The essays, 40% of which are new to the second edition, are informed by the authors' deep attention to historical, geographical, and disciplinary contexts as well as by cutting edge concerns such as globalization, diasporic cultural shifts, developments in new media technologies, and intersectional identity politics.

The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader combines classic texts with six specially commissioned pieces, all by leading feminist critics, historians, theorists, artists, and activists. Articles are grouped into thematic sections, each of which is introduced by the editor. Providing a framework within which to understand the shifts in feminist thinking in visual studies, as well as an overview of major feminist theories of the visual, this reader also explores how issues of race, class, nationality, and sexuality enter into debates about feminism in the field of the visual.