postmodern feminism

Question 1

essentialism

Answer 1

• when women have a universal experience of patriarchy

- this is a weakness of the three forms of feminism

Question 2

ethnocentricity

Answer 2

• western feminists evaluated the experience of women in other cultures according to their own cultural experiences of patriarchy
• they failed to appreciate the global diversity of women

Question 3

postmodern feminists reject essentialism

Answer 3

• this is because it emphasises differences between groups of women based ob characteristics

Question 4

post structuralist feminism highlights importance of language and performativity

Answer 4

• they argue that discourses (ways of seeing/thinking/using their language) support the way less powerful groups are treated

Question 5

CIXOUS; describes language as phallocentric

Answer 5

• phallocentric is when it is male dominated and reflects a male view of the world
• post structuralist; important social change can change the way language is used

Question 6

BUTLER; how language and performativity contribute to social construction of gender and sexuality

Answer 6

• performativity; everyday body gestures and movements
• its the idea that there are essential and fixed differences between men and women
• society needs to adopt a broader and fluid definition of what gender- identity is

Question 7

evaluation

Answer 7

• WALBY; criticises post structuralist being too concerned with language and irrelevant solutions to women’s problems
• Post structuralist ignore the use of violence by all classes of men to control women