Feminist theory
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Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical, ground. It encompasses work done in a broad variety of disciplines, prominently including the approaches to women's roles and lives and feminist politics in anthropology and sociology, economics, women's and gender studies, feminist literary criticism, and philosophy especially Continental philosophy (Brabeck and Brown, 1997).
Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. While generally providing a critique of social relations, much of feminist theory also focuses on analyzing gender inequality and the promotion of women's rights, interests, and issues. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression, and patriarchy (Chodorow, 1989; Gilligan, 1977; Lerman, 1982).
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[edit] Psychoanalytic feminism
Psychoanalytic feminism is based on Freud and his psychoanalytic theories. It maintains that gender is not biological but is based on the psycho-sexual development of the individual. Psychoanalytical feminists believe that gender inequality comes from early childhood experiences, which lead men to believe themselves to be masculine, and women to believe themselves feminine. It is further maintained that gender leads to a social system that is dominated by males, which in turn influences the individual psycho-sexual development. As a solution it was suggested to avoid the gender-specific structurization of the society by male-female coeducation. A form of psychoanalytic feminism, with an emphasis on object relations (i.e. the child's bond with the mother's breast), whose leading theorist was Nancy Chodorow, became very popular in sociology and cultural anthropology in the 1980s and 90s. It also made it's way into literary criticism, especially at the University of California, Berkeley, where Chodorow teaches.
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[edit] Radical feminism
Radical feminism believes that the root of the problem is patriarchy itself. Therefore, the radical feminist calls to dismantle the patriarchy altogether to solve the problem. The extreme radical feminists call for the destruction of the entire male sex, as shown in Valerie Solanas' misandrous writing, SCUM Manifesto. Andrea Dworkin is probably the most influencial feminist of this ilk. She has published many books that have become canonized on college syllabuses, including Woman Hating, Pornography, and Intercourse. She also writes about antisemitism and it's connection to gender issues. She is most well-known for her claim, often presented in collaboration with feminist legal theorist Catherine McKinnon, that sex between a man and a woman in society where women have less power amounts to a rape of the woman by the man. Her novel, Mercy, is about an angry woman who fights back.
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[edit] Liberal feminism
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Liberal feminism looks at the ways in which women are excluded from power and prevented from playing a full part in political activity. It asks why women are marginalized and it wants the same opportunities afforded to women as afforded to men.
[edit] Socialist feminism
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There exists a common ground between socialist and radical feminists in so far as both factions believe that only with the abolition of the current hegemonic state, can true equality exist between men and women. Unlike radicals however, Socialist feminists do believe that men can coexist with women in this post-capitalist vision of the future. This is because socialists suspect the capitalist system to be the root cause of female oppression, rather than males themselves. A belief amongst socialists of any kind is that a population can be nurtured into a state of equality, and as such, would have no need to separate men from women. With the abolition of the class structure, a socialist may argue, comes the erosion of male domination within society. Radical Women, an organization founded in 1967 in Seattle, WA, and now with branches in a number of U.S. cities, Australia, and El Salvador, is the foremost advocate of socialist feminist organizing today.
[edit] Marxist feminism
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Social aspects in the marxist ideal of the oppressed people who will rise. Marxist feminist theory basically states that the class struggle is the feminist struggle.
Feminists suggest that the relationship of men and women must be understood as one of unequal power, specifially one of traditional subjugation and oppression of women by men.
[edit] Postmodern feminism
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Postmodern Feminism emphasizes the stereotypical female roles, only to portray them as parodies of the original beliefs. The history of feminism is not important in this section, but only what is going to be done about it. In fact, the history is dismissed and used to depict better how ridiculous the past beliefs were.
Modern feminist theory has been extensively criticized as being predominantly, though not exclusively, associated with western middle class academia. Mainstream feminism has been criticized as being too narrowly focused, and inattentive to related issues of Race and class.
[edit] External links
- Feminist theory website (Center for Digital Discourse and Culture, Virginia Tech University)
- Feminist Theories and Anthropology by Heidi Armbruster
- [1] The Radical Women Manifesto: Socialist Feminist Theory, Program and Organizational Structure (Seattle: Red Letter Press, 2001)
