This paper argues that a solid understanding of the concept of ‘disidentification’may provide us with stronger analytical insights into several key dimensions of contemporary political identities, particularly in relation to gender and sexuality. However, I argue that the concept of disidentification, in the existing literature, remains under-used and under-theorised. This paper hopes to rectify this by developing a detailed theoretical conception of disidentification, as well as exploring in some detail its relevance for a number of key aspects of contemporary feminism. More specifically, I begin by engaging critically with the work of Judith Butler, José Esteban Muňoz and Jose Medina, all of whom have sought to use the term in a productive fashion to advance our understanding of contemporary forms of gendered and sexualised identity formation. In so doing, I problematise the conception of disidentification refers to the dialectic of identification and counter-identification (captured by Medina’s paraphrase of line from Hamlet ‘to be and not to be’). Drawing on Judith Butler, Diana Fuss and Astrid Henry, I argue that the term has greater resonance and analytical bite when linked it to notions of disavowal and repudiation (also condensed into a line from Hamlet ‘the lady doth protest too much’). After making the theoretical case for this particular conception of disidentification, in the second half of the paper I draw attention to two more empirical instances in which this particular conception of disidentification proves illuminating. Both drawn from the contemporary British context, these are, first, the character of hegemonic discourses on contemporary “young” womanhood and second, the relation between “third wave” feminist subjectivities and previous generations of feminism. I conclude with some reflections on the paper’s normative implications.