Week 15 Flashcards
Feminist Theories- Main Theoretical Camps
-Liberal, Marxist, Socialist, Radical & Anti-Racist
-Many exist at same time, Overlap each other, are in dialogue with each other (with or against each other)
-These are frameworks for analysis or lens through which we can understand the world- they offer tools to work through complex issues & to ask questions so that we may develop social change.
-All have positive & negative aspects
Liberal Feminism
-Late 18th- early 20th century
-Oppression was result of the denial of fundamental freedoms & rights - e.g., legal personhood, citizenship, education, voting, marriage, equality, access to work & wages, able to own property
-Enlightenment principles & classical liberalism = liberty & freedom
-Women were seen as the weaker sex, not rational, & were property of fathers, husbands, etc.
-Beginning to discuss patriarchy as a source for oppression
Liberal Feminism Critiques/ Racism
Often the voices & focus were white, affluent & middle class, heterosexual, able-bodied women; some exceptions existed
Liberal Feminism Critiques/ Colonialism and Eurocentrism
Often the focus on experiences was embedded in Western Society (mainly Europe, North America)
They didn’t question the enlightenment philosophy which was riddled with individualism, racism, capitalism, aspects of patriarchy, supremacy of science, etc.
Marxist Feminism
-19th & early 20th Century
-Building on the class struggle & critiques of capitalism of Marx & Engels - capitalism, private property, exploitation
-Oppression source was economic dependence on men within a capitalist system - women were exploited by men, capitalism relied on women’s productive & reproductive labour
Marxist Feminism: Engels
-Men controlled the capital & production of goods within & outside the household - patriarchal control over private property (women were propertyless)
-Women’s oppression could be eliminated with (1) women enter the paid economy, & (2) socialization of housework & childrearing
C.P. Gilman
SexuoEconomic relations - public & private spheres of labour need transforming
-In their unpaid roles women were birthing & raising new workers, caring for & healing present workers, caring for retired workers, etc. - this work should be valued & paid.
-Awareness rising about the sexual divisions of labour
Marxist Feminism Critiques
-Marxism has some unpleasant social & political affiliations
-Still has elements of racism, colonialism, etc. that it doesn’t address
Socialist (Materialist) Feminism
-Grew out of Marxist Feminism - mid to late 20th Century
-Recognized two systems - patriarchy & capitalism - as part of women’s oppression
-Some saw them as interlinked, others as two separate systems with one more dominant than the other - however even separately there is an understanding both contribute to oppression of women
-Challenges the class analysis Marxist Feminists offered - class is not gender neutral category, nor are women a class
Socialist Feminism
-Only with the recognition of a sexual division of labour under Patriarchal Capitalism, which acknowledges & perpetuates different locations/positions for men & women, that the power structures embedded will be revealed
-Women’s bodies as commodities, value was what patriarchy tied to their bodies
-Gendered Division of labour is mutually reinforced by both capitalism & patriarchy - e.g., we see women today occupying a large part of the work force & yet exploitation & oppression continues
-The Double Day or Second Shift - the Superwoman identity; We can end oppression by socializing housework & childcare
-Socialization/state-funding of housework & childcare
Socialist Feminism Critiques
-Still supports the primary idea of heterosexuality - structures of patriarchy & capitalism include the notion of the nuclear family, the public & private spheres, etc.
-Eurocentrism framework still at work; racism still happening
-Can the state afford to subsidize housework? Does that actually change the dynamic of it being largely viewed as women’s work?
-State funded daycare often favours children who are able- bodied, developmentally on track, & with no special needs
Radical Feminism part 1
-1960s - early1990s
-Radical = radix or root; looking at roots of oppression
-Patriarchy was the problem: it’s embedded in social, political, & economic institutions (i.e., structural injustice)
-Not enough to change the laws & policies, not enough to provide economic & political avenues - oppression is happening in men’s control over women’s bodies
-Women’s Sexuality & Body becomes the focus
Radical Feminism Part 2
-Challenges to what was “Normal” & “Natural” forms of love, marriage, what is a family, idealization of motherhood, etc.
-Reproduction ability often tied women to mothering & the private sphere labour involved; compulsory heterosexuality too
-Sexual division of labour objectified women’s bodies - men’s sexuality defined women’s as heterosexual; women’s bodies were available to men
-Rape Culture & Misogyny - Men are entitled to women’s bodies; legitimizes violence & hate against women
-Questions about the harmful effects of pornography arise
Radical Feminism Part 3
-Objectification of women’s bodies defines cultural expectations & ideas of beauty - calls for women to see the natural beauty they have rather than the Beauty Myth
-The Male Gaze, Disciplinary Practices, etc.
-Personal is Political - rallying cry for women to analyze their experiences & recognize how oppression affected them & those around them; consciously acknowledged interconnections of women from various backgrounds to get involved in activism
-Sisterhood is Powerful
Radical Feminism Part 3
-Lesbian feminism arises - are women naturally heterosexual? Women for too long just accepted & assumed their heterosexuality
-Lesbian Continuum - women’s relationships to each other in all forms, as lovers, friends, family, & caregivers (A. Rich); a space for feminists to work together
-Backlash Culture resulted - feminists branded as ugly, hairy, lesbian, men haters; attempt to silence women & their concerns
-Offshoot - cultural feminist theory (p. 82)
