Feminism

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Feminism
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Historical background

• Ancient idea- Christine de Pisan Book of the City
  of Ladies Italy 1405 early version. First truly
  modern text was Mary Wollstonecraft Vindication
  of the Rights of Women 1792. She argued that as
  men and women were human beings, women were
  entitled to same rights and privileges. JS Mill
  On Subjugation of Women (1869) Society should be
  organised according to principle of reason and
  accidents of birth such as sex were irrelevant.
  By mid C19 first wave feminism established in
  the west aim was political and legal rights-
  strongest in those countries where political
  democracy was most advanced- women wanting same
  rights as husbands, fathers and sons. Belief
  was key to end sexual discrimination and
  prejudice was the right to vote.
• Second wave of feminism emerges 1960s/70s because
  political rights achieved in course C20, first
  wave feminism had been weakened by right to win
  vote and growing realisation that political
  rights did not mean equality.
• Second wave a more radical concern with womens
  liberation esp private sphere- Betty Friedan The
  Feminine Mystique crucial importance (1963)
  highlighting unhappiness and frustration many
  women experience as result confined to roles
  housewife and mother. . Also 2nd wave feminism
  inc radical, even revolutionary Kate Millet
  Sexual Politics ( 1970) and Germaine Greer The
  Female Eunuch (1970) push back frontiers arguing
  liberation could not be achieved by political
  reforms or legal changes alone but far reaching
  even revolutionary process social change.
• By late 60s early 70s feminism developed into a
  distinctive ideology. Feminists raise awareness
  of importance social/cultural distinction between
  males and females as opposed to biological and
  therefore ineradicable differences.
• Until the rise of radical feminism seen as a
  subset of liberalism and socialism.

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Core themes
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Redefining the political

• Traditionally a separation between public and
  private sphere- politics seen as part of the
  former and family/personal relationships the
  latter.
• Modern feminists take a much broader look at
  politics- Kate Millet argued a power structured
  relationship where one group controls another.
  This could apply to relationships within the
  family.
• Traditionally the public sphere (politics, work,
  art, literature) male and private (
  family/domestic) female. If politics takes place
  only in public sphere then role women and sexual
  equality little/no importance women are
  effectively excluded from politics.
• Feminists challenge divide between public man and
  private woman but whereas radicals keenest
  opponents of idea politics does not stop at front
  door the personal is political . Female
  oppression all walks of life. Radicals focus on
  process conditioning in family, distribution
  domestic responsibilities, politics of personal
  and sexual conduct- Some see the break down of
  public/private sphere achieved by expansion state
  provision e.g. child care. Socialist feminists
  link womens role in conventional family to
  capitalism. Liberal feminists, however, warn
  against politicising the private sphere which is
  a realm of personal choice and individual
  freedom.

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Patriarchy

• Means literally rule by the father often used to
  describe dominance men and subordination women in
  society.
• Feminists believe gender like class, race,
  religion a significant social cleavage, radicals
  say the most significant.
• Therefore sexual politics parallels with class
  and racial oppression.
• The dominance of the father within the family
  symbolises male supremacy in all other
  institutions, male dominance in the family
  reproduces itself in all other walks of life.
  Millett described patriarchal government as that
  half of the populace which is female is
  controlled by that half which is male . She
  defined patriarchy as hierarchical society both
  in terms of gender but also generational.
• Many feminists accept form and degree oppression
  varies between cultures and times- e.g. more
  advanced west compared with practices in parts of
  developing world.
• Feminist divisions- liberals believe problem
  patriarchy is under representation women
  politics, senior positions etcsocialists the
  economic aspects patriarchy- gender inequality a
  consequence of the oppressive class system- even
  rejecting the term patriarchy as capitalism not
  patriarchy the issue. Radical feminists on the
  other hand see patriarchy crucial as it
  highlights pattern male domination that
  characterises society at large

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Sex and gender

• Feminists deny that biological differences (child
  bearing, menstruation, suckling) must necessarily
  disadvantage women- women may be mothers but
  responsibilities of motherhood not theirs alone-
  the link between child bearing and rearing is
  only cultural
• For feminists sex refers to natural and
  unalterable differences between sexes whereas
  gender is a cultural term referring to different
  roles society ascribes to men and women- such
  differences reinforced via contrasting
  stereotypes masculinity and femininity
• Human nature is androgynous i.e. sex is
  irrelevant all humans possess genetic inheritance
  mother and female and therefore are a blend
  female and male traits. The goal of feminism is
  genderless personhood.
• However
• Difference feminists argue deep and ineradicable
  differences between the sexes, this is an
  essentialist belief in the primacy of biological
  factors in determine psychological and
  behavioural traits..
• Postmodernist feminists challenges categorisation
  the features of biological womanhood which do not
  appear to women unable to bear children/unattracte
  d to men. Thus the categories of male and female
  become arbitrary/

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Equality and Difference

• Feminism aims at equality but disagree as to what
  this means
• Egalitarian feminism
• Liberals aim at legal and political equality-
  women should be able to compete on equal terms
  with men in public life.
• Socialists argue equal rights that liberals aim
  for are meaningless without social equality
  which addresses issue ownership wealth/pay
  differences/ distinctions between waged/unwaged
  labour.
• Radicals equality in family and personal life
  e.g. childcare, domestic responsibilities, sexual
  expression/fulfilment.
• More on egalitarian feminism
• Also known as equality feminism- despite
  differences, the above link difference to
  patriarchy seeing the latter as manifestation of
  oppression/subordination- aim is to liberate
  women from difference
• Difference feminists challenge egalitarian
  feminism
• Difference feminists warn against aim of equality
  with men, that it embodies a desire to be like
  men, whereas liberation means fulfilment as women
  i.e. female identified
• Pro-woman feminism adopts a positive image
  womens attributes and propensities stressing
  creativity, caring, human sympathy and
  cooperation. These contrast with
  aggressive/competitive nature of men and reflect
  deeper hormonal and genetic differences. Women
  should therefore seek liberation through
  difference. An example is cultural feminism
  which focuses on woman centred culture/lifestyle
  and repelled by corrupting/aggressive male world
  political activism.

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To sum up

• Equality feminism
• Androgyny
• Personhood
• Human rights
• Gender equality
• Abolish difference
• Sex/gender divide
• Transcend biology
• Pro-human
• Men are redeemable
• Engagement with men

• Difference feminism
• Essentialism
• Sisterhood
• Womens rights
• Sexual liberation
• Celebrate difference
• Sex equals gender
• Embrace biology
• Pro-woman
• Men are the problem
• Feminist separatism

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Feminist perspectives
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Liberal Feminism

• Begins C18 and C19
• Philosophical basis lies in principle
  individualism i.e. all individuals equal moral
  worth. They should be judged on rational
  grounds- content of character, talents, personal
  worth hence all individuals entitled to
  participate in/gain access to public/political
  life. Wollstonecraft argued that education
  should be open to women, JS Mill argued for equal
  citizenship and political rights. The suffrage
  movement was based on liberal individualism.
• Liberal feminism essentially reformist, aimed at
  open public life to equal competition. They do
  not seek to abolish distinction between public
  and private sphere seeing latter as matter of
  individual choice
• Also on above assume women and men different
  natures and inclinations that women natural
  leaning towards family and domestic life. Betty
  Friedan The Second Stage (1983) discussed
  problem of reconciling possibilities created by
  broader opportunities for women an work and
  public life with need for love (represented by
  children) home and family. In the book Friedan
  warned that quest for personhood should not
  encourage women to deny importance of children,
  home and family.
• Demand for equal rights the core of liberal
  feminism attracted those whose education and
  social backgrounds better able to take advantage
  wider career and educational opportunities. It
  therefore reflects interests of white middle
  class in developed nations.

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Socialist Feminism

• Prominent only from second half C20
• Engels The Origins of the family, Private
  property and the State (1884) pre capitalist
  societies family life communistic and mother
  right- property and social position inherited via
  female line-capitalism however based on ownership
  private property by men overthrown mother right
  and brought the world historical defeat of the
  female sex . Female oppression operates via the
  family which is (bourgeois family) patriarchal-
  property passed by men only to sons. Undisputed
  paternity achieved by male insistence on
  monogamous marriage but which men routinely
  abuse. Women are compensated by cult of
  femininity which is an organised hypocrisy to
  protect male privileges and property.
• Some socialists argued that under capitalism
  women constitute a reserve army of labour
  recruited easily when needed and as easily shed.
  In bearing and raising of children, women provide
  next generation of workers, their traditional
  role as housewives relieve men allow men
  concentrate on paid and productive employment and
  traditional family provides male wage earners
  with incentive to find work against alienation
  as wage slaves. It reinforces patriarchy as male
  breadwinners have high status and relieved of
  domestic chores.
• Divisions among socialist feminists
• Orthodox Marxists argues for primacy class
  conflict over all other conflicts therefore
  womens liberation will be achieved by overthrow
  of capitalism. The class war is more important
  than the sex war. Women should therefore focus
  not on a separate and divisive womens movement
• Faced with disappointing progress women made in
  state socialist societies, where patriarchy
  continued, modern socialists have argued that
  sexual oppression is as important as class
  exploitation. Juliet Mitchell argued that women
  achieve emancipation in the four\key social
  functions areas of their lives Economic role as
  members of the workforce, biological role,
  nurturing of children, role as sex objects.

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Radical feminism

• Radical feminism developed feminism as a
  distinctive ideology separate from liberalism and
  socialism which failed to acknowledge the primacy
  of gender among social divisions within society.
• Eva Figes Patriarchal Attitudes (1970)
  patriarchal attitudes are prevalent throughout
  society, women are portrayed as inferior and
  subordinate to men. Germaine Greer in The Female
  Eunuch (1970) women conditioned to passive sexual
  role and true sexuality and more
  active/adventurous sides of their personalities
  suppressed, in essence they are castrated and
  become sexless objects. She called upon women to
  re engage with their libido. In Sexual Politics
  (1970) Millett the different roles of men and
  women origin in process of conditioning from very
  early age. A process which takes place in family
  patriarchys chief institution. But also in
  literature, art, public life and economy. She
  argued that patriarchy should be challenged via
  a process of consciousness-raising
• Radical feminism holds as central sexual
  oppression is the most fundamental feature of
  society and other forms injustice such as class
  exploitation, racial hatred etc.. Secondary.
• For most radical feminists patriarchy is a system
  of politico-cultural oppression therefore female
  liberation requires sexual revolution to overturn
  and replace these structures. It is based on
  belief that human nature is androgynous.
• Different trends of radical feminism
• Pro woman position Esp strong France USA women
  should not seek to be more like men but recognise
  and embrace their sisterhood It recognises (pro
  woman position) that womens attitudes and values
  different from mens and this implies superiority
  over men as they possess creativity, sensitivity
  and caring.
• Acceptance of deep and unalterable differences
  with men led some radicals towards cultural
  feminism- retreat from aggressive male world
  political activism to woman centred culture and
  lifestyle.
• In contrast to above, other feminists politically
  assertive even revolutionary. If sex differences
  natural then ALL MEN are\physically and
  psychologically disposed to oppress ALL WOMEN
  Men now become the enemy. The female sex class
  becomes the universal victim. Susan Brownmiller
  in Against Our\Will (1975) men dominate women
  through an ideology of rape- Men have the
  biological capacity to rape and even those who do
  not rape benefit from fear and anxiety that rape
  provokes amongst women. Such feminists argue that
  sexual equality and harmony with men is
  impossible because all relationships between men
  and women involve oppression. Heterosexual women
  cannot realise their full potential and be female
  identified. Only women who remain celibate or
  choose lesbianism can reagrd themselves as
  woman-identified women

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Third-wave feminism

• 1970s a growing fragmentation of the feminist
  movement- new forms emerged dubbed third wave
  feminism, new feminism, post feminism.
• Term third wave feminism increasingly adopted
  1990sby younger generation
• Unifying theme of third wave is more radical
  engagement with politics of difference, with
  emphasis on differences between women. An
  attempt to address the past focus on concerns
  white middle class in developed societies to
  allow greater emphasis on low income, developing
  world. Black feminism has called for focus on
  race as well as sex as linked systems oppression.
• Third wave feminism is influenced by
  poststructuralism itself related to
  postmodernism. Postructuralist/postmodernist
  feminists question idea fixed female identity-
  third wave feminism rejects second wave feminist
  issues and themes. Camille Pagia attacked
  tendency (1999) feminism to portray women as
  victims. In Fire with Fire (1994) Naomi Wolf
  held that the principal impediments to womens
  social advancement was psychological rather than
  political.

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A global age

• Is feminism a global ideology?- It has always
  had a global orientation, desire for sisterhood
  by its nature is transnational and reflected in
  worldwide growth such groups across the globe.
  1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women
  involved 189 governments and over 5000
  representatives from 2100 non governmental
  organisations. However, post colonial theorists
  argue that womens rights essentially western
  concept- from such a perspective sexual equality
  may be seen to devalue womens traditional roles
  home makers and mothers and to undermine
  traditional roles and cultural practices-
  feminists would argue post colonial emphasis on
  cultural rights over womens rights a veiled form
  of patriarchy.
• How should feminists respond to globalisation?
  Pro-globalisation theorists say it has opened up
  opportunities for women in developing world
  through feminisation of work e.g. Asian
  electronics industry, clothing assembly plants in
  Mexico. Developed world also witnessed growth
  new feminised or pink collar jobs via expansion
  service industries retailing, cleaning, data
  processing- giving women greater status and
  financial independence. However greater
  exploitation- they are cheap and employed in
  sectors where fewer workers rights and weak
  unions.. They have the double burden of low paid
  work and still expected to shoulder burden
  domestic responsibilities. In the advance of
  neoliberal globalisation often happens in context
  reduced state support health, education and food
  subsidies. Many non liberal feminists therefore
  now in anti-globalisation and anti-capitalist
  movements.

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Germaine Greer- The Female Eunuch

• A full bosom is actually a millstone around a
  womans neckHer breasts are only to be admired
  for as long as they show no signs of their
  function once darkened, stretched or withered
  they are objects of revulsion
• Every human body has its optimum weight and
  contour which only health and efficiency can
  establish. Whenever we treat womens bodies as
  aesthetic objects without function we deform them
  and their owners
• On sex all the vulgar linguistic emphasis is
  placed upon the poking element fucking,
  screwing, rating, shagging are all acts performed
  upon the passive female the names for the penis
  are all tool names
• The acts of sex are themselves forms of enquiry
  carnal knowledge it is exactly the element of
  quest in her sexuality which the female is taught
  to deny but in all her contacts from infancy
  onward so that when she becomes aware of her sex
  the pattern has sufficient force of inertia to
  prevail over new forms of desire and curiosity.
  This is the condition which is meant by the term
  female eunuch
• On puberty for the boys it is a matter of
  adjusting to physical changes which signify the
  presence of sex and genitalityFor the girl it is
  a different matter. She has to aim at the
  feminine posture of passivity and sexlissness.
  No sooner does her pubic hair appear than she has
  to learn how to obliterate it. Menstruation must
  be born and belied. She has been so protected
  from accepting her body as sexual that her
  menstruation strikes her as a hideous violation
  of her physical integrity.
• Most women who have arrived at positions of power
  in a mans world have done so by adopting
  masculine methods which are not incompatible with
  the masquerade of femininity

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Thoughts on the Female Eunuch

• The successful and active member of the school
  community runs into trouble at home. Out of
  school there is not the scope for team activity
  and adventure that school providesmany a teacher
  has discovered that a good pupil arrives back
  from the summer holidays beyond recognition
  principally by the abrasion of her training at
  home. As she grows older she finds her
  activities more severely curbed innocent
  exertions are ruled out because she is too big
  for that sort of thing now