Anthía Muñoz April 23, 2014 WMST 3100-001 Final Exam IV: Feminist scholarship extensively

Firstly, Frye discusses the etymology of the word ‘oppression’ stating that it has its elements from the word “press”, 1983, p: 2. She then gives imagery in order to demonstrate that the word is very restrictive in nature as if something were; “caught between or among forces and barriers which are so related to each other that jointly they restrain, restrict or prevent the thing’s motion or mobility”, (Frye, 1983, p:2). Frye makes the point that he first criterion in defining oppression is that the oppressed is restricted or limited in some manner, giving the sense that they have been moulded, immobilised or reduced. She exemplifies this notion with the following comparison using her theory of the “double-bind” theory. According to Frye, in the United States, young women, are locked in a bind where if they exhibit that they are heterosexually active, then she is explicitly regarded as “loose, unprincipled or a whore”, 1983, p:2. The woman may then feel that she must hide her behaviour from her parents who are likely to look down on her for her promiscuity. She will also face criticism by her peers as being an “easy lay” and put down in comparison to her friends who practise more restraint, (Frye, 1983, p:3).

Women’s history is a history of oppression. Throughout time, women have faced systematic domination, which has ultimately informed women’s identities and shaped their roles in society. However, the oppression of women is not uniform and different groups of women have experienced sexist oppression to different degrees and in vastly different ways. This is largely due to intersectionality, which is the idea that the convergence and interaction of various oppressed aspects of one’s identity uniquely affect individuals and social systems. As Kimberlé Crenshaw discusses in “Intersectionality and Identity Politics: Learning from Violence Against Women of Color”, women of color are situated in such a way that they belong to at least two subjugated groups. Their particular position exemplifies intersectionality because they are victims of overlapping patterns of sexism and racism, leaving them completely marginalized. Furthermore, intersectionality highlights the interconnectedness and multiplicity of oppression in society. In her essay “’Intersectionality’ is a Big Fancy Word for My Life”, Mia Mingus explains how the oppressed can also contribute to oppression. This concept in culmination with discrepancies in discrimination within communities leads to a fraught and complex dynamic that has lasting impacts. Societies must recognize intersectionality in women’ history in order to fully comprehend and rectify the oppression of today.

In Bromley’s “Feminism Matters”, Chapter Four effectively argues that the way in which race, gender, class, ability, sexual orientation, and a variety of other social categories interact within each other to create a hierarchy of power within our society that has lead to an imbalance of privileges. Additionally, she manages to convince the reader that all these concepts are incorporated in the theoretical tool of intersectionality and that once we can understand this we will be better equipped with the approach to handle the struggles of modern day. Thinking of our positionality as being a blend of pre-existing conditions, we can realize that the advantages and disadvantages we receive in life are not only due to our gender, but the reality that “[we] might be living in Canada, in [our] first year of university, born in South Africa, a Buddhist, and struggling to pay for [our] living expenses, yet able-bodied and employed” (Bromley 2012).

In choosing for this research project I have decided to challenge the ethical problem of the shortcomings of feminism. There has been much debate over feminism, the questioning of its purpose, its design, its inclusiveness, it is stance on other matters that connect to it. In a quest in finding the shortcomings, and bringing them to light. Using other essays as sources I plan to make this bibliography a journey into the scope not just feminism, but the history of feminism, intersectional feminism, the wage gap, and what defines a feminist. We will take into account of all aspects of feminism and how authors of some essays included have offered their

Women are often confined to a set of ideals and expectations because of one simple fact: they are women. Many of the women who contributed to this book have faced gender stereotyping and discrimination. Instead of allowing traditional social norms to confine them to an unwanted lifestyle, they challenged these conventional ideals, risking failure and facing condemnation from strangers as well as people close to them. People often associate feminism with negativity and pessimism. In “Feminism is a Dirty Word,” Cindy Simon Rosenthal talks about how people refuse to define themselves as a “feminist.” However, the movement does not advocate for women’s special privileges. Feminism celebrates social equality and supports the utilization of all talents.

I had never really thought about what it meant to be a feminist, it was just a role I had unquestionably assumed as I consider myself to be an advocate of women empowerment. After last week’s readings, I began to question what exactly does being a feminist entails, and why the label carries very different meanings and connotations to different people. There is a common misconception that feminists are radicals, seeking to be superior to men. This is rooted in the fact that women today do not face the same struggles as its predecessors; namely, the inability to vote, work, study, and own property, to name a few. It is true that I have more rights and privileges than women such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth,

One of the main claims in “The Masters Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” is that we need to change our methods and approaches to feminism and feminist theory if we want to truly create lasting change in our goals of reaching equality. Lorde argues that “it is a particular academic arrogance to assume any discussion of feminist theory without examining our many differences, and without a significant input from poor women, black and third world women, and lesbians.” This wonderfully compliments the ideas illustrated in the piece from the Combahee River Collective, particularly the desire to include all women in order to get a better understanding of how oppression operates in our society and what we can do to help change it.

Throughout history, women have been abused, controlled, and belittled by men. Even today there are some subtle differences seen between a man and a woman’s standing, such as pay salary, job promotions, and physical and mental state. Modern feminism tries to solve these types of issues, but typically this only stirs the pot and creates more of a problem than any of it is worth. Lately, modern feminists over exaggerate dilemmas in the country and complain about things that in no way compare to the struggles of the oppressed women in past, specifically in the 1890s to the 1960s, and this is why it is no longer needed in society. Some of the major battles that women faced during this time period can be seen in the book Their Eyes were Watching

The historical evolution of feminism is reflected in the content of Woolf's A Room of One's Own, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex and Glaspell's Trifles. The connection of these text shows in greater detail the impacts on overlooked harassment, oppressing women by discriminating aganist them, oppressing them fundamentally and physically, causing a lack of identity among women. The diverse and complex theme of feminism and oppression throughout history is shown in all three text yet takes place in different geographic locations and time periods. A worldwide issue such as oppressing of women has been over looked for many centuries, which is why we still continue to see this problem arise. Imagine not beginning able to be the woman you were born to be, instead your defined as an “other” or property of your husband.

Because women come from all races, social classes, and age, they have been an important instrument in shaping western ideology and the world. Feminism is a broad term encompassing the entirety of the historical movement in the nineteenth century and the philosophical thought leading into the twentieth century (Zophy and Kavenik 206). Although the term wasn’t popularized until the 1950’s and 60’s, it represents the ideology into the modern era. With Woman’s History being a major thread of United States history, it is important we understand the progression of women’s rights, freedoms, and feminism throughout the Colonial Era, the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, and the rise of second and third wave

“For male feminists, maintaining an awareness of their own privilege in order to vigilantly disassemble male dominance is crucial. It is not enough to talk the talk; one must also incorporate principles of equality into one’s daily life” (19).

The problematic issues that men has raised is more concerned with maintaining power and privilege over women than it is about equality. To claim that women are the favoured and the privileged ones is a ludicrous statement as represented in “Peggy Orenstein's 1994 text 'Schoolgirls' [in which includes] an anecdote which observed that, for many men and boys, equality is perceived as a loss” (Ford par. 14). In reality, whenever the gender equality is established in a society, either the male or female must give up some of their former privileges (Ford par. 14). As for 'female privileges,’ (Ford par. 14) it is subjective as to what one perceives as a privilege and others as a right. The perception of privileges is diversified considering that “in some places, it is considered a privilege that girls even be allowed to live” (Ford par. 14). Women’s gain in “privileges” and feminist campaigns is by all means not a way to oppress men. Those are the rights women are entitled to which they were not given in the past and a way to feel secure that the female voice is being heard alongside with the men’s. Male activist’s primary intention to speak out to women’s increasing dominance in society as demonstrated in their “agenda, [shows that it] is not to restore 'human rights' for all but to re-establish the dominance that has historically been enjoyed by men both legally and

In the present day, the belief prevails that all women experience oppression in different configurations and levels of intensity, but are more broadly bound together by the intersectional systems of their oppressive societies. Referred to as intersectionality, the term can be applied to the lives and experiences of women across a variety of social boundaries, such as those attached to an individual’s race, ethnicity, gender, class, and ability, among other ‘defining’ characteristics. Intersectional feminist ideology recognizes the singular lives of women living in different social spheres as being distinctly multi-layered; characterized largely by the existence of various institutions of oppression. Despite their obvious differences, the interconnectedness of these oppressive institutions with one another, according to the ideological lens, is transcendent, and thereby prevents them from being critically examined separately or regarded as mutually exclusive. However, though intersectional feminism is widely regarded today as an instrument of inclusion and unity for all women, as society evolves towards equality of the sexes, it is very much a modern invention, as feminists throughout the history of the movement found themselves divided by the myriad social disparities and conventions of oppression that intersectional thought seeks to reconcile.

Feminist theory analyzes the gender inequality that women have faced throughout the years due to a patriarchal society. Women were expected to fit the traditional female and conform to the gender norms that society has constructed. According to A Brief Introduction to Critical Theory, “Feminism embodies a way of reading that investigates the text’s investment in or reaction to the patriarchal power structures that have dominated Western culture” (227). Patriarchal power has oppressed women economically, socially, and politically. Women were associated more with domesticity than with politics and financial situations. They were not provided the same educational opportunities as men. These issues have been addressed by people, such as Mary

The goal of this paper is to describe and analyze gender inequality, focusing on the history of feminist ideas. I will start with a basic overview of the entire feminist movement, and will then analyze feminism more specifically. In this analysis I will focus on the different types of feminism. Most notably of these types will be the main groups that consist of socialist feminists, liberal feminists, and radical feminists. I will describe the goals and ideals of these groups along with describing how a functionalist and conflict theorist looks at gender.