...Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women, and or women's liberation. It includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Feminism has earned itself a bad reputation, but it never undermined gender differences that exist between males and females. A man can never be as good a mother as a female can. Similarly, a woman can never be as good a father as a male can. While accepting these anatomical and physiological differences between the two genders, feminism seeks for both genders to be equally respected. They are both human and as a species, humans cannot progress without either one of them. Maggie Humm and Rebecca Walker divide the history of feminism into three waves. The first wave transpired in the nineteenth and early twentieth century’s, the second occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. In each wave of the movement, though men have taken part in significant responses to feminism, the relationship between men and feminism has been complex. Historically, a number of men have engaged with feminism. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham demanded equal rights for women in the eighteenth century. In 1866, philosopher John Stuart Mill presented a women's...
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...3 TRENDS IN FEMINISM Structure 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Objectives 3.3 Liberal Feminism 3.3.1 Liberal Thought 3.3.2 Classical Liberal Feminism 3.3.3 Second Wave Liberal Feminism 3.3.4 Weakness/Limitations of the Liberal Feminism 3.3.5 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.4 Marxist Feminism 3.4.1 Foundations of Marxist Feminism 3.4.2 Other Key Elements in Marxist Feminism 3.4.3 Limitations of Marxist Feminism 3.4.4 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.5 Psychoanalytic Feminism 3.5.1 The Beginnings of Psychoanalytic Feminism – Countering Freudian Theories 3.5.2 Explanation by other Theorists 3.5.3 Limitations of Psychoanalytic Feminism 3.5.4 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.6 Radical feminism 3.6.1 Definition 3.6.2 The influences that shaped Radical Feminism 3.6.3 What are the variations of Radical Feminism? 3.6.3.1 Radical- Libertarian Feminism 3.6.3.2 Radical-Cultural Feminism 3.6.4 Radical Feminism – Its Structure 3.6.5 The Outcomes of the Movement 3.6.6 Critiques of Radical Feminism 3.6.7 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.7 Postmodern Feminism 3.7.1 Postmodern Thought 3.7.2 Postmodern rethinking of psychological explanation of gender 3.7.3 Postmodern Feminist 3.7.4 Limitations of Postmodern feminism 3.7.5 Contribution to the women’s Movement 3.8 Black Feminism and Womanism 3.8.1 The Beginnings of Black Feminism 3.9 Cyber Feminism 3.9.1 Origin of Cyber Feminism 3.9.2 Definition of the 100 Anti Thesis 3.9.3 Cyber art and its relation to Cyber feminism 3.9.4 Cyber...
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...Introduction Islam and feminism are often related together in most of discussion as there are some people blame Islam for not giving freedom to women and some other people used to establish human’s right according to Islam especially for feminist properties. Feminism is defined as both a political view and a theory where the subject of analysis centres on gender and provided a platform for women to claim equality, rights and justice. Feminism in basis concerned on four foremost, which are to clarify the origins and reasons of gender inequality, describe the operation and ingenuity of this situation, portrays effective approaches to either beget full equality between genders or possibly improve the impacts of continuous inequality and envision...
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...Feminism by Madiha Rauf Feminism is a collective struggle towards acceptance of women existence and recognition of their contributions. Its’ basic philosophy is to challenge the social status quo by defining and supporting women rights. Historically the term of feminism is established in western society as a protest against the laws and policies that compelled women to work in a subordinate role in the 18th century. Millett characterizes feminism as a “system of political, economic and social equality between sexes” (Millett, 1970: 74). While it is defined as “politics directed at changing existing power relations between women and men in a society” by Weedon, (1987).Hooks (2000) explains feminism as “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression”. Feminism is diverse collections of social theories through which many focus on analyzing the social constructions of gender while other focus on gender inequality and promoting women’s rights. By describing major forms of feminism, Tuttle, Lisa (1986) says, radical feminism considers patriarchy as a root cause of women oppressions so believes on radical social changes while liberal feminism asserts the equality of men and women through legal and political reforms. Socialist feminism supports Marx’s ideas &relates the oppression of women to labor exploitation and class structure. While essential and cultural feminism believe that females value because of their special differences & inherent ability to care. Many...
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...knee. Furthermore, I was sent home for this incident because “it was suggestive to the boys”… Let that sink in! My school was, slowly but surely, making clear to me was that they would much rather send me home and take away any academic lesson I would have learned from that day because of the small fact that an inch of my knee might be of disturbance to a hormonal high school boy. This is the point in my life when I needed feminism. I always understood the term feminism to be straightforward: anyone who believes in equality between men and women, as well as the perseverance of self-worth regardless of gender, is a feminist. However, my generation of women has a far more straight forward view of feminism than I do. Women who recommend the values of feminism now frown upon identifying themselves as feminist. Why is that? Many misconceptions and misunderstandings become part of the issue when a person has a lack of understanding or comprehension of exactly what the term feminism truly means. It is important to know the difference between equality and feminism. Comprehending the meaning of the two also empowers a women to be grounded and given the capability to know what they stand for. A Huffington post “Poll: Few Identify as Feminists, But Most Believe in Equality of Sexes”, conducted a poll that displayed the percentage of women who would identify themselves as feminist and only that of 23% consider to be feminist while the vast majority believes in equality. The gap that...
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... Psychology of Women Feminism Feminism, as defined by the Webster Dictionary, is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. I think that in today’s society, feminism has a negative association and many people are under the assumption that feminism is a male hating organization. Also, a lot of people think that sexism is not an issue today because they feel that women have gained equality so, feminism has no relevance. There are others who do agree that women should press for equal rights but will not claim the feminist title because of the negative stereotypes portrayed by the media. I can make many speculations of why this is so but I believe that this is mainly because of the ignorance people have towards the movement. People don’t understand the goal of feminism supporters and that is why feminist are falling short of their goal. People don’t take it serious; they even make a joke of it on social media websites such as Twitter. They have been making twitter accounts, calling themselves “meninist” to mock the feminist movement. People fail to realize that feminism can benefit some men as well. Males have a duty to act a certain way because of the roles that stereotypes has forced upon them. By definition, feminism is the advocacy for social, political, and economics rights or men and women. If feminist achieve their goal, it can emancipate...
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...Still Enduring: Equity Feminism for the Next Generation Webster defines feminism as both "the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes" and "organized activity on the behalf of women's rights and interests" (Webster 418). Equality of the sexes (in terms of rights) and the furthering of women's rights are seemingly positive aspirations; yet people tend to describe feminism using negative terms, and feminism today has acquired a bad reputation. "Radical" and "extremists" are adjectives commonly applied to feminism as a whole, when, in truth, feminists who adopt extreme positions constitute the minority. Moreover, these "gender feminists," or "militant feminists," as many call them, although they receive the most public attention because of their aggressive tactics and high visibility, alienate people in broadcasting their views. Their goal, to create a "sentimental priesthood" that will achieve collective power and retribution as oppressed "victims" of a white-male supremacy, seems unreasonable (Himmelfarb 20). In contrast, "equity feminists," or "academic feminists," embrace the basic principles of feminism. They celebrate women's achievements, work for the individual rights of all women, and, as Christina Hoff Sommers aptly says, "want for women what they want for everyone, equal protection under the law" (Himmelfarb 20). Though not all feminists agree on how to reach this goal, most argue for a reasonable, realistic, and positive method. By contrasting...
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...Foundation Course 1 Human Rights, Gender & Environment Understanding Patriarchy Suranjita Ray• Subordination of women to men is prevalent in large parts of the world. We come across experiences where women are not only treated as subordinate to men but are also subject to discriminations, humiliations, exploitations, oppressions, control and violence. Women experience discrimination and unequal treatment in terms of basic right to food, health care, education, employment, control over productive resources, decision-making and livelihood not because of their biological differences or sex, which is natural but because of their gender differences which is a social construct. “Sex is considered a fact - one is born with either male or female genitalia. Gender is considered a social construction - it grants meaning to the fact of sex. Conversely, it could be said that only after specific meanings came to be attached to the sexes, did sex differences become pertinent” (Geetha, 2002: 10). Gender based discriminations and exploitations are widespread and the socio-culturally defined characteristics, aptitudes, abilities, desires, personality traits, roles, responsibilities and behavioral patterns of men and women contribute to the inequalities and hierarchies in society. Gender differences are man made and they get legitimised in a patriarchal society. This paper attempts to link the theoretical dimensions of patriarchy with its empirical experiences to engage in the ongoing...
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...Liberal feminism seeks no special privileges for women and simply demand that everyone receive equal consideration without discrimination on the basis of sex. Liberal feminists would seek to remove barriers that prevent equal access for women to information technology jobs not only to provide economic equality but to provide access to higher-paying jobs for women. Radical feminism maintains that women’s oppression is the first, most widespread, and deepest oppression. Radical feminism rejects most scientific theories, data, and experiment not only because they exclude women but also because they are not women-centered. Radical feminism suggests that because men, masculinity, and patriarchy have become completely intertwined with technology and computer systems in our society, no truly feminist alternative to technology exists. Postmodern feminist theories imply that no universal research agenda or application of technologies will be appropriate and that various women will have different reactions to technologies depending upon their own class, race, sexuality, country, and other factors. This definition of postmodern feminism parallels the description of the complex and diverse co-evolution of women and computing. In contrast to liberal feminism, postmodernism dissolves the universal subject and the possibility that women speak in a unified voice or that they can be universally addressed. Wajcman's (1991) thoughtful analysis of the social constructivist perspective on gender...
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...Feminism: Feminism is a diverse, competing, and often opposing collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women, especially in terms of their social, political, and economical inequalities. One institutionally predominant type of feminism focuses on limiting or eradicating gender inequality to promote women's rights, interests, and issues in society. Another opposing type of modern feminism, with deep historical roots, focuses on earning, and establishing equity by and for women, vis-a-vis men, to promote those same rights, interests, and issues, regardless of gender considerations. Thus, as with any ideology, political movement or philosophy, there is no single, universal form of feminism that represents all feminists. The most well-known types of feminism are: liberal feminism, social feminism, radical feminism, and post-modern feminism. Liberal feminism seeks no special privileges for women and simply demand that everyone receive equal consideration without discrimination on the basis of sex. Liberal feminists would seek to remove barriers that prevent equal access for women to information technology jobs not only to provide economic equality but to provide access to higher-paying jobs for women. In contrast to liberal feminism, socialist feminism rejects individualism and positivism. Social feminism believes that technology and the social shaping of technology have often been conceptualized...
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...Feminism Feminism implies a group of likeminded individuals who are united by their ideologies and their purpose which is to identify, implement and protect the status of women with regard to their political, social, economic and cultural rights. Members of such groups are persuaded that the womenfolk ought to have same opportunities in employment and education as their male counterparts. The study of the roles of women in society and space women have generally occupied in society is known as feminist theory. This theory has its roots in the Feminist movements. There are various forms of feminism depending on the functions and its attempt to explain the nature of the relationships between the men and women. Such include Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism, Marxist and Socialist Feminism, Eco-Feminism, Cultural Feminism (Hannam p589). Liberal feminism is a type of feminism that operates or is actively undertaken in any conventional society so as to incorporate women into the structure of that society. It started after the American Revolution and was pioneered by Mary Wollstonecraft and Abigail Adams with its main focus being to campaign for equality for women (Fisanick p757).Radical Feminism is that type of feminism that is attributed with having given rise to many of the other form of feminism. These radicals as they came to be known started this pressure group in the year 1967-1968 after the civil rights and peace movements ended. They didn’t just desire to achieve social change...
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...Kiana Rivera ENG 101/1:00 Shafer FEMINISM IS THE RADICAL NOTION THAT WOMEN ARE PEOPLE Bra-burning and man-hating extremists, feminists are branded as insane, radical women who want to establish a matriarchy. While some feminists are angry and some hate men, not all feminists do. Actually, according to Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner in The F-Word: Feminism in Jeopardy, feminism “simply means the belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.” (Feminism, Oppoising Viewpoints, pg 14) We only ever hear of the negative associated with feminism. When anti-feminist people are asked questions, most don’t understand why they believe that feminism is wrong and extreme; they do not understand why it is so vitally important, and why, even in 2013, it is still a relevant issue. Although there's a lot of information about feminism out there, much of it is judgmental, misinformed, or quite simply false. Women should have equal rights as men, and taking a stand to achieve this ideal with feminism is what’s slowly accomplishing this goal. According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, feminism is “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities; organized activity in support of women's rights and interests.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, pg 1) In an article by Rachel Fudge, published in 2005 she brings up a very valid point on the issue of feminism and the many years that is has been around: “Despite 150 years of activism in pursuit of women's...
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...IS FEMINISM HARMFUL OR BENEFICIAL TO AMERICAN SOCIETY? Running head: IS FEMINISM HARMFUL OR BENEFICIAL TO AMERICAN SOCIETY? Is Feminism Harmful or Beneficial to the American Society? Name Institution Is Feminism Harmful Or Beneficial To American Society? Feminism refers to the constant advocacy of woman rights, which seeks to make women equal to men in many areas including social, political, economic and even cultural. The American Society has embraced it by reducing the barriers that women come across in the workplaces or when vying for political posts (Sandberg & Scovell, 2013). Apparently, it seeks to ensure that women also have a say in the country’s dealings, and they have equal rights to education. As a matter of fact, feminism is highly beneficial to the American society because it has enabled women prosper in businesses, schools, and marriages. It is now possible for women to vie for political positions and be heard. Hooks (2000) asserts that when one empowers a woman, the whole society is empowered. Besides, it has improved the quality of lives for most women who now have access to various public forums. Thus, it is possible to find women leaders, doctors, professors, or even mothers who are good in whatever they do. They are also given equal opportunities in their workplace when it comes to a job application and even career advancement. The women in the workplaces earn...
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...Abstract Feminism has evolved over the years; it is no longer solely focused on suffrage or other forms of institutionalized sexism. The focus today is the personal experiences women face which are characterized by issues such as reproductive rights, sexuality, and domestic violence. Feminism hopes to do away with generalizations for men and women that were created in earlier generations. The present article sought to identify and explain the characteristics of the three major sociological paradigms, a) the function of women in society, b) the conflict women experience in society, c) the symbolic interaction that each gender have with one another. The studies presented have been known to be the most recent and reliable research performed on feminism. Feminism “The feminist ideal seems simple: it is a movement fighting for gender equality. As neutral as its definition sounds, the movement has unfortunately at points been exploited as the female agenda to take over the world.” (Tasnim Ahmed , 2015) Feminism has evolved over the years but it all started back in the 18th century. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, an author in the 18th century, wrote an essay titled, “A Vindication of the Right of Woman” which entailed arguments for a woman’s right to an education. Wollstonecraft’s essay predates modern feminism, which can be divided into three waves (Carl, 2011, p.200). In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the first wave began which revolved mostly around the women’s suffrage...
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...The notion of sexism is a very recent idea in our society. The idea that men were superior to and different from women was so deeply integrated into much thinking that most people never thought to question it. Throughout the history of ideas, female inferiority has been seen as the natural order of things. This is where feminism comes into place... feminism is the view which examines the world from the viewpoint of women, hence this 'traditional' view that men dominate women is challenged by feminists, as feminism believes that women are disadvantaged relative to men and that female interests are ignored or devalued by society. Feminism is therefore the movement which essentially campaigns for equality for women in society; examples of feminist groups which have campaigned for equal rights are the suffragettes and suffragists who protested for the right to vote for women in the 20th century. As Paula Trelchler herself put it... feminism is the radical notion that women are people. Liberal feminist Gavron suggested that women are trapped by the traditional roles within the family and that they should have more choice with regards to marriage and family life. Oakly further argued that the mother housewife role has been responsible for the subordination of women in the workforce. Female professional workers are three times less likely to be married than their fellow male workers. Oakly criticized Young and Wilmott, who in their 1972 study suggested that men were doing more in...
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