Feminism Flashcards

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1
Q

First wave of feminism:

A

Began in the 19th Century when the suffragettes fought for the right to vote.

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2
Q

Abbot & Wallace

A
  • Malestream sociology = seeing society only from the perspective of men.
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3
Q

What are liberal feminists concerned with?

A
  • Care about human rights and personal freedom.
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4
Q

Liberal feminism - reformism

A
  • Trying to gradually improve society through changing laws and culture.
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5
Q

Types of changes proposed by liberal feminists:

A

Laws and policies = against sex discrimination in the workplace and at school, leads to equal opportunities. (1979 equal pay act + WISE)
Cultural change = changing sexist ideas about women.

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6
Q

Two ways which liberal feminists believe society will progress towards gender equality:

A
  • Change socialisation & culture to challenge sexism.
  • Campaign for anti-discrimination laws.
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7
Q

Walby

A

Says liberal feminists offer no explanation for the overall structure of gender inequality.

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8
Q

Radical feminists and sexual politics

A

Refers to how all relationships between men and women are political because men dominate women through these relationships.

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9
Q

Patriarchal power -> not going out at night

A

Men exercise power over women through sexual or physical violence and the threat of that violence.
Links to Brownmiller

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10
Q

Brownmiller

A

Says that the threat of rape acts as a curfew, preventing women from going out alone at night.

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11
Q

Radical feminists and constructed sexuality:

A
  • Sexuality is constructed to satisfy men’s needs.
  • Women are portrayed as passive sexual objects; penetration is seen as the main source of sexual pleasure.
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12
Q

Rich

A

Argues men continue to force women into a narrow and unsatisfying compulsory heterosexuality

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13
Q

Solutions to women’s oppression proposed by radical feminists:

A
  • Separatism = since men will inevitably oppress women, women have to live apart from men. (Links to Greer)
  • Consciousness-raising = women should share their experiences in women-only consciousness raising groups. May lead to collective action, e.g. Reclaim the Night and Slutwalks.
  • Political lesbianism = heterosexual relationships are inherently oppressive because they involve sleeping with the enemy. The only non-oppressive relationships are lesbian.
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14
Q

Greer

A

Suggests all-female matrilocal households.

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15
Q

What social factors does radical feminism ignore?

A
  • Assume that what matters to them, matters to everyone.
  • Ignore class, ethnicity, etc…
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16
Q

Pollert

A

Believes the concept of patriarchy is of little value. Everything bad gets blamed as ‘patriarchy’.

17
Q

Somerville

A

Thinks separatism is unlikely because it ignores heterosexual attraction.

18
Q

What does Marxist Feminism believe is the cause of women’s subordination?

A
  • Caused by capitalism.
19
Q

Four functions that women’s subordination performs:

A
  • Women are a source of cheap, exploitable labour = they are paid less because it is assumed they are dependent on their husbands.
  • Women are a reserve army of labour = moved into the labour force when necessary, made redundant during economic recession.
  • Women reproduce the labour force = raise the next generation of workers; service the current generation (husbands) at no cost to capitalism.
  • Women absorb anger = Fran Ansley - wives are takers of shit.
20
Q

Barrett - why must we take non-economic factors into account to understand women’s position in the family?

A
  • We have to look at women’s consciousness and motivations. E.g. why do women want to marry, when this is what oppresses them?
21
Q

Barrett - the ideology of familism.

A
  • The nuclear family and the traditional sexual division of labour is presented as natural and normal.
  • The family is portrayed as the only place when women will be fulfilled through motherhood, intimacy, etc…
22
Q

What else is required to secure women’s liberation, other than overthrowing capitalism?

A
  • We need to overthrow familism.
  • Only then will men and women be free from restrictive stereotypes.
23
Q

Mitchell

A
  • It would be hard to overcome patriarchy even after the overthrow of capitalism.
  • This is because ideas about femininity are so deeply implanted in women’s unconscious minds that they will be very difficult to dislodge, even in a communist society.
24
Q

Two criticisms of Marxist feminism:

A
  • Fails to explain women’s subordination in non-capitalist societies.
  • Women’s unpaid labour benefits capitalism, but that doesn’t explain why women do it rather than men. Hartmann says Marxism is ‘sex-blind’.
25
Q

Hartmann

A

Believes that capitalism and patriarchy have become intertwined.

26
Q

Dual systems feminism - how can women’s subordination be understood?

A
  • We need to look at the relationship between their position in the domestic division of labour (patriarchy) and in paid work (capitalism).
27
Q

Walby - Interests of patriarchy and capitalism differ because:

A
  • Capitalism wants women to work in low paid jobs.
  • Patriarchy wants women at home.
28
Q

Pollert - how does patriarchy differ from capitalism?

A
  • Patriarchy is a not a system in the same way that capitalism is.
  • Patriarchy is just a description for a range of practises such as male violence; control of women’s labour.
29
Q

How does difference feminism differ from other feminist perspectives?

A
  • Says that not all women are the same. Class, ethnicity, sexuality, etc all lead to different experiences.
30
Q

Claudia Jones

A
  • Says that white feminists criticise the nuclear family.
  • For black women, families provided protection against a racist society.
31
Q

Essentialism

A
  • The idea that all women share the same fundamental essence.
32
Q

Poststructuralist feminism - what are discourses?

A
  • Ways of seeing, thinking or speaking about things.
33
Q

The Enlightenment project - Butler

A
  • Sees it as a form of power/knowledge.
  • Really it was about saying that the things white western m/c men cared about were the most important.
34
Q

Butler - western feminists

A
  • Says they are wrong to claim that the feminist movement represents universal womanhood.
  • Says that the white western m/c women who dominate feminism assume that they care about what all women care about.
35
Q

Poststructuralism suggests there is no…

A
  • Fixed essence of what it is to be a woman.
  • This is because our identities are constructed through discourses, and discourses change in different times and cultures.
  • Therefore, there can be no universal concept of what it means to be a woman.
36
Q

Segal’s criticism of poststructuralist feminism:

A
  • Says women are oppressed by social structure not discourses.
  • Feminists should want things such as equal pay.