments that laid the groundwork for the women's movement we are experiencing now. The author did a great job of weaving the 90's with today's movement. I highly recommend this!

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I would definitely recommend it. Love all the number of sources used in this book, which was educational and informative. My favorite part was the inclusion of women from different backgrounds. A good way to link the different waves of feminism.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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<i> They Didn't See Us Coming </i> is a fantastic addition to important feminist literature. The academic in me was incredibly impressed with the use of source material and it covered a period of history I know very little about.

The book covers key moments and figures in the feminist movement from the 90's right up to the 2017 US Elections. What I enjoyed the most was the inclusion of women from all backgrounds, making it an incredibly relevant and it reiterates the importance of topics like environmentalism, the economic situation and social trends on feminism.



*I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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I really enjoyed this book. I found it interesting and informative. The book would be great for anyone interested in the feminist movement, with resources to continue your education on the topic.
Took me back to my college years when emailing and the internet were the new frontier and how they were used in movement.
I found the History of how white feminism tried to lead the agenda of the feminist movement in the USA and how black feminists took on that fight and where heard thought provoking.
Then bringing us right into the feminists movement of today and how it links with 90s feminism.
I recommend this book if you have a interest in feminism, history and society.
Thank you to Netgalley and Basic Books for the eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review

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If you enjoy learning about feminism and history, you will love this book. A primer on the feminist rise in the 90s, Lisa Levenstein tackles specific topics and how they relate to feminism, such as the dawn of the online era, economics, the environment, and the conferences and groups of feminists that brought us to where we are today. It was an interesting and in-depth look at some of the most pivotal feminist figures of that decade.

However, I frequently found myself struggling to bond with the material. I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review, and I must say that I still feel this book could use some serious editing. There are several repeats of information due to the structure, and sometimes I felt as if we were going far too deep into the background of particular figures, and not deep enough into the topics she was discussing. This book is clearly a well-researched work, but I would classify it as more educational and professorial than energizing and vividly interesting. Maybe I was deceived by the cover in thinking this would be an invigorating read, but I think this work would be more suited and a fabulous choice for college classes to read on the subject,

All in all, this book is chock-full of vital information, I just did not enjoy the way it was presented.

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A terrific read about feminism the force it became in the 90s.A terrific readfor feminist book club discussions, Or for women who want to read about the history of women taking control.#netgalley#persus books

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This brought me back to my college Women's Studies classes! A great read about the third wave of feminism.

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I really enjoyed this book. I recently read 90's Bitch and when I seen this I had to read it!

I really learned a lot from this book. I will be recommending it for sure.

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This book brought back a lot of memories. It was weird that we didn't actually see the changes in the world as they were happening but now you look back there were real waves being made. I highly recommend this book.

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They Didn't See Us Coming was an awesome feminist text that highlighted the various feminist movements that appeared at the dawn of the digital age in the 1990s. Written by Lisa Levenstein, this book was a short manifesto of some of the many achievements and issues within the feminist movement as a whole, and how they began to create the feminism that we have today.

I found a lot of the book to be quite interesting and full of some awesome facts, supported by a lengthy, trustworthy bibliography. However, I struggled a lot with the style of writing. There was nothing particularly wrong with it — it wasn't too dense or too vague, but I believed it lacked a lot of the depth that I would have liked to have seen. I feel as though this could have been an astounding read if it went deeper into the topics it discussed, and analysed them further. Instead, this was more of a recount, which went against what I had expected for the book. I also wish that it had been longer to allow for this more in-depth analysis and discussion of the movement — especially about the issues related to the lack of intersectionality and racism within the movement.

Overall, I would recommend this book, but do keep those things in mind when reading.

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A wonderful feminist read. A little sad to see that we’ve been fighting for more than a decade for our rights! The feelings and the life of the movement that started it all has been captured well by the author. The Lisa’s words give more than hope and is confident!
Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for this ARC. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way!

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Lisa Levenstein's They Didn't See Us Coming is a seminal book for our time. Learning about how the history of feminism in the 90s led to some of the sea change we are seeing in the 2010s and beyond was insightful and inspiring. This should be required reading.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

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