FEMINIST THEORIES

FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES è OFFER VARIOUS, SOMETIMES COMPETING, “SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST” EXPLANATIONS FOR THE PERVASIVENESS OF RELATIONSHIPS OF DOMINATION AND SUBORDINATION BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN è AND FOR A RANGE OF UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT THE CHANGES REQUIRED TO REDRESS EXPLOITATIVE AND OPPRESSIVE RELATIONSHIPS.

LIBERAL FEMINISTS

1) MAIN SOURCE OF GENDER INEQUALITY IS THE "PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION" (LEARNING PROCESS BY WHICH YOU ACQUIRE THE KNOWLEDGE, SKILL, AND MOTIVATIONS REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE IN SOCIAL LIFE).

2) THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT SHAPED WOMEN’S LIVES WERE THE LAWS AND PREJUDICES (SHARED BY MEN AND WOMEN) THAT EXCLUDED THEM FROM THE PUBLIC SPHERE AND FROM THE RIGHT TO EARN THEIR OWN LIVING ON AN EQUAL FOOTING WITH MEN.

3) WOMEN STRUGGLED FOR THE RIGHT TO HIGHER EDUCATION, ENTRANCE INTO THE PROFESSIONS, THE RIGHT TO OWN PROPERTY AND HOLD PUBLIC OFFICE, AND FOR SUFFRAGE, THE RIGHT THAT CAME TO SYMBOLIZE FULL CITIZENSHIP.

4) THE SOLUTION: – EDUCATION = REMOVE INDIVIDUAL IGNORANCE. THEREFORE, THESE LAWS AND THE PREJUDICES THAT UNDERWROTE THEM WOULD GRADUALLY BE REPLACED BY EXTENDING EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY TO WOMEN.

SOCIALIST FEMINISM:

1) OPPRESSIVE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SEXES ARE NOT SIMPLY DERIVATIVE OF CLASS. THE INTERCONNECTIONS BETWEEN SEX OPPRESSION AND CLASS EXPLOITATION HAVE (HAD)TO BE ADDRESSED.

2) A. FOCUSED ON THE LABOUR DONE BY WOMEN IN THE HOUSEHOLD—CALLED DOMESTIC LABOUR—HELPS TO SUSTAIN THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM.

(A) REARING CHILDREN;

(B) SUSTAINING HUSBANDS.

RESULT: BOTH CAPITALISTS AND INDIVIDUAL MEN BENEFIT FROM THE UNPAID AND PERSONAL SERVICE OF WOMEN IN THE HOME.

3) SOME SOCIALIST FEMINISTS ANALYZED THE INTERCONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE PUBLIC SPHERE OF CAPITALIST AND STATE RELATIONS AND THE PRIVATE SPHERE OF THE FAMILY/ HOUSEHOLD.

(A) CAPITALISM DONE AT FRACTION OF THE COST;

(B) THE APPEARANCE OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SUSTAINS THE UNEQUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN THROUGHOUT SOCIETY.

4) THE SOLUTION: OVERCOME THE PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SPLIT è FAMILY WAGE; DENIAL OF EDUCATION; NO SOCIAL SUPPORTS FOR CHILD CARE.

RADICAL FEMINIST

1) GENDER INEQUALITY IS ROOTED IN THE MATERIAL CONDITIONS OF MEN AND WOMEN. THE BIOLOGICAL FAMILY IS AN INHERENTLY UNEQUAL POWER DISTRIBUTION.

LIKE MARXISM WHICH CONTENDS: MONOGAMY WAS THE FIRES FORM OF THE FAMILY TO BE BASED NOT ON NATURAL CONDITIONS BUT ON ECONOMIC CONDITIONS: THE EXCLUSIVE AIMS OF MONOGAMOUS MARRIAGE WERE TO MAKE THE MAN SUPREME IN THE FAMILY AND TO PROPAGATE, AS THE FUTURE HEIRS TO HIS WEALTH, CHILDREN INDISPUTABLY HIS OWN.

2) THE SOLE PURPOSE OF MONOGAMOUS MARRIAGE IS TO SUBJUGATE THE FEMALE SEX TO THE MALE è THEY LOCATE MEN’S POWER OVER WOMEN IN THEIR ABILITY TO CONTROL WOMEN SEXUALLY AND TO DEVELOP THE INSTITUTIONS THAT ENSURE CONTINUING CONTROL.

WESTERN SOCIETIES ARE A FORM OF PATRIARCHY -- RULE OF MEN, MEN ARE THE MAIN BENEFICIARIES OF THESE SOCIETIES è IN A WORLD OF UNEQUAL POWER RELATIONS BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN, COMPULSORY HETEROSEXUALITY ENSURES NOT ONLY WOMEN’S SEXUAL DEPENDENCE UPON MEN BUT ALSO THEIR ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPENDENCE.

3) THE SOLUTION: THE ELIMINATION OF MEN AND THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY FROM WOMEN'S LIVES -- "COMPULSORY HETEROSEXUALITY" IS THE KEY WAY WOMEN ARE SUBORDINATED AND ENSLAVED IN THIS SOCIETY èWOMEN SHOULD BUILD THEIR OWN INSTITUTIONS FROM HEALTH CLINICS AND WOMEN'S SHELTERS TO SMALL BUSINESSES, ART GALLERIES ETC.

[[[FLERAS: PP.132 "SOCIAL PROBLEMS" == LIBERAL FEMINISM (LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD -- REMOVING DISCRIMINATORY BARRIERS) == MARXIST FEMINISM (WORKERS (WOMEN AND MEN) OF THE WORLD UNITE -- RESTRUCTURE SOCIETY TO ELIMINATE PRIVATE PROPERTY AT THE BASE OF EXPLOITATION) == RADICAL FEMINISM (HEY, HO, PATRIARCHY HAS TO GO -- ELIMINATE PATRIARCHY AND THE NUCLEAR FAMILY THAT SUPPORTS IT) == CULTURAL FEMINISM (CELEBRATE AND POLITICIZE WOMEN AS DIFFERENT AND VALUABLE) == RAINBOW FEMINISM (COATS OF MANY COLOURS -- WHITE FEMINIST AND FEMINIST OF COLOUR HAVE DIFFERENT AGENDAS WHERE ADDITIONAL PRESSURES RELATED TO RACISM AND ETHNICITY ARE SUPERIMPOSED ON AND INTERSECT GENDER AND CLASS, AMPLIFYING INEQUALITY) == CONSERVATIVE FEMINISM (THE GOOD OLD DAYS -- ESPOUSES A VIEW OF EQUALITY THAT ACKNOWLEDGES WOMEN IN TRADITIONAL, MATERNAL, DOMESTIC ROLES TO CURE THE BREAKDOWN IN THE FABRIC OF SOCIETY)]].

SUPPLEMENTAL:

A) THIRD WAVE FEMINISM è THIRD WAVE FEMINISTS USE “MEDIA AS A TOOL OF RESISTANCE.”è RIOT GIRRLS AND ZINESè NEW FORMS OF MEDIA TO DISSEMINATE AND CIRCULATE KNOWLEDGE PERTAINING TO JUSTICE FOR WOMEN – TAKING PLACE WITHIN AN UNDERGROUND CULTURE. }

B) BLACK FEMINISM è BLACK FEMINIST THEORY HAS ARGUED THAT BLACK WOMEN ARE POSITIONED WITH IN STRUCTURES OF POWER IN FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT WAYS THAN WHITE WOMEN

[ASIDE/ ALL IN ALL: è BLACK FEMINISM/ EVOLVED PARALELL AND DIFFERENT FROM WHITE FEMINISM è SOJOURNER TRUTH, HARRIET TUBMAN, FRANCES E. W. HARPER, IDA B. WELLES BARNETT AND MARY CHURCH TERRELL, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLORED WOMEN FOUNDED IN 1896 è CANDADA – MARY ANN SHADD {THE PROVINCIAL FREEMAN} / VIOLA DESMOND {THE NEW GLASGOW REVOLT}è BLACK FEMINIST THEORY HAS ARGUED THAT BLACK WOMEN ARE POSITIONED WITH IN STRUCTURES OF POWER IN FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT WAYS THAN WHITE WOMEN.

SEE THEMSELVES AS HAVING STRUGGLED FOR RECOGNITION, NOT ONLY FROM MEN IN THEIR OWN CULTURE, BUT ALSO FROM WESTERN FEMINISTS.

THREE FUNDAMENTAL PROPOSITIONS:

1) BLACK FEMINIST THEORY HAS ARGUED THAT BLACK WOMEN ARE POSITIONED WITH IN STRUCTURES OF POWER IN FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT WAYS THAN WHITE WOMEN

2) SEE THEMSELVES AS HAVING STRUGGLED FOR RECOGNITION, NOT ONLY FROM MEN IN THEIR OWN CULTURE, BUT ALSO FROM WESTERN FEMINISTS.

3) [UPSHOT] BLACK FEMINISTS CONTEND THAT THE LIBERATION OF BLACK WOMEN ENTAILS FREEDOM FOR ALL PEOPLE, SINCE IT WOULD REQUIRE THE END OF RACISM, SEXISM, AND CLASS OPPRESSION.

THESIS: BLACK FEMINISM ARGUES THAT SEXISM, CLASS OPPRESSION, AND RACISM ARE INEXTRICABLY BOUND TOGETHER è

ASIDE: THERE IS A LONG-STANDING AND IMPORTANT ALLIANCE BETWEEN POSTCOLONIAL FEMINISTS, WHICH OVERLAPS WITH TRANSNATIONAL FEMINISM AND THIRD-WORLD FEMINISM, AND BLACK FEMINISTS è BOTH [OR ALL] SEE THEMSELVES AS HAVING STRUGGLED FOR RECOGNITION, NOT ONLY FROM MEN IN THEIR OWN CULTURE, BUT ALSO FROM WESTERN FEMINISTS [AND THEIR ‘COMFORTABLE CONCENTRATION CAMPS’].

INTERSECTIONALITY [?]è THE NECESSITY OF A METHODOLOGY OF STUDYING THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF OPPRESSION è SUCH AS GENDER, RACE, CLASS, ABILITY, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, AND OTHER AXES OF IDENTITY INTERACT ON MULTIPLE AND OFTEN SIMULTANEOUS LEVELS, CONTRIBUTING TO SYSTEMATIC SOCIAL INEQUALITY. INTERSECTIONALITY HOLDS THAT THE CLASSICAL CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF OPPRESSION WITHIN SOCIETY, SUCH AS RACISM, SEXISM, HOMOPHOBIA, AND RELIGION-BASED BIGOTRY, DO NOT ACT INDEPENDENTLY OF ONE ANOTHER; INSTEAD, THESE FORMS OF OPPRESSION INTERRELATE, CREATING A SYSTEM OF OPPRESSION THAT REFLECTS THE "INTERSECTION" OF MULTIPLE FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION.

OPPRESSION OLYMPICS VS. OPPRESSION IMPERIALISM [?]