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Feminists redirects here. For a list of feminists, see List of feminists.

Feminism comprises a number of social, cultural and political movements, theories and moral philosophies concerned with gender inequalities and discrimination against women. Feminism is also described as an ideology focusing on equality of the sexes.[1] Some have argued that gendered and sexed identities, such as "man" and "woman", are social constructs. Feminists often differ in opinion over the sources of inequality, how to attain equality, and the extent to which gender and gender-based identities should be questioned and critiqued. Modern feminist political activists commonly campaign for a woman's right to bodily integrity and autonomy on matters such as reproductive rights, including the right to abortion, access to contraception and quality prenatal care; for protection from domestic violence; against sexual harassment and rape; for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; and against other forms of discrimination.[2]

Since the 1980s standpoint feminists have argued that the feminist movement should address global issues (such as rape, incest, and prostitution) and culturally specific issues (such as female genital mutilation in some parts of Africa and the Middle East and "glass ceiling" practices that impede women's advancement in developed economies) in order to understand how gender inequality interacts with racism, homophobia, lesbophobia, colonialism, and classism in a "matrix of domination."[3][4]

History of feminism

A 1932 Soviet poster for International Women's Day.
Main article: History of feminism

Feminist scholars have divided feminism's history into three 'waves', each dealing with different aspects of the same feminist issues. The first wave refers to the feminism movement of the 19th through early 20th centuries, which dealt mainly with the Suffrage movement. The second wave (1960s-1980s) dealt with the inequality of laws, as well as cultural inequalities. The Third wave of Feminism (1990s-current), is seen as both a continuation and a response to the perceived failures of the Second-wave.[5]

See also: Feminist movement, Feminist_history_in_Latin_America, Feminist_ideology_during_the_Sandinista_Revolution, and Feminism_in_Norway

First-wave feminism

Main article: First-wave feminism

First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States. It focused primarily on gaining the right of women's suffrage. The term, "first-wave," was coined retrospectively after the term second-wave feminism began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused as much on fighting social and cultural inequalities as further political inequalities.[6]

In Britain the Suffragettes campaigned for the women's vote, which was eventually granted − to some women in 1918 and to all in 1928 − as much because of the part played by British women during the First World War, as of the efforts of the Suffragettes. In the United States leaders of this movement include Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who each campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing women's right to vote. Other important leaders include Lucy Stone, Olympia Brown, and Helen Pitts. American first-wave feminism involved a wide range of women, some belonging to conservative Christian groups (such as Frances Willard and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union), others resembling the diversity and radicalism of much of second-wave feminism (such as Matilda Joslyn Gage and the National Woman Suffrage Association). In the United States first-wave feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1919), granting women the right to vote.[7][8][9][10]

Second-wave feminism

Main article: Second-wave feminism

Second-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity beginning in the early 1960s & lasting through the late 1980s. Second Wave Feminism has existed continuously since then, and continues to coexist with what some people call Third Wave Feminism. The second wave feminism saw cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked. The movement encouraged women to understand aspects of their own personal lives as deeply politicized, and reflective of a sexist structure of power. If first-wave feminism focused upon absolute rights such as suffrage, second-wave feminism was largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as the end to discrimination.[6]

The Feminine Mystique

File:Mystique.jpg
Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique
Main article: The Feminine Mystique

The Feminine Mystique was written in 1963 by Betty Friedan. It criticized the idea that women could only find fulfillment through childbearing and homemaking. According to Friedan's obiturary in the The New York Times The Feminine Mystique “ignited the contemporary women's movement in 1963 and as a result permanently transformed the social fabric of the United States and countries around the world” and “is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.”[11] In the book Friedan hypothesizes that women are victims of a false belief system that requires them to find identity and meaning in their lives through their husbands and children. Such a system causes women to completely lose their identity in that of their family. Friedan specifically locates this system among post-World War II middle-class suburban communities. At the same time, America's post-war economic boom had led to the development of new technologies that were supposed to make household work less difficult, but that often had the result of making women's work less meaningful and valuable. It also critiqued Freud's theory of penis envy and freed women from being strictly confined to the role of a housewife during the Post-War economic expansion.[12]

Third-wave feminism

Main article: Third-wave feminism

The Third-wave of feminism began in the early 1990s. The movement arose as a response to perceived failures of the second-wave. It was also a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second-wave. Third-wave feminism seeks to challenge or avoid what it deems the second wave's "essentialist" definitions of femininity, which (according to them) over-emphasized the experiences of upper middle class white women. A post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality is central to much of the third wave's ideology. Third wave feminists often focus on "micropolitics," and challenged the second wave's paradigm as to what is, or is not, good for females.[6][13][14][15]

In 1991, Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas, an African-American man nominated to the Supreme Court, of sexual harassment that had allegedly occurred a decade earlier while Hill worked as his assistant at the U.S. Department of Education. Thomas denied the accusations and after extensive debate, the Senate voted 52-48 in favor of Thomas. In response to this case, Rebecca Walker published an article entitled "Becoming the Third Wave" in which she stated, "I am not a post-feminism feminist. I am the third wave."[16] Hill and Thomas’ case brought attention to the ongoing presence of sexual harassment in the workplace and reinstated a sense of concern and awareness in many people who assumed that sexual harassment and other second wave issues had been resolved.[14][17][18]

The Third Wave began however in the mid 1980's. Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave like Gloria Anzaldua, bell hooks, Chela Sandoval, Cherrie Moraga, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many other feminists of color, called for a new subjectivity in feminist voice. They sought to negotiate prominent space within feminist thought for consideration of race related subjectivities. This focus on the intersection between race and gender remained prominent through the Hill-Thomas hearings, but began to shift with the "Freedom Ride 1992". This drive to register voters in poor minority communities was surrounded with rhetoric that focused on rallying young feminists. For many, the rallying of the young is the emphasis that has stuck within third wave feminism.[14][17][18]

Contemporary feminism

Contemporary feminism is made up of a number of different philosophical strands. These movements sometimes disagree with another about current issues, and about how to confront them. Extremes on the one side of the spectrum include a number of radical feminists, such as Mary Daly, who argue that human society would be better off with dramatically fewer men.[19] On the other hand, figures such as Christina Hoff Sommers and Camille Paglia identify themselves as feminist but accuse the movement of anti-male prejudice. [20] [21] Some feminists, like Katha Pollitt (see her book Reasonable Creatures) or Nadine Strossen, consider feminism to hold simply that "women are people." Views that separate the sexes rather than unite them are considered by these writers to be sexist rather than feminist.[22][23] There are also debates between difference feminists such as Carol Gilligan, who believe that there are important differences between the sexes (which may or may not be inherent, but which cannot be ignored), and those who believe that there are no essential differences between the sexes, and that the societal roles are due to conditioning.[24]

Feminist theory

Main article: Feminist theory
See also: Gender studies,
Women's studies,
Feminist history,
Feminist geography,
Feminist sexology,
Feminist economics,
Psychoanalytic feminism,
Feminist philosophy,
Feminist anthropology,
Feminist film theory,
Feminist literary criticism

Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical, fields. It encompasses work in a variety of disciplines, including approaches to women's roles and lived experiences; feminist politics in anthropology and sociology, economics, women's; gender studies; feminist literary criticism; and philosophy[25].

Feminist theory aims to understand gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. While providing a critique of social relations, much of feminist theory also focuses on analyzing gender inequalities and the promotion of women's rights, interests, and issues. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression, and patriarchy.[26] [27]

Feminism's many forms

Most feminist social movements promote women's rights, interests and issues. Early feminists and primary feminist movements are often called the first-wave feminists, and feminists after about 1960 the second-wave feminists. More recently, some younger feminists have identified themselves as third-wave feminists, although the second-wave feminists are still active. Several subtypes of feminist ideology have developed over the years. Some of the major subtypes are listed as follows.

Liberal feminism

Betty Friedan in 1960
Main article: Liberal feminism

Liberal feminism asserts the equality of men and women through political and legal reform. It is an individualistic form of feminism and theory, which focuses on women’s ability to show and maintain their equality through their own actions and choices. Liberal feminism looks at the personal interactions of men and women as the starting ground from which to transform society into a more gender-equitable place. According to liberal feminists, all women are capable of asserting their ability to achieve equality, therefore it is possible for change to happen without altering the structure of society. Issues important to liberal feminists include reproductive and abortion rights, sexual harassment, voting, education, "equal pay for equal work," affordable childcare, affordable health care, and bringing to light the frequency of sexual and domestic violence against women.[28]

People of interest

Radical Feminism

Main article: Radical feminism

Radical feminism sees the capitalist sexist hierarchy as the defining feature of women’s oppression. Radical feminists believe that women can free themselves only when have done away with what they consider an inherently oppressive and dominating system. Radical feminists feel that the male-based authority and power structure are responsible for oppression and inequality, and that as long as the system and its values are in place, society will not be able to reform in any significant way. Radical feminism sees capitalism as a barrier to ending oppression. Most radical feminists see no alternatives other than the total uprooting and reconstruction of society in order to achieve their goals.[29]

People of interest
See also: Anarcha-feminism

Black feminism

Angela Davis speaking at the University of Alberta, 28 March 2006
Main article: Black feminism

Black feminism argues that sexism and racism are inextricable from one another[30]. Forms of feminism that strive to overcome sexism and class oppression but ignore or race can discriminate against of many people, including women through racial bias. Black feminists argue that the liberation of black women entails freedom for all people, since it would require the end of racism, sexism, and class oppression.[31]

One of the theories that evolved out of this movement was Alice Walker's Womanism. Angela Davis was one of the first people who formed an argument centered on intersection of race, gender and class in her book, "Women, Race, and Class."[32] Kimberle Crenshaw, prominent feminist law theorist, gave the idea a name while discussing Identity Politics in her essay, 'Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence Against Women of Color.'

People of interest
See also: Womanism

Post-structural feminism

File:0679724516.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
The Second Sex a major feminist work by Simone de Beauvoir
Main article: French feminism

Post-structural feminism, also referred to as French feminism, use the insights of various epistemological movements, including psychoanalysis, linguistics, political theory (Marxist and neo-Marxist theory), race theory, literary theory, and other intellectual currents for feminist concerns.[33] Many post-structural feminists maintain that difference is one of the most powerful tools that females possess in their struggle with patriarchal domination, and that to equate feminist movement only with equality is to deny women a plethora of options as equality is still defined against within masculine or patriarchal perspective.[33][34]

People of interest

Socialist & Marxist feminisms

Donna Haraway, author of Primate Visions & A Cyborg Manifesto, with her dog Cayenne
Main article: Socialist feminism
Main article: Marxist feminism

Socialist feminism connects the oppression of women to Marxist ideas about exploitation, oppression and labor. Socialist feminists see women as being held down as a result of their unequal standing in both the workplace and the domestic sphere.[35] Prostitution, domestic work, childcare, and marriage are all seen as ways in which women are exploited by a patriarchal system which devalues women and the substantial work that they do. Socialist feminists focus their energies on broad change that affects society as a whole, and not just on an individual basis. They see the need to work alongside not just men, but all other groups, as they see the oppression of women as a part of a larger pattern that affects everyone involved in the capitalist system.[36]

People of interest

Postcolonial feminism

Main article: Postcolonial feminism
See also: Third-world feminism,
Multiracial feminism

Postcolonial feminism is a form of feminism that is critical of Western forms of feminism, notably radical feminism and liberal feminism and their universalization of female experience. Postcolonial feminists argue that cultures impacted by colonialism are often vastly different and should be treated as such. Colonial oppression may result in glorification of pre-colonial culture, which, in cultures with traditions of stratification of power along lines of gender, could mean the acceptance of, or refusal to deal with, inherent issues of gender inequality.[37]

Postcolonial feminists can be described as feminists who have reacted against both universalizing tendencies in Western feminist thought and a lack of attention to gender issues in mainstream postcolonial thought.[38]

People of interest
See also: Postcolonialism and Orientalism

Third-world feminism

File:Taslima nasrin.jpg
Taslima Nasrin: author, physician & feminist human rights activist
Main article: Third-world feminism

The feminist movement called third-world feminism has been described as a group of feminist theories developed by feminists who acquired their views and took part in feminist politics in so-called third world countries[39]. Although women from the third world have been engaged in the feminist movement, some criticize Western feminism on the grounds that it is ethnocentric and does not take into account the unique experiences of women from third world countries or the existence of feminisms indigenous to third world countries. According to Chandra Talpade Mohanty, women in the third world feel that western feminism bases its understanding of women on "internal racism, classism and homophobia"[40].

People of interest

Ecofeminism

Vandana Shiva 2007 in Cologne, Germany
Main article: Ecofeminism

Ecofeminism links ecology with feminism. Ecofeminists see the domination of women as stemming from the same ideologies that bring about the domination of the environment. Patriarchal systems, where men own and control the land, are seen as responsible for the oppression of women and destruction of the natural environment. Since the men in power control the land, they are able to exploit it for their own profit and success. In this same situation, women are exploited by men in power for their own profit, success, and pleasure. Women and the environment are both exploited as passive pawns in the race to domination. Those people in power are able to take advantage of them distinctly because they are seen as passive and rather helpless. Ecofeminism connects the exploitation and domination of women with that of the environment. As a way of repairing social and ecological injustices, ecofeminists feel that women must work towards creating a healthy environment and ending the destruction of the lands that most women rely on to provide for their families.[41]

People of interest
See also: Environmentalism

Separatist feminism

Main article: Separatist feminism

Separatist feminism is a form of feminism that does not support heterosexual relationships due to a belief that sexual disparities between men and women are unresolvable. Separatist feminists generally do not feel that men can make positive contributions to the feminist movement and that even well-intentioned men replicate the dynamics of patriarchy.[42] Author Marilyn Frye describes separatist feminism as "separation of various sorts or modes from men and from institutions, relationships, roles and activities that are male-defined, male-dominated, and operating for the benefit of males and the maintenance of male privilege — this separation being initiated or maintained, at will, by women."[43]

People of interest
File:Wendy McElroy 144x206.jpg
Wendy McElroy: Canadian individualist anarchist, "anarcho-capitalist" and sex-positive feminist.

Sex-positive feminism

Main article: Sex-positive feminism

Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a movement that was formed in the early 1980s. Some became involved in the sex-positive feminist movement in response to efforts by anti-pornography feminists, such as Catharine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, Robin Morgan and Dorchen Leidholdt, to put pornography at the center of a feminist explanation of women's oppression. This period of intense debate and acrimony between sex-positive and anti-pornography feminists during the early 1980s is often referred to as the "Feminist Sex Wars".[44]

People of interest

Individualist feminism

Individualist feminism is rooted in the classical liberal tradition. It is closely linked to the libertarian ideas of individuality and personal responsibility of both women and men. Some other feminists believe that it reinforces patriarchal systems because it does not view the rights or political interests of men and women as being in conflict nor does it rest upon class/gender analysis.[citation needed] Individualist feminists attempt to change government or other systems (e.g., legal systems) in order to eliminate class privileges, including gender privileges and to ensure that individuals have an equal right, an equal claim under law to their own persons and property. Individualist feminism encourages women to take full responsibility over their own lives. It also opposes any government interference into the choices adults make with their own bodies.[45][46]

Postmodern feminism

See also: Postmoderism,
Post-feminism
Main article: Postmodern feminism

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.[47]

People of interest

Post-feminism

Judith Butler at a lecture at the University of Hamburg.
Main article: Post-feminism

Post-feminism comprises a wide range of theories, some of which argue that feminism is no longer relevant to today's society.[48] One of the earliest uses of the term was in Susan Bolotin's 1982 article "Voices of the Post-Feminist Generation," published in New York Times Magazine. This article was based on a number of interviews with women who largely agreed with the goals of feminism, but did not identify as feminists.[49] The post-feminist texts which emerged in the 1980s and '90s often portrayed second-wave feminism as a monolithic entity, thereby allowing the author to criticize these generalizations.[50]

People of interest

Issues in defining feminism

One of the difficulties in defining and circumscribing a complex and heterogeneous concept such as feminism[51][52] is the extent to which women have rejected the term from a variety of semantic and political standpoints. Many women engaged in activities intimately grounded in feminism have not considered themselves feminists. Likewise, it is assumed that only women can be feminists. However, feminism is not grounded in the basis of one's gender, but in rejecting and refuting sexist oppression politically, socially, privately, linguistically, and otherwise. (Though there are people - both men and women - who claim feminism itself can be biased in its approach to gender relations.) Redefining feminism in this way illustrates and reflects today's reality of both men and women openly supporting feminism and also openly adhering to sexist ideals.[53] From a political vantage, the term "feminism" has been rejected both because of fears of labeling, and because of its innate ability to attract broad misogyny.[54] Historically Virginia Woolf was one of the more prominent women to reject the term[55] early in its history in 1938, although it would be easy to overstate Woolf's position,[56] considering that she is regarded as an icon of feminism.[57] However Betty Friedan would revisit this concern in 1981 in The Second Stage. Nevertheless, defining ideas does not necessarily imply tagging the individual. Ann Taylor,[58] for instance, offers the following definition of a feminist, after Karen Offen:[59] Any person who recognizes "the validity of women's own interpretation of their lived experiences and needs," protests against the institutionalized injustice perpetrated by men as a group against women as a group, and advocates the elimination of that injustice by challenging the various structures of authority or power that legitimate male prerogatives in a given society. Another way of expressing this concept is that a primary goal is to correct androcentric bias.[60]

Other attempts at defining feminism have been made by the United Nations.[61] However, one of feminism's unique characteristics, strengths and weaknesses is its persistent defiance of being constrained by definition. Charlotte Witt observes that this reflects the "contested nature of the "us" of contemporary feminism...and is a part of, on-going debates within feminism over its identity and self-image..in the final analysis, the result of debate within feminist philosophy over what feminism is, and what its theoretical commitments should be, and what its core values are."[62] This is the subject of one of the more lively debates in feminism, that which Nannerl Keohane has called the "perpetual oscillation between essentialism and nominalism (constructionism) in feminist theory."[63] Briefly, "to essentialise is to reduce a complex idea or object to simplistic characteristics, thereby denying diversity, multiple meanings and alternative interpretations" in the words of Joan Marler, an opponent of essentialism in feminism.[64]

In recent times some women and men have distanced from the term "femin"ism in favor of more inclusive terminology such as "equal rights activist/advocate", "equalist" or similar non-gendered phrasings.[65][66]

Feminism and society

By campaigning for the right to vote, suffragettes began the feminist struggle for equality in the West.
Woman Suffrage Headquarters, Cleveland, 1912

While a number of feminists argue that there are many battles for equity to be waged, others disagree and observe that many challenges have been overcome. For example, in developed nations, women now outnumber men in high school graduation rates and university enrollment.[67][68]

Civil rights

Feminism has effected many changes in Western society, including women's suffrage, broad employment for women at more equitable wages, the right to initiate divorce proceedings and the introduction of "no fault" divorce, the right to obtain contraception and safe abortions, and access to university education. According to studies by the United Nations, when both paid employment and unpaid household tasks are accounted for, on average women work more than men. In rural areas of selected developing countries women performed an average of 20% more work than men, or an additional 102 minutes per day. In the OECD countries surveyed, on average women performed 5% more work than men, or 20 minutes per day.[69] At the UN's Pan Pacific Southeast Asia Women's Association 21st International Conference in 2001 it was stated that "in the world as a whole, women comprise 51 percent of the population, do 66 percent of the work, receive 10 percent of the income and own less than one percent of the property."[70]

Language

Main article: Gender-neutral language in English
See also: Gender-neutrality in languages with grammatical gender,
Gender-neutrality in languages without grammatical gender

Gender-neutral language is a description of language usages which are aimed at minimizing assumptions regarding the biological sex of human referents. The advocacy of gender-neutral language reflects, at least, two different agenda: one aims to clarify the inclusion of both sexes or genders (gender-inclusive language); the other proposes that gender, as a category, is rarely worth marking in language (gender-neutral language). Gender-neutral language is sometimes described as non-sexist language by advocates, and politically-correct language by opponents.[71]

Heterosexual relationships

The increased entry of women into the workplace beginning in the twentieth and century has effected gender roles and division of labor within households. The sociologist, Arlie Russell Hochschild, presents evidence in her books, The Second Shift and The Time Bind, that in two-career couples, men and women on the average spend about equal amounts of time working, but women still spend more time on housework.[72][73]

Feminist criticisms of men's contributions to child care and domestic labor in the Western middle class are typically centered around the idea that it is unfair for women to be expected to perform more than half of a household's domestic work and child care when both members of the relationship also work outside the home. Several studies provide statistical evidence that higher or lower financial income of married men, does not influence them in terms of attending to the household duties as much their wives.[74][75]

In Dubious Conceptions, Kristin Luker discusses the effect of feminism on teenage women's choices to bear a child, both in and out of wedlock. She says that as childbearing out of wedlock has become more socially acceptable; young women, especially poor young women, while not bearing children at a higher rate than in the 1950s, now see less reason to get married before having a child. Her explanation for this is that economic prospects for poor men are slim, hence poor women have a low chance of finding a husband who will be able to provide reliable financial support.[76]

Religion

Main article: Feminist theology

Feminist theology is a movement that reconsiders the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of their religion from a feminist perspective. Some of the goals of feminist theology include increasing the role of women among the clergy and religious authorities, reinterpreting male-dominated imagery and language about God, determining women's place in relation to career and motherhood, and studying images of women in the religion's sacred texts.[77]

See also: God and gender and Difference feminism

Christian feminism

Main article: Christian feminism

Christian feminism is a branch of feminist theology which seeks to interpret and understand Christianity in the scope of the equality of women and men morally, socially, and in leadership. Because this equality has been historically ignored, Christian feminists believe their contributions are necessary for a complete understanding of Christianity. While there is no standard set of beliefs among Christian feminists, most agree that God does not discriminate on the basis of biologically-determined characteristics such as gender. Their major issues are the ordination of women, male dominance in Christian marriage, and claims of moral deficiency and inferiority of abilities of women compared to men. They also are concerned with issues such as the balance of parenting between mothers and fathers and the overall treatment of women in the church. [78][79]

Jewish feminism

File:BluGreenberg.jpg
Blu Greenberg, an American writer and Jewish feminist.
Main article: Jewish feminism

Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Judaism and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women. Feminist movements, with varying approaches and successes, have opened up within all major branches of Judaism. In its modern form, the movement can be traced to the early 1970s in the United States. According to Judith Plaskow, who has focused on feminism in Reform Judaism, the main issues for early Jewish feminists in these movements were the exclusion from the all-male prayer group or minyan, the exemption from positive time-bound mitzvot, and women's inability to function as witnesses and to initiate divorce.[80]

People of interest

Islamic feminism

Mukhtaran Bibi, Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year 2005
Main article: Islamic feminism

Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of sex or gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate women's rights, gender equality, and social justice grounded in an Islamic framework. Although rooted in Islam, the movement's pioneers have also utilised secular and Western feminist discourses and recognise the role of Islamic feminism as part of an integrated global feminist movement[81]. Advocates of the movement seek to highlight the deeply rooted teachings of equality in the Quran and encourage a questioning of the patriarchal interpretation of Islamic teaching through the Quran (holy book), hadith (sayings of Muhammed) and sharia (law) towards the creation of a more equal and just society.[82]

People of interest

Scientific research into feminist issues

Some natural and social scientists have considered feminist ideas and feminist forms of scholarship using scientific methods.

One core scientific controversy involves the issue of the social construction vs the biological formation of gender or sex associated identities. Modern feminist science is based on the view that most if not all differences between the sexes are based on socially constructed gender idendities rather than on biological sex differences. For example, Anne Fausto-Sterling's book Myths of Gender explores the assumptions embodied in scientific research that purports to support a biologically essentialist view of gender.[83] However, in The Female Brain, Louann Brizendine argues that brain differences between the sexes are a biological reality with significant implications for sex-specific functional differences.[84] Steven Rhoads' book Taking Sex Differences Seriously illustrates sex-dependent differences across a wide scope.[85]

Carol Tavris, in The Mismeasure of Woman (the title is a play on Stephen Jay Gould's The Mismeasure of Man), uses psychology, sociology, and analysis in a critique of theories that use biological reductionism to explain differences between men and women. She argues rather than using evidence of innate gender difference there is an over-changing hypothesis to justify inequality and perpetuate stereotypes.[86]

Evelyn Fox Keller has argued that the rhetoric of science reflects a masculine perspective, and questions the idea of scientific objectivity. Primatologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy notes the prevalence of masculine-coined stereotypes and theories, such as the non-sexual female, despite "the accumulation of abundant openly available evidence contradicting it".[87]

Other concepts

Pro-feminism

Main article: Pro-feminism

Pro-feminism refers to support of feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of the feminist movement. The term is most often used in reference to men who are actively supportive of feminism and of efforts to bring about gender equality The activities of pro-feminist men's groups include anti-violence work with boys and young men in schools, offering sexual harassment workshops in workplaces, running community education campaigns, and counseling male perpetrators of violence. Pro-feminist men also are involved in men's health, activism against pornography including anti-pornography legislation, men's studies, the development of gender equity curricula in schools, and many other areas. This work is sometimes in collaboration with feminists and women's services, such as domestic violence and rape crisis centers. Some activists of both genders will not refer to men as "feminists" at all, and will refer to all pro-feminist men as "pro-feminists".[88][89]

Anti-feminism

Main article: Anti-feminism

Antifeminism refers to opposition to feminism in some or all of its forms.[90] The meaning of term, however, differs depending on the context used. It addresses a range of points either criticizing feminist ideology and practice or arguing that it be restrained. Numerous dictionaries, including academic ones often equate antifeminism with male chauvinism or movement against gender equality [91][92].

Feminists such as Camille Paglia, Christina Hoff Sommers, Jean Bethke Elshtain and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese have been labeled "antifeminists" by other feminists [93] [94]. Patai and Koerge argue that in this way the term "antifeminist" is used to silence academic debate about feminism.[95] Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young's books Spreading Misandry and Legalizing Misandry explore what they argue is feminist-inspired misandry.[96]. Christina Hoff-Sommers argues feminist misandry leads directly to misogyny by what she calls "establishment feminists" against (the majority of) women who love men in Who Stole Feminism: How Women Have Betrayed Women.

"Marriage rights" advocates criticize feminists like Shelia Cronan who take the view that marriage constitutes slavery for women, and and that freedom for women cannot be won without the abolition of marriage.[97]

Notable feminists

References

  1. ^ 'Feminism', Webster Dictionary Definition
  2. ^ Feminist Theory and the Body: A Reader ed. by Janet Price and Margrit Shildrick (Edinburgh University Press, 1999) ISBN 9780748610891
  3. ^ Hill Collins, P. (2000): Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (New York: Routledge)
  4. ^ Harding, Sandra, The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies (Routledge, 2003), ISBN 9780415945011
  5. ^ Krolokke, Charlotte and Anne Scott Sorensen, 'From Suffragettes to Grrls' in Gender Communication Theories and Analyses:From Silence to Performance (Sage, 2005)
  6. ^ a b c Freedman, Estelle B., No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women (London: Ballantine Books, 2003)
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  88. ^ Kimmel, Michael S., and Thomas E. Mosmiller Against the Tide: Pro-Feminist Men in the United States, 1776-1990 a Documentary History (Beacon, 1992), ISBN 9780807067673
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  96. ^ Nathanson, P. and K. K. Young, Legalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Descrimination Against Men (McGill-Queen's University Press)
  97. ^ Poloma M. M., Garland T. N. (1971). "The Married Professional Woman: A Study in the Tolerance of Domestication". Journal of Marriage and the Family. 33 (3): 531–540.

See also

Masculist movements
Derogatory neologisms

External links

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