Feminist Theory Core Concepts

• Contemporary feminism emerged in the late eighteenth century, advocating for women's political equality
• It has evolved through various stages since its inception
• Liberal and socialist feminism in the 19th and early 20th centuries combined feminism with dominant political ideologies
• Approaches independent of male-defined theories began in the 1960s, like radical feminism, psychoanalytic feminism, feminisms of women of color, and postmodern feminism
• These newer approaches analyze women's role in society from a female perspective

Gender Construction

• Studies how gender is both constructed and maintained, noting that it is one of the central meaning structures of society
• Feminism offers comprehensive insight into the social significance of gender, forming a fundamental aspect of contemporary critical theory

Liberalism and Women's Enfranchisement

• Western Europe worked to enfranchise people excluded from political participation in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, largely through liberalism
• Government is formed by rational, autonomous individuals serving their own interests within the theory of liberalism
• All adults are argued to participate equally in government with equality under the law
• Some women embraced these liberal theories at this time
• Beginning in 1798 with Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Women," women advocated for their inclusion in an egalitarian society
• English philosopher John Stuart Mill supported this cause in "The Subjection of Women" (1869)
• Enfranchisement for women was perceived as a solution to inequality for these thinkers

Limitations of Enfranchisement

• Women gained the right to vote in the 20th century in most Western European and North American nations
• While liberal theory suggested this would solve inequality, women's status remained largely unchanged
• In the 1960s women pushed for extensive social changes against political, legal, economic, and social inferiority
• Laws discriminating against women were removed and employment barriers were challenged
• Liberal feminists like Betty Friedan argued for full political and legal equality to remove women's inferior status in "The Feminine Mystique" (1963)
• The approach of liberal feminism assumes that inferiority is primarily a function of their political and legal status
• Liberalism presupposes that equal participation and equality before the law can secure freedom
• Achieving equality did not resolve women's continued inequality

Marxism and Women's Liberation

• A feminist movement emerged based on Marxism, opposing liberalism via the location of power in the economy, not the government
• Karl Marx said, power resides with those controlling economic production, where changing that control would alter social structures
• Friedrich Engels, Marx's collaborator, wrote "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State" (1845)
• Domination of women came with private property in human society, according to Engels
• Overthrowing private property and specifically capitalism results in the liberation of women, according to this theory
• Women, like the proletariat, should work to overthrow capitalism, according to this theory

Marxist/Socialist Feminism

• Some 20th-century feminists used Marx's theories to formulate Marxist/socialist feminism
• Juliet Mitchell developed ‘dual-systems theory', meaning women are oppressed by both capitalism and patriarchy
• Dismantling both structures is needed for women's liberation, according to dual-systems theorists
• Nancy Hartsock used Marx's concept of the proletarian standpoint to create the 'feminist standpoint'
• Hartsock asserted that women's oppression gives them a unique and truer view of the realities of society
• Like Mitchell, Hartsock called for women to attack both patriarchy and capitalism to achieve liberation

Beyond Objective Structures

• Marxist/socialist feminism explores the societal rather than the strictly political and legal roots of women's subordination, expanding understanding of the causes of women's oppression
• Views are limited to examining the objective structures of society
• Feminist thought developed into a critical social theory with radical, psychoanalytic, and postmodern feminism, exploring how women become ‘women' in society
• These views analyze how gender is created and perpetuated in all aspects of society, looking beyond the economic, legal, and political structures of society

Radical Feminism

• Simone de Beauvoir began her analysis of women in "The Second Sex" (1988), arguing that one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman
• Beginning in the late 1970s, feminists analyzed women's role in reproduction and sought to explain and rectify women's inferior status
• Radical feminists focused on mothering, sexuality, and gender roles
• The role of women perpetuates subordination to men
• The cultural construction of mothering and sexuality, not biological factors, defines women's status

Shulamith Firestone

• Shulamith Firestone’s "The Dialectic of Sex" (1970) states women are kept subordinate by bearing children and being responsible for raising them
• Even if all legal, economic and political barriers were removed it would not change their status as they will still be mothers, and subordinate
• Artificial reproduction was what Firestone proposed as a solution, but it was seen as bizarre and unacceptable

Radical Feminist Views

• The rejection of Firestone's conclusions lead to the exploration of questions regarding reproduction and sexuality
• Many argued that instead of abandoning motherhood, it should be embraced as a positive good
• Taking control of the process of reproduction away from the powers of patriarchy is essential to such affirmation
• Mary O'Brien’s "The Politics of Reproduction" (1981) said men control women's reproductive process through medical, social and cultural structures
• O’Brien stated that women should reclaim this control and positively affirm the role of mothering
• Adrienne Rich offered a similar argument, emphasizing the role and identifying it as the distinctive contribution of women
• Mothering is a uniquely feminine activity that should be affirmed instead of denied, according to theorists like Adrienne Rich
• Mothering must be redefined as a positive, life-affirming activity rather than the source of women's oppression

The Creation of "Woman"

• Radical feminists argue the source of women's oppression is thesis is the cultural creation of the concept ‘woman', and not biological or structural forces
• The central aspect of this definition is sexual, spanning into every aspect of social life

Radical Feminist Authors

• Kate Millett: Literature is filled with suffused with sexual meanings that demean women
• Mary Daly: The patriarchal structure of the church oppresses women
• Marilyn Frye: Looks at everyday events like men opening doors for women as openings for the ongoing subordination of women
• Catharine MacKinnon: Legal theorist and activist that argues that women's subordination stems from society's construction of ‘woman'
  • One point of this theory is pornography as a representation of women as subjects for men's desire

Critiques

• MacKinnon's attack provoked criticism among feminists
• Thesis that pornography is the essential element was challenged
• Some felt MacKinnon's stance entails being anti-sex
• A “pro-sex” movement was developed in opposition to MacKinnon's position
• Objecting to the pursuit of banning pornography through legal strategies was also common, claiming that this infringed on First Amendment rights

Overall Radical Feminism

• Represented an important moment in feminist thought
• Focus was shifted to the production of meaning compared to Liberal and Marxist/socialist feminism objective structures
• Woman is constructed in our society which is the cause of oppression, not objective structures
• The meaning conferred on the identity of woman is the cause of subordination on all fields of cultural life

Equality vs. Difference

• Liberal and Marxist/socialist feminisms are rooted in equality
• Radical feminism focuses on difference, not conformity men's standards, in a positive sense
• Emphasis on the removal of subordination to women without erasing difference

Psychology and Feminism in the Late 20th Century

• Shift from equality led to feminists exploring difference through psychology in the 1970s
• Sigmund Freud said woman's psyche was a problem because were unable to resolve Oedipus complex
• The inability to resolve the Oedipus complex creates difficulties for mature sexuality

Challenging Freud

• Theorists explored the differences between men and women from a psychological perspective, creating new understandings of their origins

Influence of Mothers

• Dorothy Dinnerstein and Nancy Chodorow argued women differ because they are raised by mothers to meet a static depiction of what ‘woman' entails
• They said Mothers raise boys to conform to societal ideals

Object Relations Theory

• Mothers raise relationships differently of boys and girls, according to object relations theory
• Boys are kept at a distance, expression of emotion discouraged, and competition encouraged, said mothers raise boys as little men
• Girls are kept in the house, discouraged from engaging in competitive play, and taught how to ‘mother' dolls and deal with emotional relationships
• Men are good at competition/autonomy, women excel in relationship and emotions

Parenting Styles

• Nancy Chodorow further said the differences between genders is created in parenting styles and should be erased by 'dual parenting'
• Boys and girls should be treated equally within dual parenting
• Qualities not associated w/ one gender or another would mean and individual's characteristics are not gender-defined

Carol Gilligan

• In 1982, Carol Gilligan's "In a Different Voice" analyzed women's processes of moral decision-making, having a profound effect on the feminist movement
• Women approach moral decisions relationally and contextually, while men abstract from the situation and appeal to universal principals

Gilligan's Influence

• Women's moral decisions resonated w/ women in descriptions
• Women's relational approach validated in women's experiences

Object Relations Theory

• Emphasizes social and cultural explanations for difference, rather than biology and essentialism
• Most psychoanalytic feminists see the psyche as a social product

Equality?

• Most psychoanalytic feminists emphasize difference rather than equality
• There is a focus on difference in both radical feminism and psychoanalytic feminism
• These feminist approaches make the category of `'woman’ monolithic
• The emphasis is on the difference women and men, not the differences between women

The Feminist Movement in the 1970s and 1980s

• Gained momentum and was made up of primarily of white, middle-class women at this time

Women of Color

• Resisted as they felt the “woman” as a monolith
• Began to split off from the feminist organizations and form groups of their own

Elizabeth Spelman

• Theory that white middle class theories do not apply to people of color
• Argued that women is a Trojan horse
• Stating to be counter, a feminist theory and practice should acknowledge differences

Identity Politics of The 1980's

• Differences between women came to the front
• Feminist organization formed to promote their own interest
• Developed theories to their specific situations or rejected it altogether

Apprehension of the Time

• Apprehension began as the movement was fragmenting the feminist community
• Most agree to accommodating to diversity
• Other categories are socially constructed too, in particular race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation

Postmodernism

• Front and center topic by the 1980's and 90's
• Postmodernism had roots in French theories
• Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida, and Michael Foucault are among the names most embraced

Modernism

• The root of postmodern rejection to modernism
• Modernism believes in rational, universal truth
• Postmoderns declare this attempt at best futile, and at worst dangerous Everything is continually in flux, truth is a metaphor, definition changes with styles of discourse; individual identity is fiction
• identity is created by the discourses that structure society

Aspects of Post Modern Thought

• Modernist/dualistic: Divides the world between entities and opposites
• Opposites always hierarchical and signified
• Privileged side is masculinized

The Source of Feminism

• Western modernist thought itself
• Always defined as other to masculine
• 1980's Postmoderist of French writers Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, and Hélène Cixous
• Writing is far from identical
• Embracing pluralistic epistemology
• Kristeva discusses woman's radical potential to disrup discourse using Lacan's psychoanalytic work, advocating for women's perspective

Judith Butler

• Definitive influence by publishing Gender Trouble in 1990 bringing P. feminism to the forefront
• Woman is fiction where subject is created and maintained by concepts

Inability to unite Politics

• Can't be united around concept woman
• Engaging the actions is gender trouble
• Acting subversively will destabilize gender
• Culminates in feminism and psychoanalytic: meaning to production
• Woman is a fiction produced by the actions that constitute gender, not identities
• Feminist only get in the way
• 3rd wave feminist only focuses on differences between women today, not theory wars

"New Material"

Criticizes P. Feminism

• Karen Barad
• Elizabeth Grosz

Focuses on language, but agree language constitutes reality Bringing back the material Materiality to the body Language, material, and technology create elements

Explore the core tenets of feminist theory, from liberal feminism and its focus on equality, to socialist and radical perspectives. Understand historical context, key arguments, and differences among various feminist approaches. Discover the evolution, achievements, and limitations.