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Cultural feminism is the theory that there are fundamental personality and psychological differences between men and women, and that women's differences are not only unique, but superior. This theory of feminism takes note of the biological differences between men and women - such as menstruation and childbirth - and extrapolates from this the idea of an inherent "women's culture." For example, the belief that "women are kinder and gentler than men," prompts cultural feminists call for an infusion of women's culture into the male-dominanted world, which would presumably result in less violence and fewer wars. At its core, the theory ascribes to a form of gendered essentialism. Cultural feminism seeks to improve the relationship between the sexes and often cultures at large by celebrating women's special qualities, ways, and experiences, often believing that the "woman's way" is the better way, or that the culture discussed is overly masculine and requires balance from feminine perspectives.
Cultural feminism is a form of difference feminism. It is the ideology of a female nature or female essence reappropriated by feminists themselves in an effort to revalidate undervalued female attributes.
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[edit] Cultural feminism theorist
Cultural feminism commends the positive aspects of what is seen as the female character or feminine personality. It is also a feminist theory of difference that praises the positive aspect of women. Early theorists such as Jane Addams and Charlotte Perkins Gilman argued that in governing the state, good qualities of women were needed as cooperation, caring, and nonviolence in the settlement of conflicts. Repeatedly, Addams proceeded the argument that women were more humanitarian, caring, and "down to earth" than men. By restricting women's freedom to the home, society was corrupt and unfair. Everyday life functioned poorly because it was based on male values and ethics. This cultural feminism filtered through the settlement movement, and provided a system of values for organizing life in these communal homes. Cultural feminism was a basic theme in all of Addams' writings. In addition she frequently used women as the source of her ideas and topics of analysis. She wanted to expand the scope of women's activities, therefore changing the basic structure of values and relations throughout society. In addition to this generalized approach, Addams specifically studied prostitutes, women in the marketplace, especially working-class women, and pacifism. Gilman and Addams joined forces on at least two other occasions. They both worked on The Women's Journal, a feminist magazine advocating women's emancipation. This journal was notable in being one of the few women's publications that addressed working women's issues. In 1915 Gilman and Addams also participated in the beginning of the women's peace movement. An intellectual stream feeding Addam’s cultural feminism was radical feminism. In particular, she was strongly influenced by her life-long friendship with Charlotte Perkins Gilman, another early feminist theoretician and sociologist. Gilman's writings were more materialist and aggressive than Addams', but they shared a deep interest in women's culture and emancipation. This tradition has continued to the present current day in several arguments: women’s distinctive standards for ethical judgment, caring attention as a mode of women’s consciousness, different achievement motivation patterns, a female style of communication, women’s capacity for openness to emotional experience, women’s fantasies of sexuality and intimacy, and women’s lower levels of aggressive behavior and greater capacity for creating peaceful coexistence.
The contradiction of cultural feminism, the same as for another such as utopian movements as Marxism, is that, despite its intention, the women is liberated and infused into the public world of production and are women exactly like men, who are termed "The Mass Women".
Cultural feminists believe that there are fundamental, biological differences between men and women, and that women should celebrate these differences. Women are inherently more kind and gentle. Cultural feminists believe that because of these differences, if women ruled the world there would be no more war and it would be a better place. Essentially, a women's way is the right and better way for everyone. Western society values male thought and the ideas of independence, hierarchy, competition and domination. Females values ideas such as interdependence, cooperation, relationships, community, sharing, joy, trust and peace. Unfortunately, says the cultural feminist, these ideas are not valued in contemporary western societies.
[edit] Problems with cultural feminism
The dilemma facing feminist theorists today is that our self-definition is stuck in a concept that we must deconstruct and de-essentialize in all of its aspects. Man has said that woman can be defined, delineated, captured, understood, explained, and diagnosed to a level of determination never accorded to man himself, who is conceived as a rational animal with free will. Where man’s behavior is underdetermined, free to construct its own future along the course of its rational choice, woman’s nature has overdetermind her behavior, the limits of her intellectual endeavors, and the inevitabilities of her emotional journey through life.
Thus cultural feminists argue that the problem of male supremacist culture is the problem of a process in which women are defined by men, that is, by a group who has a contrasting point of view and set of interest from women, not to mention a possible fear and hatred of women. The result of this has been a distortion and devaluation of feminine characteristics, which now can be corrected by a more accurate feminist description and appraisal. Thus the cultural feminist reappraisal construes woman’s passivity as her peacefulness, her sentimentality as her proclivity to nurture, her subjectiveness as her advanced self-awareness. Cultural feminists have not challenged the defining of woman but only that definition given by men.
Critics of cultural feminism, particularly those of the men's rights groups, assert that cultural feminism is misandric in nature, and also claim that there is no evidence to support that a woman's way is any better than a man's. Because cultural feminism is based on an essentialist view of the differences between women and men and advocates independence and institution building, it has, say its critics, led feminists to retreat from politics to “life-style.” Alice Echols, the most prominent critic of cultural feminism, credits Redstockings member Brooke Williams with introducing the term cultural feminism in 1975 to describe the depoliticization of radical feminism.
[edit] References
- Balbert, Peter. D.H. Lawrence and the Phallic Imagination. Hong Kong: The Macmillan P, 1989. ISBN:0-333-43964-3
- Gerhard, Jane F. Desiring Revolution. New York: Columbia UP, 2001. ISBN:0-231-3.3.11205
- Humm, Maggie. The Dictionary of Feminist Theory. Great Britain: Ohio State UP., 1990. ISBN:0-8142-0506-2
- Ritzer, George. Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. ISBN:978-0-07-299759-0
