Feminist theory is the extension of feminism
into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical
discourse.
It aims to understand the nature of gender
inequality.
It examines women's and men's social roles,
experiences, interests, chores, and feminist
politics in a variety of fields, such as anthropology
and sociology, communication, media studies,
psychoanalysis, home economics, literature,
education, and philosophy.Feminist theory
focuses on analyzing gender inequality.
Themes explored in feminism include discrimination,
objectification (especially sexual objectification),
oppression, patriarchy, stereotyping, art
history and contemporary art, and aesthetics.
== History ==
Feminist theories first emerged as early as
1794 in publications such as A Vindication
of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft,
"The Changing Woman", "Ain't I a Woman", "Speech
after Arrest for Illegal Voting", and so on.
"The Changing Woman" is a Navajo Myth that
gave credit to a woman who, in the end, populated
the world.
In 1851, Sojourner Truth addressed women's
rights issues through her publication, "Ain't
I a Woman".
Sojourner Truth addressed the issue of women
having limited rights due to men's flawed
perception of women.
Truth argued that if a woman of color can
perform tasks that were supposedly limited
to men, then any woman of any color could
perform those same tasks.
After her arrest for illegally voting, Susan
B. Anthony gave a speech within court in which
she addressed the issues of language within
the constitution documented in her publication,
"Speech after Arrest for Illegal voting" in
1872.
Anthony questioned the authoritative principles
of the constitution and its male gendered
language.
She raised the question of why women are accountable
to be punished under law but they cannot use
the law for their own protection (women could
not vote, own property, nor themselves in
marriage).
She also critiqued the constitution for its
male gendered language and questioned why
women should have to abide by laws that do
not specify women.
Nancy Cott makes a distinction between modern
feminism and its antecedents, particularly
the struggle for suffrage.
In the United States she places the turning
point in the decades before and after women
obtained the vote in 1920 (1910–1930).
She argues that the prior woman movement was
primarily about woman as a universal entity,
whereas over this 20-year period it transformed
itself into one primarily concerned with social
differentiation, attentive to individuality
and diversity.
New issues dealt more with woman's condition
as a social construct, gender identity, and
relationships within and between genders.
Politically this represented a shift from
an ideological alignment comfortable with
the right, to one more radically associated
with the left.Susan Kingsley Kent says that
Freudian patriarchy was responsible for the
diminished profile of feminism in the inter-war
years, others such as Juliet Mitchell consider
this to be
overly simplistic since Freudian theory is
not wholly incompatible with feminism.
Some feminist scholarship shifted away from
the need to establish the origins of family,
and towards analyzing the process of patriarchy.
In the immediate postwar period, Simone de
Beauvoir stood in opposition to an image of
"the woman in the home".
De Beauvoir provided an existentialist dimension
to feminism with the publication of Le Deuxième
Sexe (The Second Sex) in 1949.
As the title implies, the starting point is
the implicit inferiority of women, and the
first question de Beauvoir asks is "what is
a woman"?.
Woman she realizes is always perceived of
as the "other", "she is defined and differentiated
with reference to man and not he with reference
to her".
In this book and her essay, "Woman: Myth & Reality",
de Beauvoir anticipates Betty Friedan in seeking
to demythologise the male concept of woman.
"A myth invented by men to confine women to
their oppressed state.
For women it is not a question of asserting
themselves as women, but of becoming full-scale
human beings."
"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman",
or as Toril Moi puts it "a woman defines herself
through the way she lives her embodied situation
in the world, or in other words, through the
way in which she makes something of what the
world makes of her".
Therefore, woman must regain subject, to escape
her defined role as "other", as a Cartesian
point of departure.
In her examination of myth, she appears as
one who does not accept any special privileges
for women.
Ironically, feminist philosophers have had
to extract de Beauvoir herself from out of
the shadow of Jean-Paul Sartre to fully appreciate
her.
While more philosopher and novelist than activist,
she did sign one of the Mouvement de Libération
des Femmes manifestos.
The resurgence of feminist activism in the
late 1960s was accompanied by an emerging
literature of concerns for the earth and spirituality,
and environmentalism.
This in turn created an atmosphere conducive
to reigniting the study of and debate on matricentricity,
as a rejection of determinism, such as Adrienne
Rich
and Marilyn French
while for socialist feminists like Evelyn
Reed,
patriarchy held the properties of capitalism.
Feminist psychologists, such as Jean Baker
Miller, sought to bring a feminist analysis
to previous psychological theories, proving
that "there was nothing wrong with women,
but rather with the way modern culture viewed
them".Elaine Showalter describes the development
of feminist theory as having a number of phases.
The first she calls "feminist critique" – where
the feminist reader examines the ideologies
behind literary phenomena.
The second Showalter calls "Gynocritics" – where
the "woman is producer of textual meaning"
including "the psychodynamics of female creativity;
linguistics and the problem of a female language;
the trajectory of the individual or collective
female literary career and literary history".
The last phase she calls "gender theory" – where
the "ideological inscription and the literary
effects of the sex/gender system" are explored".
This model has been criticized by Toril Moi
who sees it as an essentialist and deterministic
model for female subjectivity.
She also criticized it for not taking account
of the situation for women outside the west.
From the 1970s onwards, psychoanalytical ideas
that have been arising in the field of French
feminism have gained a decisive influence
on feminist theory.
Feminist psychoanalysis deconstructed the
phallic hypotheses regarding the Unconscious.
Julia Kristeva, Bracha Ettinger and Luce Irigaray
developed specific notions concerning unconscious
sexual difference, the feminine and motherhood,
with wide implications for film and literature
analysis.
== Disciplines ==
There are a number of distinct feminist disciplines,
in which experts in other areas apply feminist
techniques and principles to their own fields.
Additionally, these are also debates which
shape feminist theory and they can be applied
interchangeably in the arguments of feminist
theorists.
=== Bodies ===
In western thought, the body has been historically
associated solely with women, whereas men
have been associated with the mind.
Susan Bordo, a modern feminist philosopher,
in her writings elaborates the dualistic nature
of the mind/body connection by examining the
early philosophies of Aristotle, Hegel and
Descartes, revealing how such distinguishing
binaries such as spirit/matter and male activity/female
passivity have worked to solidify gender characteristics
and categorization.
Bordo goes on to point out that while men
have historically been associated with the
intellect and the mind or spirit, women have
long been associated with the body, the subordinated,
negatively imbued term in the mind/body dichotomy.
The notion of the body (but not the mind)
being associated with women has served as
a justification to deem women as property,
objects, and exchangeable commodities (among
men).
For example, women's bodies have been objectified
throughout history through the changing ideologies
of fashion, diet, exercise programs, cosmetic
surgery, childbearing, etc.
This contrasts to men's role as a moral agent,
responsible for working or fighting in bloody
wars.
The race and class of a woman can determine
whether her body will be treated as decoration
and protected, which is associated with middle
or upper-class women's bodies.
On the other hand, the other body is recognized
for its use in labor and exploitation which
is generally associated with women's bodies
in the working-class or with women of color.
Second-wave feminist activism has argued for
reproductive rights and choice, women's health
(movement), and lesbian rights (movement)
which are also associated with this Bodies
debate.
=== The standard and contemporary sex and
gender system ===
The standard sex determination and gender
model consists of evidence based on the determined
sex and gender of every individual and serve
as norms for societal life.
The model claims that the sex-determination
of a person exist within a male/female dichotomy
giving importance to genitals and how they
are formed via chromosomes, and DNA-binding
proteins (such as the sex-determining region
Y genes), which are responsible for sending
sex-determined initialization and completion
signals to and from the biological sex-determination
system in fetuses.
Occasionally, mutations occur during the sex-determining
process.
When this happens, the fetus becomes a hermaphrodite.
The standard model defines gender as a social
understanding/ideology that defines what behaviors,
actions, and appearances are normal for males
and females.
Studies into biological sex-determining systems
also have began working towards connecting
certain gender conducts such as behaviors,
actions, and desires with sex-determinism.Socially-biasing
children sex and gender system
The socially-biasing children sex and gender
model broadens the horizons of the sex and
gender ideologies.
It revises the ideology of sex to be a social
construct which is not limited to either male
or female.
The Intersex Society of North America which
explains that, "nature doesn't decide where
the category of 'male' ends and the category
of 'intersex' begins, or where the category
of 'intersex' ends and the category of 'female'
begins.
Humans decide.
Humans (today, typically doctors) decide how
small a penis has to be, or how unusual a
combination of parts has to be, before it
counts as intersex".
Therefore, sex is not a biological/natural
construct but a social one instead since,
society and doctors decide on what it means
to be male, female, or intersex in terms of
sex chromosomes and genitals, in addition
to their personal judgment on who or how one
passes as a specific sex.
The ideology of gender remains a social construct
but is not as strict and fixed.
Instead, gender is easily malleable, and is
forever changing.
One example of where the standard definition
of gender alters with time happens to be depicted
in Sally Shuttleworth's Female Circulation
in which the, "abasement of the woman, reducing
her from an active participant in the labor
market to the passive bodily existence to
be controlled by male expertise is indicative
of the ways in which the ideological deployment
of gender roles operated to facilitate and
sustain the changing structure of familial
and market relations in Victorian England".
In other words, this quote shows what it meant
growing up into the roles of a female (gender/roles)
changed from being a homemaker to being a
working woman and then back to being passive
and inferior to males.
In conclusion, the contemporary sex gender
model is accurate because both sex and gender
are rightly seen as social constructs inclusive
of the wide spectrum of sexes and genders
and in which nature and nurture are interconnected.
=== Epistemologies ===
The generation and production of knowledge
has been an important part of feminist theory
and is at the centre of discussions on feminist
epistemology.
This debate proposes such questions as "Are
there 'women's ways of knowing' and 'women's
knowledge'?"
And "How does the knowledge women produce
about themselves differ from that produced
by patriarchy?"
Feminist theorists have also proposed the
"feminist standpoint knowledge" which attempts
to replace the "view from nowhere" with the
model of knowing that expels the "view from
women's lives".
A feminist approach to epistemology seeks
to establish knowledge production from a woman's
perspective.
It theorizes that from personal experience
comes knowledge which helps each individual
look at things from a different insight.
Central to feminism is that women are systematically
subordinated, and bad faith exists when women
surrender their agency to this subordination,
e.g., acceptance of religious beliefs that
a man is the dominant party in a marriage
by the will of God; Simone de Beauvoir labels
such women "mutilated" and "immanent".
=== Intersectionality ===
Intersectionality is the examination of various
ways in which people are oppressed, based
on the relational web of dominating factors
of race, sex, class, nation and sexual orientation.
Intersectionality "describes the simultaneous,
multiple, overlapping, and contradictory systems
of power that shape our lives and political
options".
While this theory can be applied to all people,
and more particularly all women, it is specifically
mentioned and studied within the realms of
black feminism.
Patricia Hill Collins argues that black women
in particular, have a unique perspective on
the oppression of the world as unlike white
women, they face both racial and gender oppression
simultaneously, among other factors.
This debate raises the issue of understanding
the oppressive lives of women that are not
only shaped by gender alone but by other elements
such as racism, classism, ageism, heterosexism,
ableism etc.
=== Language ===
In this debate, women writers have addressed
the issues of masculinized writing through
male gendered language that may not serve
to accommodate the literary understanding
of women's lives.
Such masculinized language that feminist theorists
address is the use of, for example, "God the
Father" which is looked upon as a way of designating
the sacred as solely men (or, in other words,
biblical language glorifies men through all
of the masculine pronouns like "he" and "him"
and addressing God as a "He").
Feminist theorists attempt to reclaim and
redefine women through re-structuring language.
For example, feminist theorists have used
the term "womyn" instead of "women".
Some feminist theorists find solace in changing
titles of unisex jobs (for example, police
officer versus policeman or mail carrier versus
mailman).
Some feminist theorists have reclaimed and
redefined such words as "dyke" and "bitch"
and others have invested redefining knowledge
into feminist dictionaries.
=== Psychology ===
Feminist psychology is a form of psychology
centered on societal structures and gender.
Feminist psychology critiques the fact that
historically psychological research has been
done from a male perspective with the view
that males are the norm.
Feminist psychology is oriented on the values
and principles of feminism.
It incorporates gender and the ways women
are affected by issues resulting from it.
Ethel Dench Puffer Howes was one of the first
women to enter the field of psychology.
She was the Executive Secretary of the National
College Equal Suffrage League in 1914.
One major psychological theory, relational-cultural
theory, is based on the work of Jean Baker
Miller, whose book Toward a New Psychology
of Women proposes that "growth-fostering relationships
are a central human necessity and that disconnections
are the source of psychological problems".
Inspired by Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique,
and other feminist classics from the 1960s,
relational-cultural theory proposes that "isolation
is one of the most damaging human experiences
and is best treated by reconnecting with other
people", and that a therapist should "foster
an atmosphere of empathy and acceptance for
the patient, even at the cost of the therapist's
neutrality".
The theory is based on clinical observations
and sought to prove that "there was nothing
wrong with women, but rather with the way
modern culture viewed them".
==== Psychoanalysis ====
Psychoanalytic feminism and feminist psychoanalysis
are based on Freud and his psychoanalytic
theories, but they also supply an important
critique of it.
It maintains that gender is not biological
but is based on the psycho-sexual development
of the individual, but also that sexual difference
and gender are different notions.
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 by some to
avoid the gender-specific structuring of the
society coeducation.
From the last 30 years of the 20th century,
the contemporary French psychoanalytical theories
concerning the feminine, that refer to sexual
difference rather than to gender, with psychoanalysts
like Julia Kristeva, Maud Mannoni, Luce Irigaray,
and Bracha Ettinger, have largely influenced
not only feminist theory but also the understanding
of the subject in philosophy and the general
field of psychoanalysis itself.
These French psychoanalysts are mainly post-Lacanian.
Other feminist psychoanalysts and feminist
theorists whose contributions have enriched
the field through an engagement with psychoanalysis
are Jessica Benjamin, Jacqueline Rose, Ranjana
Khanna, and Shoshana Felman.
=== Literary theory ===
Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism
informed by feminist theories or politics.
Its history has been varied, from classic
works of female authors such as George Eliot,
Virginia Woolf, and Margaret Fuller to recent
theoretical work in women's studies and gender
studies by "third-wave" authors.In the most
general, feminist literary criticism before
the 1970s was concerned with the politics
of women's authorship and the representation
of women's condition within literature.
Since the arrival of more complex conceptions
of gender and subjectivity, feminist literary
criticism has taken a variety of new routes.
It has considered gender in the terms of Freudian
and Lacanian psychoanalysis, as part of the
deconstruction of existing power relations.
=== Film theory ===
Many feminist film critics, such as Laura
Mulvey, have pointed to the "male gaze" that
predominates in classical Hollywood film making.
Through the use of various film techniques,
such as shot reverse shot, the viewers are
led to align themselves with the point of
view of a male protagonist.
Notably, women function as objects of this
gaze far more often than as proxies for the
spectator.
Feminist film theory of the last twenty years
is heavily influenced by the general transformation
in the field of aesthetics, including the
new options of articulating the gaze, offered
by psychoanalytical French feminism, like
the matrixial gaze.
=== Art history ===
Linda Nochlin and Griselda Pollock are prominent
art historians writing on contemporary and
modern artists and articulating Art history
from a feminist perspective since the 1970s.
Pollock works with French psychoanalysis,
and in particular with Kristeva's and Ettinger's
theories, to offer new insights into art history
and contemporary art with special regard to
questions of trauma and trans-generation memory
in the works of women artists.
Other prominent feminist art historians include:
Norma Broude and Mary Garrard; Amelia Jones;
Mieke Bal; Carol Duncan; Lynda Nead; Lisa
Tickner; Tamar Garb; Hilary Robinson; Katy
Deepwell.
=== History ===
Feminist history refers to the re-reading
and re-interpretation of history from a feminist
perspective.
It is not the same as the history of feminism,
which outlines the origins and evolution of
the feminist movement.
It also differs from women's history, which
focuses on the role of women in historical
events.
The goal of feminist history is to explore
and illuminate the female viewpoint of history
through rediscovery of female writers, artists,
philosophers, etc., in order to recover and
demonstrate the significance of women's voices
and choices in the past.
=== Geography ===
Feminist geography is often considered part
of a broader postmodern approach to the subject
which is not primarily concerned with the
development of conceptual theory in itself
but rather focuses on the real experiences
of individuals and groups in their own localities,
upon the geographies that they live in within
their own communities.
In addition to its analysis of the real world,
it also critiques existing geographical and
social studies, arguing that academic traditions
are delineated by patriarchy, and that contemporary
studies which do not confront the nature of
previous work reinforce the male bias of academic
study.
=== Philosophy ===
The Feminist philosophy refers to a philosophy
approached from a feminist perspective.
Feminist philosophy involves attempts to use
methods of philosophy to further the cause
of the feminist movements, it also tries to
criticize and/or reevaluate the ideas of traditional
philosophy from within a feminist view.
This critique stems from the dichotomy Western
philosophy has conjectured with the mind and
body phenomena.
There is no specific school for feminist philosophy
like there has been in regard to other theories.
This means that Feminist philosophers can
be found in the analytic and continental traditions,
and the different viewpoints taken on philosophical
issues with those traditions.
Feminist philosophers also have many different
viewpoints taken on philosophical issues within
those traditions.
Feminist philosophers who are feminists can
belong to many different varieties of feminism.
The writings of Judith Butler, Rosi Braidotti,
Donna Haraway, Bracha Ettinger and Avital
Ronell are the most significant psychoanalytically
informed influences on contemporary feminist
philosophy.
=== Sexology ===
Feminist sexology is an offshoot of traditional
studies of sexology that focuses on the intersectionality
of sex and gender in relation to the sexual
lives of women.
Feminist sexology shares many principles with
the wider field of sexology; in particular,
it does not try to prescribe a certain path
or "normality" for women's sexuality, but
only observe and note the different and varied
ways in which women express their sexuality.
Looking at sexuality from a feminist point
of view creates connections between the different
aspects of a person's sexual life.
From feminists' perspectives, sexology, which
is the study of human sexuality and sexual
relationship, relates to the intersectionality
of gender, race and sexuality.
Men have dominant power and control over women
in the relationship, and women are expected
to hide their true feeling about sexual behaviors.
Women of color face even more sexual violence
in the society.
Some countries in Africa and Asia even practice
female genital cutting, controlling women's
sexual desire and limiting their sexual behavior.
Moreover, Bunch, the women's and human rights
activist, states that the society used to
see lesbianism as a threat to male supremacy
and to the political relationships between
men and women.
Therefore, in the past, people viewed being
a lesbian as a sin and made it death penalty.
Even today, many people still discriminate
homosexuals.
Many lesbians hide their sexuality and face
even more sexual oppression.
=== Monosexual paradigm ===
Monosexual Paradigm is a term coined by Blasingame,
a self-identified African American, bisexual
female.
Blasingame used this term to address the lesbian
and gay communities who turned a blind eye
to the dichotomy that oppressed bisexuals
from both heterosexual and homosexual communities.
This oppression negatively affects the gay
and lesbian communities more so than the heterosexual
community due to its contradictory exclusiveness
of bisexuals.
Blasingame argued that in reality dichotomies
are inaccurate to the representation of individuals
because nothing is truly black or white, straight
or gay.
Her main argument is that biphobia is the
central message of two roots; internalized
heterosexism and racism.
Internalized heterosexism is described in
the monosexual paradigm in which the binary
states that you are either straight or gay
and nothing in between.
Gays and lesbians accept this internalized
heterosexism by morphing into the monosexial
paradigm and favoring single attraction and
opposing attraction for both sexes.
Blasingame described this favoritism as an
act of horizontal hostility, where oppressed
groups fight amongst themselves.
Racism is described in the monosexual paradigm
as a dichotomy where individuals are either
black or white, again nothing in between.
The issue of racism comes into fruition in
regards to the bisexuals coming out process,
where risks of coming out vary on a basis
of anticipated community reaction and also
in regards to the norms among bisexual leadership,
where class status and race factor predominately
over sexual orientation.
=== Politics ===
Feminist political theory is a recently emerging
field in political science focusing on gender
and feminist themes within the state, institutions
and policies.
It questions the "modern political theory,
dominated by universalistic liberalist thought,
which claims indifference to gender or other
identity differences and has therefore taken
its time to open up to such concerns".Feminist
perspectives entered international relations
in late 1980s, at about the same time as the
end of the Cold War.
This time was not a coincidence because the
last forty years the conflict between US and
USSR had been the dominant agenda of international
politics.
After the Cold War, there was continuing relative
peace between the main powers.
Soon, many new issues appeared on international
relation's agenda.
More attention was also paid to social movements.
Indeed, in those times feminist approaches
also used to depict the world politics.
Feminists started to emphasize that while
women have always been players in international
system, their participation has frequently
been associated with in non-governmental settings
such as social movements.
However, they could also participate in inter-state
decision making process as men did.
In fact, today, women also participate in
iternational politics as the wives of diplomats,
nannies who go abroad to find work and support
their family, or sex workers trafficked across
international boundaries.
Women's contributions has not been seen in
the areas where hard power plays significant
role such as military.
In contrast, women are profoundly impacted
by decisions the statepersons make.
=== Economics ===
Feminist economics broadly refers to a developing
branch of economics that applies feminist
insights and critiques to economics.
Research under this heading is often interdisciplinary,
critical, or heterodox.
It encompasses debates about the relationship
between feminism and economics on many levels:
from applying mainstream economic methods
to under-researched "women's" areas, to questioning
how mainstream economics values the reproductive
sector, to deeply philosophical critiques
of economic epistemology and methodology.One
prominent issue that feminist economists investigate
is how the gross domestic product (GDP) does
not adequately measure unpaid labor predominantly
performed by women, such as housework, childcare,
and eldercare.
Feminist economists have also challenged and
exposed the rhetorical approach of mainstream
economics.
They have made critiques of many basic assumptions
of mainstream economics, including the Homo
economicus model.
In the Houseworker's Handbook Betsy Warrior
presents a cogent argument that the reproduction
and domestic labor of women form the foundation
of economic survival; although, unremunerated
and not included in the GDP.
According to Warrior: "Economics, as it's
presented today, lacks any basis in reality
as it leaves out the very foundation of economic
life.
That foundation is built on women's labor;
first her reproductive labor which produces
every new laborer (and the first commodity,
which is mother's milk and which nurtures
every new "consumer/laborer"); secondly, women's
labor composed of cleaning, cooking, negotiating
social stability and nurturing, which prepares
for market and maintains each laborer.
This constitutes women's continuing industry
enabling laborers to occupy every position
in the work force.
Without this fundamental labor and commodity
there would be no economic activity."
Warrior also notes that the unacknowledged
income of men from illegal activities like
arms, drugs and human trafficking, political
graft, religious emoluments and various other
undisclosed activities provide a rich revenue
stream to men, which further invalidates GDP
figures.
Even in underground economies where women
predominate numerically, like trafficking
in humans, prostitution and domestic servitude,
only a tiny fraction of the pimp's revenue
filters down to the women and children he
deploys.
Usually the amount spent on them is merely
for the maintenance of their lives and, in
the case of those prostituted, some money
may be spent on clothing and such accouterments
as will make them more salable to the pimp's
clients.
For instance, focusing on just the U.S., according
to a government sponsored report by the Urban
Institute in 2014, "A street prostitute in
Dallas may make as little as $5 per sex act.
But pimps can take in $33,000 a week in Atlanta,
where the sex business brings in an estimated
$290 million per year."Proponents of this
theory have been instrumental in creating
alternative models, such as the capability
approach and incorporating gender into the
analysis of economic data to affect policy.
Marilyn Power suggests that feminist economic
methodology can be broken down into five categories.
=== Legal theory ===
Feminist legal theory is based on the feminist
view that law's treatment of women in relation
to men has not been equal or fair.
The goals of feminist legal theory, as defined
by leading theorist Claire Dalton, consist
of understanding and exploring the female
experience, figuring out if law and institutions
oppose females, and figuring out what changes
can be committed to.
This is to be accomplished through studying
the connections between the law and gender
as well as applying feminist analysis to concrete
areas of law.Feminist legal theory stems from
the inadequacy of the current structure to
account for discrimination women face, especially
discrimination based on multiple, intersecting
identities.
Kimberlé Crenshaw's work is central to feminist
legal theory, particularly her article Demarginalizing
the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black
Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine,
Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics.
DeGraffenreid v General Motors is an example
of such a case.
In this instance, the court ruled the plaintiffs,
five Black women who were employees of General
Motors, were not eligible to file a complaint
on the grounds they, as black women, were
not "a special class to be protected from
discrimination".
The ruling in DeGraffenreid against the plaintiff
revealed the courts inability to understand
intersectionality's role in discrimination.
Moore v Hughes Helicopters, Inc. is another
ruling, which serves to reify the persistent
discrediting of intersectionality as a factor
in discrimination.
In the case of Moore, the plaintiff brought
forth statistical evidence revealing a disparity
in promotions to upper-level and supervisory
jobs between men and women and, to a lesser
extent, between Black and white men.
Ultimately, the court denied the plaintiff
the ability to represent all Blacks and all
females.
The decision dwindled the pool of statistical
information the plaintiff could pull from
and limited the evidence only to that of Black
women, which is a ruling in direct contradiction
to DeGraffenreid.
Further, because the plaintiff originally
claimed discrimination as a Black female rather
than, more generally, as a female the court
stated it had concerns whether the plaintiff
could "adequately represent white female employees".
Payne v Travenol serves as yet another example
of the courts inconsistency when dealing with
issues revolving around intersections of race
and sex.
The plaintiffs in Payne, two Black females,
filed suit against Travenol on behalf of both
Black men and women on the grounds the pharmaceutical
plant practiced racial discrimination.
The court ruled the plaintiffs could not adequately
represent Black males, however, they did allow
the admittance of statistical evidence, which
was inclusive of all Black employees.
Despite the more favorable outcome after it
was found there was extensive racial discrimination,
the courts decided the benefits of the ruling
– back pay and constructive seniority – would
not be extended to Black males employed by
the company.
Moore contends Black women cannot adequately
represent white women on issues of sex discrimination,
Payne suggests Black women cannot adequately
represent Black men on issues of race discrimination,
and DeGraffenreid argues Black women are not
a special class to be protected.
The rulings, when connected, display a deep-rooted
problem in regards to addressing discrimination
within the legal system.
While the cases of DeGraffenreid (1976), Moore
(1983), and Payne (1976) are not recent accounts;
they provide proof of the courts inconsistency
in procedures and rulings on the basis of
sex and race, which serves to reinforce the
need for Feminist legal theory to not only
be further developed, but also applied.
=== Communication theory ===
Feminist communication theory has evolved
over time and branches out in many directions.
Early theories focused on the way that gender
influenced communication and many argued that
language was "man made".
This view of communication promoted a "deficiency
model" asserting that characteristics of speech
associated with women were negative and that
men "set the standard for competent interpersonal
communication", which influences the type
of language used by men and women.
These early theories also suggested that ethnicity,
cultural and economic backgrounds also needed
to be addressed.
They looked at how gender intersects with
other identity constructs, such as class,
race, and sexuality.
Feminist theorists, especially those considered
to be liberal feminists, began looking at
issues of equality in education and employment.
Other theorists addressed political oratory
and public discourse.
The recovery project brought to light many
women orators who had been "erased or ignored
as significant contributors".
Feminist communication theorists also addressed
how women were represented in the media and
how the media "communicated ideology about
women, gender, and feminism".Feminist communication
theory also encompasses access to the public
sphere, whose voices are heard in that sphere,
and the ways in which the field of communication
studies has limited what is regarded as essential
to public discourse.
The recognition of a full history of women
orators overlooked and disregarded by the
field has effectively become an undertaking
of recovery, as it establishes and honors
the existence of women in history and lauds
the communication by these historically significant
contributors.
This recovery effort, begun by Andrea Lunsford,
Professor of English and Director of the Program
in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University
and followed by other feminist communication
theorists also names women such as Aspasia,
Diotima, and Christine de Pisan, who were
likely influential in rhetorical and communication
traditions in classical and medieval times,
but who have been negated as serious contributors
to the traditions.Feminist communication theorists
are also concerned with a recovery effort
in attempting to explain the methods used
by those with power to prohibit women like
Maria W. Stewart, Sarah Moore Grimké, and
Angelina Grimké, and more recently, Ella
Baker and Anita Hill, from achieving a voice
in political discourse and consequently being
driven from the public sphere.
Theorists in this vein are also interested
in the unique and significant techniques of
communication employed by these women and
others like them to surmount some of the oppression
they experienced.Feminist theorist also evaluate
communication expectations for students and
women in the work place, in particular how
the performance of feminine versus masculine
styles of communicating are constructed.
Judith Butler, who coined the term "gender
performativity" further suggests that, "theories
of communication must explain the ways individuals
negotiate, resist, and transcend their identities
in a highly gendered society".
This focus also includes the ways women are
constrained or "disciplined" in the discipline
of communication in itself, in terms of biases
in research styles and the "silencing" of
feminist scholarship and theory.Who is responsible
for deciding what is considered important
public discourse is also put into question
by feminist theorists in communication scholarship.
This lens of feminist communication theory
is labeled as revalorist theory which honors
the historical perspective of women in communication
in an attempt to recover voices that have
been historically neglected.
There have been many attempts to explain the
lack of representative voices in the public
sphere for women including, the notion that,
"the public sphere is built on essentialist
principles that prevent women from being seen
as legitimate communicators in that sphere",
and theories of subalternity", which, "under
extreme conditions of oppression...prevent
those in positions of power from even hearing
their communicative attempts".
=== Design ===
Technical writers have concluded that visual
language can convey facts and ideas clearer
than almost any other means of communication.
According to the feminist theory, "gender
may be a factor in how human beings represent
reality."Men and women will construct different
types of structures about the self, and, consequently,
their thought processes may diverge in content
and form.
This division depends on the self-concept,
which is an "important regulator of thoughts,
feelings and actions" that "governs one's
perception of reality".With that being said,
the self-concept has a significant effect
on how men and women represent reality in
different ways.
Recently, "technical communicators' terms
such as 'visual rhetoric,' 'visual language,'
and 'document design' indicate a new awareness
of the importance of visual design".Deborah
S. Bosley explores this new concept of the
"feminist theory of design" by conducting
a study on a collection of undergraduate males
and females who were asked to illustrate a
visual, on paper, given to them in a text.
Based on this study, she creates a "feminist
theory of design" and connects it to technical
communicators.
In the results of the study, males used more
angular illustrations, such as squares, rectangles
and arrows, which are interpreted as a "direction"
moving away from or a moving toward, thus
suggesting more aggressive positions than
rounded shapes, showing masculinity.
Females, on the other hand, used more curved
visuals, such as circles, rounded containers
and bending pipes.
Bosley takes into account that feminist theory
offers insight into the relationship between
females and circles or rounded objects.
According to Bosley, studies of women and
leadership indicate a preference for nonhierarchical
work patterns (preferring a communication
"web" rather than a communication "ladder").
Bosley explains that circles and other rounded
shapes, which women chose to draw, are nonhierarchical
and often used to represent inclusive, communal
relationships, confirming her results that
women's visual designs do have an effect on
their means of communications.Based on these
conclusions, this "feminist theory of design"
can go on to say that gender does play a role
in how humans represent reality.
=== Black feminist criminology ===
Black feminist criminology theory is a concept
created by Hillary Potter in the 1990s and
a bridge that integrates Feminist theory with
criminology.
It is based on the integration of Black feminist
theory and critical race theory.
For years, Black women were historically overlooked
and disregarded in the study of crime and
criminology; however, with a new focus on
Black feminism that sparked in the 1980s,
Black feminists began to contextualize their
unique experiences and examine why the general
status of Black women in the criminal justice
system was lacking in female specific approaches.
Potter explains that because Black women usually
have "limited access to adequate education
and employment as consequences of racism,
sexism, and classism", they are often disadvantaged.
This disadvantage materializes into "poor
responses by social service professionals
and crime-processing agents to Black women's
interpersonal victimization".
Most crime studies focused on White males/females
and Black males.
Any results or conclusions targeted to Black
males were usually assumed to be the same
situation for Black females.
This was very problematic since Black males
and Black females differ in what they experience.
For instance, economic deprivation, status
equality between the sexes, distinctive socialization
patterns, racism, and sexism should all be
taken into account between Black males and
Black females.
The two will experience all of these factors
differently; therefore, it was crucial to
resolve this dilemma.
Black feminist criminology is the solution
to this problem.
It takes four factors into account: One, it
observes the social structural oppression
of Black women.
Two, it recognizes the Black community and
its culture.
Three, it looks at Black intimate and familial
relations.
And four, it looks at the Black woman as an
individual.
These four factors will help distinguish Black
women from Black males into an accurate branch
of learning in the criminal justice system.
==== Criticisms ====
It has been said that Black feminist criminology
is still in its "infancy stage"; therefore,
there is little discussion or studies that
disprove it as an effective feminist perspective.
In addition to its age, Black feminist criminology
has not actively accounted for the role of
religion and spirituality in Black women's
"experience with abuse".
=== Feminist science and technology studies
===
Feminist science and technology studies (STS)
refers to the transdisciplinary field of research
on the ways gender and other markers of identity
intersect with technology, science, and culture.
The practice emerged from feminist critique
on the masculine-coded uses of technology
in the fields of natural, medical, and technical
sciences, and its entanglement in gender and
identity.
A large part of feminist technoscience theory
explains science and technologies to be linked
and should be held accountable for the social
and cultural developments resulting from both
fields.Some key issues feminist technoscience
studies address include:
The use of feminist analysis when applied
to scientific ideas and practices.
Intersections between race, class, gender,
science, and technology.
The implications of situated knowledges.
Politics of gender on how to understand agency,
body, rationality, and the boundaries between
nature and culture.
== See also ==
== References ==
== Books ==
"Lexicon of Debates".
Feminist Theory: A Reader.
2nd Ed.
Edited by Kolmar, Wendy and Bartowski, Frances.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
42-60.
== External links ==
Evolutionary Feminism
Feminist theory website (Center for Digital
Discourse and Culture, Virginia Tech)
Feminist Theories and Anthropology by Heidi
Armbruster
[2] The Radical Women Manifesto: Socialist
Feminist Theory, Program and Organizational
Structure (Seattle: Red Letter Press, 2001)
Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research
on Women, Brown University
Feminist Theory Papers, Brown University
The Feminist eZine - An Archive of Historical
Feminist Articles
[3] Women, Poverty, and Economics- Facts and
Figures
