The Oppression Of The Feminist Theory

Women are humans, humans with emotions and the need for self expression. The men, throughout history, have degraded the female sex, they have always seen women as objects and a machine that helps reproduce and carry on their blood. Society formed the ‘perfect’ role for women and it was expected that they follow it. They were expected to be the loving, responsible, obedient, stay at home wives. Due to such an inequitable lifestyle given to women, they decided to fight for equality and defend their gender. They will later be known as feminists. According to Literary and Cultural Theory by Donald Hall, feminists focal point is to investigate the various ways women have been limited to social power and the liberty to self

By evaluating the situation and lives of women in society, the feminist perspective is defined as a source of social inequality, group conflict and social problems. For feminist, patriarchal society is the foundation of social problems. The patriarchal male dominated society where women are meant to justify the rule through devaluation; however, the definition of patriarchy has dominated the powerful group expanded to include the social devaluation of the power rating (Leon-Guerrero, Anna, 2015).

Feminism is a very popular and controversial concept in today’s world. Feminism is a range of ideologies as well as social and political movement all aiming for a common goal to define, establish and achieve equal rights and position to women legally as well as socially. The people with these ideologies are commonly known as FEMINIST. Feminism theory is not only about understanding but also to take action. Naturally people expect women to be related to the idea of feminism and be a feminist rather than men. Men have taken part as significant cultural and political responses within each wave of feminism movements.Feminist men have also argued alongside scholars that liberation of men from the socio cultural constraints of gender roles and sexism is a significant part of feminist activism and scholarship.

Feminism is a collection of movements that share a common goal; to define, establish and defend equal, economic, cultural and social rights for women. Feminist activist campaign for women's rights like contract law, voting and property, while at the same time promoting bodily integrity and autonomy and reproductive rights for women. Feminist work to protect women and girls for domestic violence, sexual harassment and sexual assault. Feminist also advocate for equal rights in the workplace in conjunction with maternity leave and equal pay.

Feminism and feminist social theory unlike other theoretical perspectives is woman-centered and inter-disciplinary, hence promotes methods of achieving social justice. The feminism and feminist social theory takes into consideration three questions, what of the women? Why is the present social world as it is today? Additionally, how can the social world be changed to make it more just for the women and all people alike? In recent developments, feminist theorists have begun questioning the differences between women. The areas under question include race, ethnicity, class, age intersect, and gender. In summation, the feminist theory involves the concern with giving women world over voice, and highlighting how they have contributed to the

Firstly, Feminism is a conflict theory that believes that all religions are instruments set up by men to oppress women with the set of beliefs and practices. There are many different branches of feminism; the ones being evaluated are called Liberal, Radical and Marxist feminists. Feminists believe that society is malestream and not mainstream as people believe. The first main flaw in feminist theory is the fact that feminists only examine society from the viewpoint of women, they do this because they believe they are in fact helping fight against the oppression of women but the problem is that they do not examine the views of many male counterparts and therefore cannot help us completely understand our society. The main differentiation between the different feminist theories is the way that the oppression against women is caused.

"Feminism isn't about making the women stronger. Women are already strong. It's about the way the world perceives that strength." -G.D. Anderson. Feminist theory is a mode of analytical thoughts and actions of women's ideology that are excluded from society. Feminism constructs the difference in knowledge, social change, and spiritual influence of human existence. (Robbins, Chatterjee, Canda 2006). Feminism constitutes gender, as it acknowledges the different forms of feminism by examining categories of race, class, and sexual identity that exist. The theory opposes the perception of women and another group that can influence the dynamic of the dominant worldview.

It is based on four principles: it is a trait of society, it from generations to generation, it is universal, it involves inequality. Two theorists, Karl Marx and Max Weber, are the prominent contributors. How gender, race and class plays a role in a society is clearly stated. Gender stratification occurs among men and women when men are given better recognition and opportunity than women. Feminist theory uses the conflict approach to examine the effect these social stratifiers play. Conflict theorist is of the opinion that stratification is harmful to the society. The economy benefits the upper or middle class over the working class, white over other race or skin

The main weakness of feminist theories is that they are from a woman centered viewpoint. While the theories also mention social problems not strictly related to women, it still comes from that viewpoint. This creates a weakness of perspective, men and women do see the world differently. If you have a theory that is solely from the perspective of men or women then you are removing something intangible from that theory. Theories should be put forth that take into account a woman’s perspective, but the theories should also have the male perspective so that both viewpoints are clearly visible. It may seem a small complaint, but this small complaint can be the difference between seeing the bigger picture, or missing something critical because you only took a cursory look.

Feminist perspective developed with the ideology that women face large amounts of inequalities in a patriarchal society. They aimed to address and rid the social world of this oppression of women by men. According to Bishop, (2015) “oppression occurs when one group of people use different forms of power to keep another group down in order to exploit them. The oppressor uses the power; the oppressed are exploited” (p. 133-134). Oppression must be by individual experience and not grouped into being the same for all. This includes understanding the original ideology of feminist theory being critiqued as only considering the experiences of middle class, white women. That black women, of lower class experienced oppression much different from the other women. Women are oppressed, thus has to be understood in a different construct that women are similar in some sources, experience of oppression but also experience oppression very differently from one individual to another. Feminist theories have further been expanded do its continuation throughout society and decades to encompass many more issues and arenas than just men and women relationships. Now it seeks to understand and address oppression based on culture, race, class, etc and not only for women but for all. Therefore, Bishop (2014) outlines five components that seem common to all forms of oppression and serve to maintain its presence in society.

(Sommers-Flanagan 2012) states that the term for “feminist theory was developed by women to address the social and cultural oppression and unequal treatment of women. Implied in the feminist perspective is the tendency for humans who wield more power to use that

Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. Feminist political activism campaigns on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment, discrimination and sexual violence. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification, sexual objectification, oppression and

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

For many years, women have aimed for gaining equality with men. They’re opportunities were taken away because of the fact that they were women. Overtime feminism has expanded and diversified in many different aspects including approach and priorities. The changes in them are result of many different social economic groups of women because of the various goals set for methods of creating change, which are implemented within the movement. The feminist movement has been trying to give equal rights to women who have been destitute of their equality and privileges that man have never given them. Feminism is beneficial to men, women, and their families because it is allowing everyone to have an equal opportunity in life to achieve all they can without any discrimination based on their sex.

FEMINISM Introduction to Sociology  Feminism Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. The movement organized around this belief. Feminism Feminist Theory is an outgrowth of the general movement to empower women worldwide.