This special section of Feminist Theory emerged from the interdisciplinary workshop ‘The Politics of Popular Culture’, organised by the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies at Lancaster University in March 2015 as part of Hear Me Roar, Lancaster’s first feminist arts festival. This festival brought together diverse performances and audiences embracing very different approaches to and understandings of feminism. The shows ranged from the Rose Theatre’s rehearsed reading of a previously unperformed Restoration Comedy by Elizabeth Polewheedle, to the participatory ‘Bush Rush’ in the town square which invited everyone to join in a mass performance of the choreography for Kate Bush’s celebrated single Wuthering Heights. Reflecting this context, the workshop invited participants to explore ideas around gender, performance, activism, mediation and spectatorship.