Feminism Flashcards
What is the difference between sex and gender according to Oakley?
Sex is your biological makeup, while gender is the culturally constructed differences between ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’. Gender differences can vary between cultures and time.
What does Liberal Feminism recognize?
Liberal Feminism recognizes the successive progress towards gender equality, including changes in socialization and culture, and political action to introduce anti-discriminatory behavior.
What do Liberal Feminists challenge?
They challenge the traditional division of gender roles in the family and argue that men and women are equally capable of performing both roles.
What do Liberal Feminists aim to achieve?
They aim to break the barrier between gender roles to allow both men and women to lead fulfilling lives.
What is a criticism of Liberal Feminism?
Radical and Marxist feminists argue that Liberal Feminism fails to recognize the underlying causes of women’s subordination.
What are the three claims made by Radical Feminism?
- Patriarchy is universal. 2. Patriarchy is the primary and most fundamental form of inequality/conflict. 3. All men oppress women.
How do Radical Feminists view patriarchy?
They argue that patriarchy occurs in both the private sphere of the family and the public sphere of work and politics.
What does Brownmiller argue regarding women’s fear of rape?
Brownmiller argues that the fear of rape is a deterrent against women going out at night.
What do Radical Feminists propose as solutions to patriarchy?
- Separatism (Greer) - living apart from men. 2. Consciousness raising - women-only groups that may lead to collective action. 3. Political lesbianism - viewing heterosexual relationships as oppressive.
What is a criticism of Radical Feminism?
Pollert argues that the concept of patriarchy contains a circular argument, where male violence is explained as patriarchy, but patriarchy is maintained by male violence.
What do Marxist Feminists claim oppresses women?
Marxist Feminists claim that class, not patriarchy, oppresses women.
What are some ways Marxist Feminists argue women are oppressed?
- Women provide cheap and exploitable labor. 2. They are a reserve army of labor. 3. They reproduce the labor force. 4. Women absorb anger from men.
What does Barrett argue about the ideology of feminism?
Barrett argues that societal ideologies teach women that the sexual division of labor is natural, and to achieve liberation, both capitalism and the ideology of familism must be overthrown.
What is a criticism of Marxist Feminism?
It fails to explain women’s subordination in non-capitalist societies.
What is Difference Feminism’s perspective on women?
Difference Feminism does not see women as a single group; differences in class, ethnicity, etc., lead to different experiences of patriarchy.
They argue that previous feminist theories claim ‘false universality’ ; claims to apply to all women, when it’s really only about the experiences of white, Western, heterosexual, MC women.
-they criticise other feminists for being essentialists (believing all women share the same experiences of oppression)..
What do Difference Feminists criticize about previous feminist theories?
They criticize previous theories for claiming ‘false universality’, applying only to the experiences of white, Western, heterosexual, middle-class women.
What does Butler argue in poststructuralist feminism?
Butler is concerned with discourses and power/knowledge, arguing that discourses cause oppression and criticizing the Enlightenment for presenting a ‘universal’ image of womanhood.
What is anti-essentialism in the context of feminism?
Anti-essentialism posits that there is no fixed essence of what it means to be a woman, as identities are constructed through different discourses across various times and cultures.
