Lecture 1: Gender, sex, feminism Flashcards
Gender
A cultural, social, political construction assigning different roles to men and women.
- emerged during the ’70s as a historical category
- Concept of gender is not something new
- used to explain women’s subjugation and how it was justified by nature
Sex
biological fact, objective difference
Christine de Pizan
(15th century)
Claimed that the condition of inferiority of women was due to culture and lack of education»_space; demanded education for everyone
Ann Oakley
Highlighted differences between gender and sex»_space; gender can be influenced by several kinds of aspects»_space; scholars begin to insist that there is a difference between the two concepts
Joan Scott
Addressed mainstream historians in a mainstream historical journal
> to show there could be another way to analyse historical ideas
Rousseau
Clear example of how you can culturally construct gender - applied biological determinism to women and constructed gender in a cultural way
- used by scholars in order to render the historical nature of difference between the sexes
- useful to show distinction male and female roles
- not due to nature but culture, custom and history
- basis distinction male and female roles: public or private sphere
Different streams of feminism
- Egalitarian feminism
- Sexual difference feminism
Egalitarian feminism
- Emphasises the equality of opportunity between males and females
- Since women are capable of reason, they deserve respect
- Opportunities, rules and evaluation must be the same for everyone
- Each individual has to be free to pursue opportunities / life projects beyond gender
Sexual difference feminism
- Accept and celebrate differences between men and women
- Political project that puts feminine values (capability to care and inclusivity) at the centre of the public sphere / life + aims to substitute male centred public life / thought with a female centred one
- Typical feminine values <=> individualism, sexuality
- Made the word feminism uneasy for many people
- Influential during the 80s/90s > maternal thinking
- Since 70s thi skind of feminism stayed central for motherhood
- Contradictory form of feminism: can intimidate men and those women who want to have a complete life, who don’t only want to develop themselves only through motherhood
Maternal thinking
- Sara Ruddick
- States that through motherhood a woman acquires specific values through maternal thinking that has political implications over a male-dominated culture implying a different vision of the world
- refers to intellectual capacities / values developed by a mother - contadictory bc sexual difference feminism applies this kind of thinking to all women but women can also choose to not be a mother
- critical for capitalism, individualism
- related to passivism: the reason why women are naturally against war, violence (but exceptions - Thatcher)
- men developed resentment towards women: developed an entire politcial apparatus to submit women to their powers
Jean Elshtain
Public men and private women
- criticises explicitly egalitarian feminism
- women should have to affirm their true identity»_space; mother
- supremacy opf private life over public life
- values women acquired through motherhood should be at the centre of politics
- criticises women entering the same roles as men
Karen Offen
Worked on a dynamic definition of feminism that can be shared by the majority of women and men.
- Individualistic feminism
- Relational feminism
Individualistic feminism
- talks about human rigths
- main goal: obtaining right to vote
- applied very well to the emergence of a large group of emancipated women during the 19th century»_space; capitalism helped, private property rights were fundamental for the emancipation of women
Relational feminism
- motherhood still a key topic but motherhood shared by the couple
- couple as the centre of society
- subsidiaries for all mothers, also the non-married ones
