Feminism Flashcards
What are some commentators refer to the current age as
A post feminist era
- Implying the traditional goals of feminism have largely been achieved
What has feminism been portrayed as?
An anti men movement as a quest for female dominance
What are the two movements related to feminism?
- Liberal feminists
- Radical feminist
What was the first well known work on women’s rights?
- A vindication of the rights of women by Mary Wollstonecraft
Advocate that women be offered good education and a right to be considered useful members of society but not equality
What was Charlotte Perkins Gilman writing about in the US?
- The lack of opportunities for independent woman
- The inferior position of women in the home was a model of the subordinate position in wider life
What was assumed would follow after women were granted for voting rights
- many would quickly seek election to office
- parliament would pass legislation to improve conditions for women
What are the four waves of the feminist movement?
- 1st wave : liberal feminists
- 2nd wave: liberal radical and social feminists
- 3rd wave: emergence of postmodern feminism and trans feminism
- 4th wave: development to post modern feminism, liberal feminism, radical feminism and trans feminism
What are the five core ideas and principles of feminism?
- Human nature: sex and gender
- Patriarchy
- The personal is political
- Equality and different feminism
- Intersectionality
What is the main issue in feminism concerning human nature?
The distinction between sex and gender
What is sex in feminism
- Refers to biological differences between men and women
What are the two debates concerning sex in feminism?
- difference feminism vs equality feminism
- Trans feminism vs trans feminism skeptics
What is the difference Feminism versus equality feminism debate?
Difference feminism argues, biological differences between men and women are important, each sex has a specific nature
However, the equality feminism argues that women’s nature is socially constructed - meaning it’s determined by society not biology
Who are the five key thinkers in feminism?
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- simone.de Beauvoir
- kate Millett
- Sheila Rowbotham
- bell hooks
What did Carol Gilligan say about sex?
Biological differences affect the way that men and women think
What is the trans feminism V transfeminism sceptic debate about sex?
Transfeminism argues that sex is socially constructed
Very prominent issue in feminism: in 2014 Denmark past legislation to allow individuals to change the identified sex
- However this is a minority viewpoint as most feminists believe that sex is a biological fact
What did germaine greer say about transfeminism?
- Transgender women are not women
What does gender mean?
Gender is used to explain the gender roles of men and women
- majority of feminist argue gender rules of social constructed
What did Simone De Beauvoir say about sex and gender?
- Our biological differences had been used as justification for predetermining the gender role of women
- Men had to successfully assert themselves as the norm and otherness is imposed on women by men
“ first sex and second sex”
What does otherness mean? ***
-The concept that women are seen as a deviation from the norm
What did Charlotte Perkins Gilman say about sex and gender?
- gender roles are socially constructed from a young age
- Women are socialised into thinking themselves naturally frail and weaker than men
What did Kate Millett and Belle Hooks say about sex and gender?
- Social construction is beginning in childhood within the family unit
What does first wave feminism say about sex and gender?
- they extend classical liberal ideas with human nature and freedom of the individual so that they INCLUDED WOMEN
- PERKINS GILLMAN argued woman should have equal opportunities in the workplace and conceptualised idea of economic independence for women
What did second wave feminism say about sex and gender?
- they had divergent solutions to mental problems
- United by one idea that women were being oppressed by men
What does patriarchy mean?
- derived from the Greek word ‘patriarches’ meaning head of the tribe
How do feminists use the term patriarchy?
- To describe a social system supporting male domination and female subordination
What did Simone de Beauvoir say about the patriarchy?
- Throughout history, women have been relegated to a subsidiary state by men
What did Liberal feminists say about the patriarchy?
- Believe that patriarchy can be reformed by the state
- through access to education, workplace equality, and legislation of abortion
What do radical feminist say about the patriarchy?
- Believe that the patriarchy is too pervasive to be reformed and change must be revolutionary
What does social feminist say about the patriarchy?
Believe that female consciousness is created by men as a part of the capitalist machine
-ROWBOTHAM adopted a Marxist theory of history: women have always been oppressed, revolution was needed to destroy capitalism and the patriarchy
What is the third wave of feminism say about the patriarchy?
Expanded on the work of Kate millet
What are the six overlapping patriarchal structures that promote discrimination? (TWF)
- Household: women believe natural role is mother
- The state: under represents women in power
- Violence: 1 in 4 women suffered domestic violence from men
- Paid work : women are often underpaid in the same role as men
- Sexuality: women are made to feel their sexual feelings are abnormal
- Culture: objectified sexualise male fantasy versions of women are often found all over the media
What do postmodern and fourth wave feminist say about the patriarchy?
- Bell Hooks argued that feminism discussions have been from a white middle class perspective
- Woman of different ethnicities have been neglected by mainstream feminism
- FWF Say the patriarchy is especially misogynistic in the developing world: e.g. circumcision and forced marriage
What does the personal is political mean?
- patriarchy is evident within the private sphere
E.g domestic violence is a symptom of the patriarchy
What is the private sphere?
- refer to the domain of the home, family life and domestic relationships
What is the public sphere?
- Life outside of the home, essentially society
What do liberal feminists say about the personal is political?
- They focus on the public fear of society
- The private life of a woman is outside the remit of political analysis
What do radical feminists say about the personal is political?
- Disagree with liberal feminist
- They believe that the person is political as the patriarchy is prevalent in the private sphere
What did De beuvoir say about the personal is political?
- Champion contraception is allowed women control of their bodies
What did Kate Millett say about the personal is political?
- Believed family was a social construct and not a natural arrangement
- Patriarchy, granted mental ownership of their wife and family
What is the main belief of equality feminism?
- biological differences are in consequential and gender differences are socially constructed
- De Beauvoir was a difference feminist
- Said that woman had been nominated because of their bodies “ HER OVARIES CONDEMN HER TO LIVE FOREVER ON HER KNEES”
What is the main belief of difference feminism?
- They disagree believing in essentialism
- Carol Gilligan stated sex was one of the most important determinant of human behaviour e.g women are naturally more nurturing
What is cultural feminism?
- Extreme version of difference feminism
- Challenges the dominance of men in society
- Women’s values are superior and should be promoted
Why did Belle Hooks criticise second wave feminism?
- because they conceptualised feminism from a white middle-class perspective in college educated
- Argued that LF and RF excluded concerns of minority groups
What did Bell Hook demonstrate?
The unexamined complexity of patriarchy facing black women
What did Belle Hooks ideas inspire?
- Kimberley Crenshaw theory of Intersectionality
Challenge notion that gender is the most important factor in understanding woman’s lives
What does liberal feminism argue?
- They are reformist (seek change via regulation not revolution)
- argue that gender stereotypes can be eliminated
- Unlike RFS, SFs, liberals do not believe there needs to be revolutionary change
Liberal feminist focus on the public sphere or the private sphere
- Focus on the public sphere
What liberal ideas are liberal feminists influenced by?
- individualism
- Foundational equality
- The quality of opportunity
What did FWF WollestoneCraft see about political emancipation?
- Would lead to greater gender and legal quality particularly in relation to the economic sphere
What did liberal feminists campaign for?
- end discrimination and inequality in the workplace
- end to outdated cultural attitudes
- Changes in order to facilitate legal quality
changes inspired by liberal feminism
- married women’s property act 1870
- equal pay act 1970
