FEMINISM theory and methods

Question 1

LIBERAL

What are they concerned with?

Answer 1

Concerned with human/civil rights of the individual.

They use the basis of the Enlightenment tradition to argue that all humans should have equal rights.

Reformism is the movement of progress towards equal rights and freedom.

Reformism is the idea that progress towards equal rights can be achieved by gradual reforms changes in society without the need for revolution.

Liberal feminists believe that women can achieve gender equality through laws and policies

Question 2

LIBERAL

What about cultural change?

Answer 2

They advocate for CULTURAL change too –

they want to actively disband the traditional stereotypes surrounding women – e.g., disbanding the stereotype that women are dominated by emotion and instinct.

They actively argue against the biological differences, and they believe that men are not biologically less emotional.

Question 3

LIBERAL

What is the difference between sex and gender? Who differentiated this?

Answer 3

Oakley identifies differences between sex and gender

Sex refers to the biological differences between men and women e.g., their reproductive role, hormones, and physical differences.

Gender, however, refers to the cultural differences between the ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ roles assigned to males and females. This includes the ideas that cultures hold about the abilities of men and women e.g., rationality and so forth

Question 4

LIBERAL

Socialisation and change over time

Answer 4

Gender differences vary over time and between cultures – what is considered a proper role for women may be forbidden in another.

Liberal feminists believe that sexist attitudes and stereotypical beliefs about gender and constructed culturally.

Liberal feminists want to change socialisation because these stereotypes are transmitted via socialisation.

To do this, they advocate for appropriate models in education and the family. e.g., female teachers in male subjects.

Over time, these actions produce significant cultural change and gender equality will be the norm

Question 5

LIBERAL

Optimism

Answer 5

Liberal feminists are very optimistic and believe that changes in socialisation lead to more rational attitudes to gender and that political action introducing anti-discriminatory laws/policies also steadily bring social progress.

Question 6

LIBERAL

Criticisms of functionalism

Answer 6

Parsons distinguishes between instrumental and expressive roles.

Liberal feminists challenge this because they argue that women and men are created equally and are capable of performing roles in both spheres - traditional gender roles prevent women and men from accessing fulfilling lives.

Question 7

LIBERAL

Is it a consensus theory?

Answer 7

Liberal feminism is a consensus feminist theory - it recognises conflict between men and women but these are seen as the result of outdates values.

Emancipation of women benefits men too - this ensures they can express their feminine side, which current norms force them to reject.

Question 8

LIBERAL

Evaluation - what do they ignore?

Answer 8

They are heavily criticised for over-optimism.

They believe that obstacles to emancipation are just prejudices or irrational laws that can easily be removed.

They ignore the deep-seated oppression that women are subjected to e.g., the patriarchy

Question 9

LIBERAL

Evaluation - what do Marxist and Radical feminists argue?

Answer 9

Marxist and radical feminists argue that liberal feminism fails to recognise the underlying causes of women’s subordination and that it is stupid to believe that changes in the law will bring equality.

Question 10

RADICAL

Overarching idea

Answer 10

They HATE patriarchy.

They believe that patriarchy is universal, is the primary/fundamental form of social inequality and conflict, and that all men oppress all women.

Question 11

RADICAL

The Personal is the Political

Answer 11

Patriarchal oppression is direct AND personal – it happens in the public sphere AND the private sphere within the family.

Question 12

RADICAL

How is the Personal, the Political?

Answer 12

Radical feminists believe the personal as political… all relationships involve power, and they are political when one uses this power to dominate the other. Personal relationships, consequently, are political because men dominate women through them e.g., through sexual or physical violence.

Question 13

RADICAL

What are power relationships known as?

Answer 13

Power relationships are known as sexual politics.

Question 14

RADICAL

What does malestream sociology mean?

Answer 14

Male sociologists and theorists primarily focus on male perspectives and not female ones

Question 15

RADICAL

Sexuality
Adrienne Rich

Answer 15

Patriarchy constructs sexuality to satisfy men’s sexual needs.

Porn does this by portraying women as sex objects.

Adrienne Rich believes that women are forced into narrow and unsatisfactory ‘compulsory heterosexuality’

Question 16

RADICAL

Change

Answer 16

If women want emancipation, they have to transform their personal and sexual relationships.

Question 17

RADICAL

3 solutions that facilitate change

Answer 17

1. Separatism: living apart from men because most of men’s oppression of women is exercised via intimate domestic and sexual relationships. Establishing a culture of female independence. Greer advocates for the creation of all-female/matrilocal households. This would be an alternative to the heterosexual family.
2. Consciousness-raising: Through sharing experiences in women-only areas, women can see that others also face similar issues. Reclaim the night marches are examples of this.
3. Political lesbianism: Many radical feminists argue that heterosexual relationships are oppressive because women are ‘sleeping with the enemy’

Question 18

RADICAL

Evaluation - Marxis’s criticisms

Answer 18

Marxists believe that class, not patriarchy, is the predominant reason of inequality. They argue that capitalism is the main cause of women’s oppression. They believe that capitalism is the main cause for concern, not men.

Question 19

RADICAL

Evaluation - What do they ignore?

Answer 19

Radical feminism doesn’t offer any explanation as to why female subordination takes different forms in various societies.

Men also experience violence from women.

Question 20

RADICAL

Evaluation - Jenny Somerville

Answer 20

The concepts discussed by the feminists are not achievable at all - Jenny Somerville highlights how heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that the nuclear family will be replaced by single-sex households.

Political lesbianism is not a practical solution to this.

Question 21

RADICAL

Evaluation - Anna Pollert

Answer 21

The concept of patriarchy in itself offers little value in explaining women’s position because it is circular. Male violence happens because of patriarchy, and patriarchy is maintained by male violence

Question 22

MARXIST

Women’s subordination in upholding capitalism: Cheap labour

Answer 22

They can be paid less because there’s the assumption that they will be partially dependent on their husband’s earnings.

Question 23

MARXIST

Women’s subordination in upholding capitalism:
Reproduction

Answer 23

Their unpaid domestic labour in nurturing and socialising children to become the next generation of workers means that they reproduce the labour force.

Question 24

MARXIST

Women’s subordination in upholding capitalism:
Absorbing anger

Answer 24

Anger that should be directed at capitalism is otherwise directed at men… Fran Ansley’s description refers to women as the ‘takers of shit’ who soak up frustration. This is one explanation for domestic violence.

Question 25

MARXIST

Women’s subordination in upholding capitalism:
Reserve army of labour

Answer 25

They can be moved into the labour force during booms and forced out during recession.

Their primary role is in the home, so they can be treated as marginal workers

Question 26

MARXIST

Familism and Michele Barrett - brief overview

Answer 26

Women’s subordination within the family performs economic functions for capitalism…

Barrett, in addition, believes that we must give consciousness to women’s motivations and ideology.

Question 27

MARXIST

Familism and Michele Barrett - why do women marry and live in the conventional nuclear family?

Answer 27

It is because the nuclear family is presented as natural. The family is the only institution where women can attain fulfilment through motherhood etc.

Question 28

MARXIST

Familism and Michele Barrett - what do we need to overthrow?

Answer 28

She argues that the overthrow of capitalism is not sufficient enough… she believes we must overthrow the familism ideology that underpins the conventional family.

Question 29

MARXIST

What does Julia Mitchell believe?

Answer 29

Juliet Mitchell uses Freud’s psychoanalytic theory to argue that femininity is so deeply integrated into women, that it is now very difficult to dislodge.

Question 30

MARXIST

EVAL - What does it fail to explain?

Answer 30

Fails to explain women’s subordination in non-capitalist societies.

Question 31

MARXIST

EVAL - Marxism is sex-blind

Answer 31

Unpaid domestic labour benefits capitalism, but it does not explain why women do it and not men.

Heidi Hartmann believes Marxism is sex-blind.

Question 32

MARXIST

EVAL - What do they fail to emphasise?

Answer 32

Marxist feminism places insufficient emphasis on the ways in which men, not just capitalism, oppress women and benefit.

Unpaid domestic labour is not proven to be the cheapest way of reproducing labour power… it could be done more cheaply via the market or through state provision.

Question 33

DUAL SYSTEMS

What is it?

Answer 33

This mixes radical feminism and marxist feminism.

There are two systems - one is economic produced by capitalism, and the other is a sex-gender one produced by the patriarchy

Question 34

DUAL SYSTEMS

Heidi Hartmann

Answer 34

Heidi Hartmann is a dual systems feminist, and she sees capitalism and patriarchy as intertwined.

Question 35

DUAL SYSTEMS

Relationship between paid work and the division of labour

Answer 35

To understand women’s subordination, the relationship between their position in the division of labour and in paid work must be understood.

Domestic work reduces availability, but lack of work opportunities may force women into becoming mothers.

Also the couples’ stats about the % of paid work done when the woman works full-time, part-time, or none.

Question 36

DUAL SYSTEMS

EVAL - Walby

Answer 36

Walby argues that the interests of the two are not the same… capitalism demands cheap labour for its workforce, but the patriarchy resists this.

Capitalism often wins against patriarchy, in the long run, so women tend to only be allowed into the capitalist sphere of work, but only into lower status jobs.

Question 37

DUAL SYSTEMS

EVAL - Anna Pollert

Answer 37

Anna Pollert does argue that patriarchy is not a system in the way that capitalism is because it is driven by its own internal profit making - patriarchy simply describes the wide range of practices e.g., male violence.

Question 38

DIFFERENCE FEMINISM + POSTSTRUCTURALISM

What is it?

Answer 38

This group believes that women are different, and that their experiences depend on their class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

White feminism has preached false universality, when really it only perpetuates the experiences of white, heterosexual, and M.C women.

Many white feminists hate the family, but many black women may view the family positively as a source of resistance against racism.

Question 39

DIFFERENCE FEMINISM + POSTSTRUCTURALISM

The issue of essentialism

Answer 39

This is the idea that all women share the same fundamental ‘essence’, and that they all share the same experiences.

Difference feminists argue that the liberal, Marxist, and radical feminists are essentialist.

Some argue that the preoccupation of western feminism with sexuality is irrelevant to women in developing countries where FGM and forced marriage are primarily more significant.

Question 40

DIFFERENCE FEMINISM + POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Poststructuralism feminism: What is a discourse?

Answer 40

Discourse: the ways of seeing, thinking, speaking. E.g., religious, scientific, medical, artistic discourse.

Discourses give power over those it defines because of the knowledge the person who defines it has. E.g., defining childbirth as a medical condition means that the medical discourse empowers women.

knowledge is power.

Question 41

DIFFERENCE FEMINISM + POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Poststructuralism feminism: The Enlightenment

Answer 41

These guys believe that the Enlightenment Project, is a discourse… Judith Butler uses this to criticise existing feminist theories.

Butler believes the Enlightenment ideals were forms of power/knowledge that justified the domination of white, M.C men.

The universal ideals excluded ethnicities, women etc.

Butler believes that white, M.C women have falsely claimed to represent everyone universally. She believes that no feminist movement can adapt the Enlightenment project so that it includes every woman because not every woman shares the same essence.

There IS NO fixed essence of what is means to be a woman, because there are so many discourses through time and culture - there is no fixed ‘womanhood’

Question 42

DIFFERENCE FEMINISM + POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Poststructuralism feminism: Butler’s solution

Answer 42

Butler believes that women can use poststructuralism to de-construct different discourses to reveal how they subordinate women - we can explore the science, pornographic discourse etc. to see what power or knowledge is used to define the discourse and suppress women.

Butler - by rejecting essentialism and stressing the diversity of discourses, poststructuralism legitimises the diversity of women and their lives, and it disbands white feminism.

Question 43

DIFFERENCE FEMINISM + POSTSTRUCTURALISM

EVAL - Sylvia Walby and similarities

Answer 43

Sylvia Walby believes that there are differences among women, but there ARE similarities… they all face the patriarchy.

Celebrating differences may divide women into sub-groups which weakens feminism.

Question 44

DIFFERENCE FEMINISM + POSTSTRUCTURALISM

EVAL - Lynne Segal’s criticisms

Answer 44

Lynne Segal - criticises poststructuralist feminism for abandoning the idea of real social structures… oppression is not just a product of discourses but is about real inequality and the physical inequality women face.

We should, therefore, be focusing on the struggle for equality of wealth etc.