the relationship of the belief system or ideology to peace and conflict in the world. Flashcards
1st wave Peace and acceptance
Christian, individualist, reformist- valued liberalist approaches to justice instead of blaming inequalities of others → worked to gain freedom through incorporation of philosophies into existing laws so that women would then gain individual freedom
‘Womens peacefulness is assumed within their capacity for childbearing and life preservation’ (Ruddick 1989)
Focus on “maternal/biophilic ideology”and how women’s morality (valuing peace, care, responsibility, emotion) was in some ways “superior” to mens (rationality, logic, objectivity) → aimed to push women into the meso workforce/education but backfired → instead justified women’s relegation into the domestic microsphere/child-rearing roles
Biophilic ideology: first wave believed “biological as mothers inclined them to biophilic activities” (Ruether 1983)
Biophilic values - biology and the philosophy
Women have the innate desire to seek connections with other living things, because women are mothers and are seen as loving.
However, restricts women to limit gender roles
“Women have been pacified through this ideology of woman’s pacific nature and thus socialised into being passive victims of male violence” - women must ‘learn’ to oppose male violence
“Women as sustainers of life to have a distinctive character for rationality which they should use as active citizens to promote the evolution of methods of governance that rely on the rule of law rather than force”
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (1915) ⇒ modelling new internationalism by transcending patriarchal concept of nationalism and prioritising unity, peace instead of dominance and conflict
Since first wave feminists also campaigned for peace and were anti-war, there was a close relation of peace with women’s suffrage, as it was believed that a rise in female equality/leadership would equate to less violent conflict as a means of conflict resolution, and there would be disarmament or more diplomacy before resorting to violence and war which men had been socialised to turn to
Temperance movement - wanting peace in the home
Some media publications (e.g. Punch, Daily Mirror) took a pro-feminist stance, emphasising with women’s plight → created a pressure on the government to hear out the suffragettes
Women’s peace party established by Jane Adams in response to WW1 called for limitation of arms, mediation of the European conflict, and the removal of the economic causes of war
1st wave Internal: Dissent, conflict, rejection, resistance
First wave suffragettes did not term themselves ‘feminists’ - initially protest was generational/individualised/localised
While many women believed in the values and philosophical underpinnings of feminism, they didn’t want to associate themselves with negative mythology of the time (“flat-footed, unnatractive, angry housewives”)
Most women of the time socialised into enculturation of gender roles - women’s rights at the time were an obscure concept
Internal fear of advocating for the philosophy as they would immediately be labelled as ‘hysterical’ and possibly deposed from their own households/dignity → emphasises importance of places such as Langham Place Circle in which middle class activist women could voice concerns of societal/gender inequality outside the largely male-dominated and regulated micro sphere
3rd wave External: Dissent, conflict, rejection, resistance
Suffragette movement faced backlash in print media, with many newspapers in opposition to the movement and postcards of the suffragettes as ugly and attention seeking, and encouraging men to put them back in their place by force
Despite not many women engaging in violent activities, newspapers often criticised the suffragettes’ “guerilla tactics” (e.g.letter bombing and property damage, death of Emily Davidson) to paint the suffragettes as a danger to society
From The Times 1912 “The suffragettes are a regrettable by-product of our civilization, out with their hammers and their bags full of stones because of dreary, empty lives and high-strung, over-excitable natures.”
Anti-suffragette postcards often featured dehumanising caricatures that featured women as ugly, stupid and frivolous, thus trivialising the feminist movement (see below) → dissuaded women to join the fight for suffrage due to persistent rejection
2nd wave peace and acceptance
The Madres and the Abuelas of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina
Collective identity, as media became globalised, technology combined with peace within the peace movement
Rejected the peaceful and pacifist nature of the first wave
2nd wave Internal: Dissent, conflict, rejection, resistance
Called the first wave too Christian, too pacifist, too individualist, and that it lacked a true political agenda, focusing on “an obscure concept called rights”. Believed that:
Christianity as a “religious agent of patriarchy and thus intrinsically hostile to feminism”
Protesting through liberal/individualist/pacifist means was not an effective way to achieve change- believed that the movement should be collective and revolutionary, aiming to dismantle the patriarchy instead of working within it
Embraced more militant tactics
Believed that suffragettes focused too much on middle class women- aimed to create a sense of global sisterhood/unity by including women of different race, colour, socio-economic realities, etc.
Radical feminists believed that “the oppression of women was the fundamental form of oppression on which all others [were] modelled” → expanded philosophical concerns to those regarding racism, classism, political correctness, reproductive and workplace rights and sexuality
They did not own the power
Standpoint Theory
Highlights the limitation of maternal and biological arguments as counterproductive → marginalises them within the domestic sphere
People agree with the definition of a feminists but they don’t want to be associated with the word of feminist because they think it is men hating
The connotation of feminism being avoided → focused on the language of sisterhood
“Women who believe themselves equal to their male counterparts do not necessarily consider themselves feminists, confounding efforts toward ‘universal sisterhood’” (sorry guys idk who said this)
White Feminism – Koa Black
Elitism and racial prejudice has driven the narrative of feminist discourse
Confine feminism and shut down women of colour in 1st and 2nd wave
2nd wave External: dissent, conflict, rejection, resistance
Men’s rights movement
Extreme backlash/rejection of feminism
Rose as a response to the perceived progress of feminism
Men’s Rights Activists (MRAs) are a part of the manosphere, a broad set of male supremacist, anti-feminist, misogynist and sometimes violent movements that exist largely online
Heterosexual white men are victims of ‘reverse discrimination’
Women and men are trying to carve out fulfilling lives that have space for personal relationships, work and life. They’re turning away from the assumption that the happiest place to be is at the top of the ladder with the longest hours and the biggest salary. Second-wave feminists who take this as rejection may need to get over it.
Mass media had continued portrayal of negative imagery- stereotypical and innuendo that commonly holds derogatory references - unflattering descriptions attached to the word ‘feminist’
3rd wave Peace and acceptance
United Nations resolution 1325 → suggests womens are inclined to be peaceful - globalisation (UN)
Highlights the acceptance and need for women to be involved in the fight for peace
Insisted that it is futile to try to define a sense of what is female and male
3rd wave Internal: dissent, conflict, rejection, resistance
The third wave was critical of the second for their construction of ‘victimhood’, militancy as this led to the exclusion of men from the movement.
Despite its diversity, second-wave feminism has triggered resistance in many younger women since 1990. These third-wave feminists reject the exclusive concerns of the white middle class and the emphasis on women as victims.
White feminism: Third wave accused first and second wave for being too white feminists and not thinking about other people’s stories and views ~ leading black women to turn to “womanism” instead of feminism
Example: “White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind” - a book by Koa Black
“Womanism… refers to feminists of color, more specifically Black feminists. Womanism centres the experiences, contributions and efforts of Black feminists to better the world around them for all of humanity, not just themselves.”
(https://bmrc.lib.uchicago.edu/portal/curated/womanism/)
Third wave is also critical of second wave feminism as its radical and militant protests created and perpetuated many damaging myths about the nature of feminism
Internal - identity crisis - women agree with feminist ideals of equality but dont say they are a feminist - don’t want to be seen as man-hating (harmful myths).
More than three quarters of American women support efforts to ‘strengthen and change women’s status in society.’ yet only a third at most identify themselves as feminists (the atlantic - feminisms identity crisis)
Third wave wanted to be more global and inclusive, connecting gender issues with broader social concerns (e.g. race - intersectional)
reproductive justice as part of the larger goal of women’s physical, mental, spiritual, political, economic and social well being.
3rd wave external: dissent, conflict, rejection, resistance
Peace/Acceptance
Internal: Dissent, conflict, rejection, resistance
External: Dissent, conflict, rejection, resistance
1st Wave
Christian, individualist, reformist- valued liberalist approaches to justice instead of blaming inequalities of others → worked to gain freedom through incorporation of philosophies into existing laws so that women would then gain individual freedom
‘Womens peacefulness is assumed within their capacity for childbearing and life preservation’ (Ruddick 1989)
Focus on “maternal/biophilic ideology”and how women’s morality (valuing peace, care, responsibility, emotion) was in some ways “superior” to mens (rationality, logic, objectivity) → aimed to push women into the meso workforce/education but backfired → instead justified women’s relegation into the domestic microsphere/child-rearing roles
Biophilic ideology: first wave believed “biological as mothers inclined them to biophilic activities” (Ruether 1983)
Biophilic values - biology and the philosophy
Women have the innate desire to seek connections with other living things, because women are mothers and are seen as loving.
However, restricts women to limit gender roles
“Women have been pacified through this ideology of woman’s pacific nature and thus socialised into being passive victims of male violence” - women must ‘learn’ to oppose male violence
“Women as sustainers of life to have a distinctive character for rationality which they should use as active citizens to promote the evolution of methods of governance that rely on the rule of law rather than force”
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (1915) ⇒ modelling new internationalism by transcending patriarchal concept of nationalism and prioritising unity, peace instead of dominance and conflict
Since first wave feminists also campaigned for peace and were anti-war, there was a close relation of peace with women’s suffrage, as it was believed that a rise in female equality/leadership would equate to less violent conflict as a means of conflict resolution, and there would be disarmament or more diplomacy before resorting to violence and war which men had been socialised to turn to
Temperance movement - wanting peace in the home
Some media publications (e.g. Punch, Daily Mirror) took a pro-feminist stance, emphasising with women’s plight → created a pressure on the government to hear out the suffragettes
Women’s peace party established by Jane Adams in response to WW1 called for limitation of arms, mediation of the European conflict, and the removal of the economic causes of war
First wave suffragettes did not term themselves ‘feminists’ - initially protest was generational/individualised/localised
While many women believed in the values and philosophical underpinnings of feminism, they didn’t want to associate themselves with negative mythology of the time (“flat-footed, unnatractive, angry housewives”)
Most women of the time socialised into enculturation of gender roles - women’s rights at the time were an obscure concept
Internal fear of advocating for the philosophy as they would immediately be labelled as ‘hysterical’ and possibly deposed from their own households/dignity → emphasises importance of places such as Langham Place Circle in which middle class activist women could voice concerns of societal/gender inequality outside the largely male-dominated and regulated micro sphere
Suffragette movement faced backlash in print media, with many newspapers in opposition to the movement and postcards of the suffragettes as ugly and attention seeking, and encouraging men to put them back in their place by force
Despite not many women engaging in violent activities, newspapers often criticised the suffragettes’ “guerilla tactics” (e.g.letter bombing and property damage, death of Emily Davidson) to paint the suffragettes as a danger to society
From The Times 1912 “The suffragettes are a regrettable by-product of our civilization, out with their hammers and their bags full of stones because of dreary, empty lives and high-strung, over-excitable natures.”
Anti-suffragette postcards often featured dehumanising caricatures that featured women as ugly, stupid and frivolous, thus trivialising the feminist movement (see below) → dissuaded women to join the fight for suffrage due to persistent rejection
2nd Wave
The Madres and the Abuelas of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina
Collective identity, as media became globalised, technology combined with peace within the peace movement
Rejected the peaceful and pacifist nature of the first wave
Called the first wave too Christian, too pacifist, too individualist, and that it lacked a true political agenda, focusing on “an obscure concept called rights”. Believed that:
Christianity as a “religious agent of patriarchy and thus intrinsically hostile to feminism”
Protesting through liberal/individualist/pacifist means was not an effective way to achieve change- believed that the movement should be collective and revolutionary, aiming to dismantle the patriarchy instead of working within it
Embraced more militant tactics
Believed that suffragettes focused too much on middle class women- aimed to create a sense of global sisterhood/unity by including women of different race, colour, socio-economic realities, etc.
Radical feminists believed that “the oppression of women was the fundamental form of oppression on which all others [were] modelled” → expanded philosophical concerns to those regarding racism, classism, political correctness, reproductive and workplace rights and sexuality
They did not own the power
Standpoint Theory
Highlights the limitation of maternal and biological arguments as counterproductive → marginalises them within the domestic sphere
People agree with the definition of a feminists but they don’t want to be associated with the word of feminist because they think it is men hating
The connotation of feminism being avoided → focused on the language of sisterhood
“Women who believe themselves equal to their male counterparts do not necessarily consider themselves feminists, confounding efforts toward ‘universal sisterhood’” (sorry guys idk who said this)
White Feminism – Koa Black
Elitism and racial prejudice has driven the narrative of feminist discourse
Confine feminism and shut down women of colour in 1st and 2nd wave
Men’s rights movement
Extreme backlash/rejection of feminism
Rose as a response to the perceived progress of feminism
Men’s Rights Activists (MRAs) are a part of the manosphere, a broad set of male supremacist, anti-feminist, misogynist and sometimes violent movements that exist largely online
Heterosexual white men are victims of ‘reverse discrimination’
Women and men are trying to carve out fulfilling lives that have space for personal relationships, work and life. They’re turning away from the assumption that the happiest place to be is at the top of the ladder with the longest hours and the biggest salary. Second-wave feminists who take this as rejection may need to get over it.
Mass media had continued portrayal of negative imagery- stereotypical and innuendo that commonly holds derogatory references - unflattering descriptions attached to the word ‘feminist’
Quote: “Cure a Feminist: Turn an unshaven, militant, protesting vegan into an actual girl!” The Gender Ads Project (Lukas, 2002)
Language: ‘Something pretty to look at’
3rd wave
United Nations resolution 1325 → suggests womens are inclined to be peaceful - globalisation (UN)
Highlights the acceptance and need for women to be involved in the fight for peace
Insisted that it is futile to try to define a sense of what is female and male
The third wave was critical of the second for their construction of ‘victimhood’, militancy as this led to the exclusion of men from the movement.
Despite its diversity, second-wave feminism has triggered resistance in many younger women since 1990. These third-wave feminists reject the exclusive concerns of the white middle class and the emphasis on women as victims.
White feminism: Third wave accused first and second wave for being too white feminists and not thinking about other people’s stories and views ~ leading black women to turn to “womanism” instead of feminism
Example: “White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind” - a book by Koa Black
“Womanism… refers to feminists of color, more specifically Black feminists. Womanism centres the experiences, contributions and efforts of Black feminists to better the world around them for all of humanity, not just themselves.”
(https://bmrc.lib.uchicago.edu/portal/curated/womanism/)
Third wave is also critical of second wave feminism as its radical and militant protests created and perpetuated many damaging myths about the nature of feminism
Internal - identity crisis - women agree with feminist ideals of equality but dont say they are a feminist - don’t want to be seen as man-hating (harmful myths).
More than three quarters of American women support efforts to ‘strengthen and change women’s status in society.’ yet only a third at most identify themselves as feminists (the atlantic - feminisms identity crisis)
Third wave wanted to be more global and inclusive, connecting gender issues with broader social concerns (e.g. race - intersectional)
reproductive justice as part of the larger goal of women’s physical, mental, spiritual, political, economic and social well being.
Incel Movement:
The New York Times describes incels or involuntary celibates as, “misogynists who are deeply suspicious and disparaging of women, whom they blame for denying them their right to sexual intercourse” (Chokshi, 2018, p.1)
Exists on the cyberspace (incel forums)
They “invoke violence and harassment against women as a justifiable response to their supposed oppression”(Parent, Gobble, & Rochlen, 2018)
Draws links to hegemonic masculinity.
Mythology:
Language - Feminazi (popularised by Rush Limbaugh)
Used by Men’s Rights activists to shut down women
Laura Bates describes it as “an attempt to demonise [feminists]”.
Anti-feminist backlash can be conceived of as resistance to a threat, real, or perceived, to the status quo brought about by changes in gender relations generated by the feminist movement
Connell (2005a) defines “masculinity politics” as “those mobilizations and struggles where the meaning of masculine gender is at issue, and, with it, men’s position in gender relations”
As the women’s liberation movement gained traction in the late 1960s to 1970s, a number of men started to question their own gendered positions. The men’s liberation movement was thus born of the idea that the patriarchal structures which oppressed women also harmed men by confining them to the “male sex role”, resulting in “alienating, unhealthy, and unfulfilling lives” (Messner, 1998, p. 260).
Women against Feminism:
Generally stems from a belief that ‘feminism demeans stay-at-home mothers, or that being a “true woman” means loving to cook and clean for your man.’ - Cathy Young
Links to negative mythology
(eg. Feminists think they are victims):
Draws links to victim feminism/victim socialisation that is counterintuitive to the movement.
Backlash on the Cyberspace: - Contests with the progress Feminism is making (ie forums that help create virtual feminism)
Cyberspace still remains as a patriarchal space
There is cultural dominance of masculinity- consolidated by the language of technology being masculine
The term of cyber-elite- which constructs the idea of power dynamic within technology, is male-dominated
Cyberspace: sustains traditional gendered interactions
Herring: Men dominates the cyberspace by ignoring or delegitimizing contributions from female colleagues
FEMINISM SITES- A LOT OF BACKLASH AND AGGRESSION
