Unlikely Alliances

Smith sociologist Nancy Whittier is currently studying social movements, including women's movements, social change, sexual violence and sexuality. Her new book, Frenemies, Conservatives and Sexual Violence, examines the unlikely alliance of feminists and conservatives that produced the Violence Against Women Act, landmark legislation that was signed into law in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. Here Whittier talks about past and current political climates and how the women's movement is again experiencing some remarkable moments of activism, mass mobilization and renewed focus on feminist and gender issues.