Women and Gender Studies (Midterm 1)
Allan Johnson →
"Patriarchy, the System," (1997) Allan Johnson is a sociologist discusses issues of privilege, oppression, and social inequality What is a system? People view everything Most open up our idea of system to contain larger contexts, such as religion, family, and the economy, not just women and men We have to understand the social roots of what causes domination of women and gender-based violence and we can't do this without understanding something larger than ourselves, something we didn't create but we act daily in Uses the example of comparing the system to a corporation → when a corporation goes bankrupt, the people don't disappear Through socialization, we develop a sense of personal and gender identity Participation is social systems shape our behavior through paths of least resistance: a concept that refers to the conscious and unconscious choices we make from one moment to the next → a man deciding whether or not to joke with his friends about a sexist joke → will lead to less resistance from other people → Humans make social systems happen States that the patriarchy is about the core value of control and domination in almost every area of human existence Who we and who other people think we are has a lot to do with where we are in relation to social systems and the positions we occupy in them. The patriarchy: we are patriarchy and it is of us (like how we live in a house) neither can live without the other and the patriarchy isn't static, it is an ongoing process that continuously shaped and reshaped → but do we challenge or strengthen the status quo (we are always in the system)? Sociologist, author, and public speaker with thirty years of teaching experience exploring the issues of privilege, oppression, and social inequality. His books include: The Forest and the Trees: Sociology as Life, Practice, and Promise and The Gender Knot: Unraveling our Patriarchal Legacy.
Judith Lorber →
"The Social Construction of Gender (1991)" Professor of sociology Argues that gender is such a familiar part of daily life that it usually takes a deliberate disruption of our expectations of how women and men are supposed to act to pay attention to how it is produced A sex category becomes a gender status through naming, dress, and the use of other gender markers. Human society depends on gender for legitimate leadership, music, art, stories, predictable division of labor, a designed allocation of scarce goods, and assigned responsibility for children and others who cannot care for themselves As a social institution, gender is a process of creating distinguishable social statues for the assignment of rights and responsibilities As a stratification system, gender ranks men above women of the same race and class → men's activities are valued more In countries that discourage gender discrimination, many major roles are still gendered; women still do most of the domestic labor and child rearing → gender is produced and maintained by identifiable social processes and built into social structure Construct woman as a group to be the subordinates of men as a group according to Lorber Identifies a paradox of human nature in that it is always a manifestation of cultural meanings, social relationships, and power politics
Kimberle Crenshaw
(1980) is an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory. Known for her development in Intersectional theory. Focuses on the study of how overlapping or intersecting social identities, particularly minority identities, relate to systems and structures of oppression, domination or discrimination. (pertains to lecture 1/4/18) Crenshaw's focus on intersectionality is on how the law responds to issues that include gender and race discrimination. The particular challenge in law is that anti discrimination laws look at gender and race separately and consequently African- American women and other women of color experience overlapping forms of discrimination and the law, unaware of how to combine the two, leaves these women with no justice
19th Century Feminism
(see Feminism, 19th Century) raised issues such as women's suffrage and gender equality for the next century. Limited by disagreement among feminists, oppressive regimes and status quo.
20th Century Feminism
1960s, '70s, and '90s 2nd Wave Feminism: 1960's and '70s Related Reading: "Multiracial Feminism" by Becky Thompson "Combahee River Collective" "The Problem with No Name," Betty Friedan "The Second Sex: Introduction," Beauvoir Telling history of Second Wave from view point of women of color illuminates rise of Multiracial Feminism( see Multiracial Feminism) Early organizations: - A Chicana group - Hijas de Cuauhtémoc(1971) - Asian Sisters, focused on drug abuse intervention Women of All Red Nations (WARN), fought sterilization, sued govt. over water rights, networking with indigenous people of Guatemala and Nicaragua. - Third World Women's Alliance, Black led organization focused on racism, sexism, and imperialism. - National Black Feminist Organization(NBFO), focused on sexism and racism. - Combahee River Collective (see Combahee River Collective)
Dorothy Allison
: social location; "A Question of Class"
Social Class:
A division of a society based on social and economic status. Related Readings: "The View from The Country Club: Wealthy Whites and the Matrix of Privilege," Jessica Sherwood "A Question of Class," Dorothy Allison
Privilege:
A set of unearned benefits given to people who fit into a specific social group, and at the top of the social hierarchy are white, upper-class, able-bodied, Christian, straight males. Related Reading: "Patriarchy, the System (1997)" by Allan G. Johnson Unpacking the Invisible Backpack," Peggy McIntosh
Liberalism:
A theory about individual rights, freedom, choice, and privacy, with roots in seventeenth century European politics Liberal feminism: explains the oppression of women in terms of unequal access to political, economic, and social institutions. Accepts existing institutions as they are, seeking only access for women within them.
Standpoint Theory:
An individual's own perspectives are shaped by his or her social and political experiences and place from which we critically view our world around us → our view has to be critical, we must understand power and privilege → strong objectivity (Women's Lives pg 56-59) About how you view the world based on the social group that you are a part of, some criticism is just relativism It is a reaction→ it doesn't make sense to you that a person of color has never felt unsafe for example Patricia Hill Collins said that standpoint is not about individual experiences but about historically shared, group-based experiences Related Reading: "Combahee River Collective" "Multiracial Feminism" Becky Thompson Four categories that make up standpoint theory: from Sandra Harding (1998) Physical/Social Location: economic standpoint (class), geography of where you come, race, able bodiedness, sexuality, and GENDER! Interests: how you are interested in certain things will explain your views. Different locations generate different interests. Access to discourses: that provide tools for making sense of specific experiences. Accepted norms. Social Organization of Knowledge Production: who is producing knowledge, which knowledge is valuable, who is consuming, what knowledge isn't → Challenges to standpoint: Subjectivity: knowledge and meaning are lodged in personal experiences → i can only speak for myself/ how does that affect me → experience should not be the origin of explanation but rather that which we want to explain AND Relativism in which situated knowledge is taken as authoritative because it is someone's or some group's real experience where each group's thought is equally as valid (KKK is valid)
Intersex:
An umbrella term that describes a person born with sex characteris(cs (e.g. gene(c, genital, sexual/ reproduc(ve or hormonal configura(ons) that do not fit typical binary characteristics of male or female bodies. The term describes a wide range of natural variations in human bodies. Intersex is frequently confused with transgender, but the two are completely distinct and generally unconnected. Related Reading: "The Five Sexes" by Anne Fausto-Sterling There are actually many gradations running from female to male. In nature, we find a spectrum of people, a range, not an either-or → intersex is used as a catch all phrase for this spectrum Such as hermaphrodites (possess one ovary and one testis) or male pseudohermaphrodites possess testes and some aspects of the female genitalia but not ovaries Hermaphrodite- a person or animal having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics (one testis and one ovary) Fermaphrodite- (ferms) female pseudohermaphrodites- have ovaries and some aspects of the male genitalia but lack testes. Mermaphrodite- (merms) Male pseudohermaphrodites- one testes and some aspects of the female genitalia but no ovaries
Consciousness-Raising Groups
Began in the 1960's NYRW began consciousness-raising by selecting a topic related to women's experience, such as husbands, dating, economic dependence, having children, abortion, or a variety of other issues. The members of the CR group went around the room, each speaking about the chosen topic. Ideally, according to feminist leaders, women met in small groups, usually consisting of a dozen women of fewer. They took turns speaking about the topic, and every woman was allowed to speak, so no one dominated the discussion. Then the group discussed what had been learned. Relevant reading: "The Problem With No Name" (?) Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism, popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group of people on some cause or condition.
Feminism:
Bring new approaches to end female oppression. Power is based on gender differences and that men's illegitimate power over women taints all society. Feminism - concerns the liberation of women and girls from gender-based discrimination (Women's Lives pg.3) Related Readings: "A Day without Feminism" by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, "A Historical Case for Feminism" by Estelle Freedman, "Patriarchy, The System" by Allan G. Johnson 19th Century Feminism: 1840s-1920s Concerned with legal issues for women, suffrage and working conditions. 1st Wave Feminism: 19th Amendment: Granted women right to vote in 1920 Related Reading: "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls(1848)", "Lynch Law in America" by Ida B. Wells 20th Century Feminism 1960s, '70s, and '90s 2nd Wave Feminism: 1960's and '70s Related Reading: "Multiracial Feminism" by Becky Thompson "Combahee River Collective" "The Problem with No Name," Betty Friedan "The Second Sex: Introduction," Beauvoir Telling history of Second Wave from view point of women of color illuminates rise of Multiracial Feminism( see Multiracial Feminism) Early organizations: a Chicana group - Hijas de Cuauhtémoc(1971) Asian Sisters, focused on drug abuse intervention Women of All Red Nations (WARN), fought sterilization, sued govt. over water rights, networking with indigenous people of Guatemala and Nicaragua. Third World Women's Alliance, Black led organization focused on racism, sexism, and imperialism. National Black Feminist Organization(NBFO), focused on sexism and racism. Combahee RIver Collective (see Combahee River Collective)
Post-Colonial Feminism:
Chandra Mohanty Pg 57 The theory resists Euro-American feminists' tendency to universalize the forms of oppression they face in their own lives, a tendency which ignores the crucial differences in the way women from various national, ethnic and religious backgrounds experience gender Extending analysis of gender, race, and class to include nation and the complex long-term effects of Western colonialism. The "post" indicates that colonial legacies continue to exist, not that it is over. Postcolonial feminism reminds us "equality" looks different for, say, a white, middle-class woman in the U.S. and a Muslim woman in Iran, and it denies the idea of universal oppressions.
Situated Knowledge:
Developed by Donna Haraway. Reminds us that knowledge is never pure, simple and never comes from no viewpoint. Meaning of wife is different in different places. Knowledge always comes from a collective viewpoint but not a single viewpoint knowledge that reflects the particular perspectives of the subject. Knowledge and ways of knowing that are specific to a particular historical and cultural context and life experiences It's situated in a certain time and a certain place→ changes with social change Relates to standpoint theory, and how knowledge is influenced and shaped by location Related Reading: "Multiracial Feminism" Becky Thompson "Black Feminist Thought"
Social Location:
Economic standpoint (class), geography of where you come, religion, race, able bodiedness, sexuality, and GENDER → Connects to standpoint A concept used to express the core of a person's existence in the social and political world. Related Readings: "Optional Ethnicities" Mary Waters "A Question of Class" Dorothy Allison
Essentialism:
Essentialism: (Meso) the view where complex identities get reduced to specific qualities deemed to be essential for membership of a particular group. Related Readings: "A Questions of Class" Dorothy Allison "Optional Ethnicities" Mary C. Waters Gender essentialism: is the theory that there are certain universal, innate, biologically- or psychologically-based features of gender that are at the root of observed differences in the behavior of men and women
Transnational Feminism:
Feminism without borders, links scholars and activists in "non-colonized" dialogue across differences. Creation of knowledge must avoid false universalisms and should involve ethical and caring dialogue across differences, divisions and conflicts, to generate a broader understanding. Related Reading: Women's Lives( pg 58)
Feminist Theory:
Feminist theory and feminism are two different things Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. A major branch of theory within sociology that is distinctive for how its creators shift their analytic lens, assumptions, and topical focus away from the male viewpoint and experience. In doing so, feminist theory shines light on social problems, trends, and issues that are otherwise overlooked or misidentified by the historically dominant male perspective within social theory. Key areas of focus within feminist theory include discrimination and exclusion on the basis of sex and gender, objectification, structural and economic inequality, power and oppression, and gender roles and stereotypes, among others.
Dominant Culture:
In a society is the group whose members are in the majority or who wield more power than other groups. In the United States, the dominant culture is that of white, middle-class, Protestant people of northern European descent. Dominant culture is whichever culture is "the norm." As defined in Women's Lives pg 53 - the values, symbols, means of expression, language and interests of the people in power in society. Relevant reading: "If Men Could Menstruate" because the author argues that whatever group is considered to be the "norm" of a given society determines how actions and events are portrayed and interpreted.
Interdisciplinary:
Interdisciplinary means ' combining subjects together in new ways.' Literally, interdisciplinary means ' working between different academic disciplines. → must approach systemic oppression through interdisciplinary means of economics feminists strive for gender equality, there are various ways to approach this theory, including liberal feminism, socialist feminism and radical feminism. Working to increase equality Expanding human choice Eliminating gender stratification Ending sexual violence and promoting sexual freedom
Gender essentialism
Is the theory that there are certain universal, innate, biologically- or psychologically-based features of gender that are at the root of observed differences in the behavior of men and women
Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
Point was to consider and resolve the social, civil, and religious conditions and rights of woman Presented at the Seneca Falls Convention by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott The Declaration of Sentiments begins by asserting the equality of all men and women and reiterates that both genders are endowed with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It argues that women are oppressed by the government and the patriarchal society of which they are a part 16 facts illustrating the extent of this oppression, including the lack of women's suffrage, participation, and representation in the government; women's lack of property rights in marriage; inequality in divorce law; and inequality in education and employment opportunities. Women were required to be obedient to their husbands and prevented from owning property, including the wages they earned (which technically belonged to their husbands). And they received unequal rights upon divorce. Demanded the right to vote Adopted at a founding convention of 19th century suffragists (see also Seneca Falls Convention) Drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and others. Related Reading: "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls (1848)
Quantitative vs Qualitative:
Quantitative- data is information about quantities; that is, information that can be measured and written down with numbers. Some examples of quantitative data are your height, your shoe size, and the length of your fingernails. structured hypothesis and methods Focuses on measuring and applying facts Large sample size (more representative) Values objectivity and reliability Example: lab studies, surveys Qualitative - information about qualities; information that can't actually be measured. Some examples of qualitative data are the softness of your skin, the grace with which you run, and the color of your eyes.
Micro/Macro/Meso:
RELATED READING? (Perhaps we should reference for reading: the literature presented in the lectures of Dr. Janice Page?) Related Readings: "A Question of Class" by Dorothy Allison Micro: Home, security: (home, family, individual, interpersonal, personal) Meso: Essentialism, marginality, bridge builders: (police, school, organization, court, community, neighborhood) → Can lead to essentialism as there is an assumption of shared values, interests, culture, or languages sometimes thought of as essential qualities that define group membership Macro: Legal Systems (education, military, criminal justice system, religion, media, national, institutional, family) Global: Patriarchy: (Heteronormativity, transnational corporations, world bank, war on terror, religious extremisms, united nations)
19th Ammendment
Ratified in 1920, granted women the right to vote. Signalled the end of 1st Wave Feminism, and 19th Century Feminism Related Reading: "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls" (see Feminism, 19th Century)
Cultural Determinism:
Related Reading: "A Question of Class" Dorothy Allison The belief that the culture in which we are raised determines who we are at emotional and behavioral levels we (humans) create our own situations through the power of thought, socialization,and all forms of information circulation the concept that culture determines economic and political arrangements
Multiracial feminism:
Related Reading: "Multiracial Feminism" by Becky Thompson Led by women of color in the United States in the 1970s. Prioritized liberation of all women, being especially inclusive to women of color → prioritizes their voices Not to assume that all women of color have the same experiences Intersectional → connects class and race Focuses on international perspectives (transnational in a historical context) It looks at justice-based rights, which comes in the form of systemic change
The Beauty Myth
Related Reading: "Story of My Body" by Judith Ortiz Cofer, "The Beauty Myth" by Naomi Wolf The myth perpetrated by media and the patriarchy that women's worth stems from their external benefit Article of same name takes a look at how beauty standards in the media are used against women. Beauty is a currency system It is defined by behavior not appearance Also the idea that there is one look that is acceptable for women, the look perpetuated by mainstream media (skinny, tall, etc.), and that all women who don't fit this look naturally should strive to achieve it.
Seneca Falls Convention (1848):
Related Reading: "The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution, Seneca Falls (1848)" The meeting that launched the suffrage movement. fought for the social, civil and religious conditions and rights of women → presented the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions Declaration of Independence used as a template. Organizers: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott
Wave Metaphor (see Feminism):
Related Reading: Women's Lives pg 4-5 A term used to divide U.S. Feminist movements into distinctive periods Focuses on activities and perspectives of white, middle-class feminists Leaves out large areas of activism by women of Color. 1st Wave 1840-1920 1. Opening of higher education for women 2. Reform of the girls' secondary school system 3. Married women's property rights recognized (Married Women's Property Act: 1870) 4. Improvement in divorced and separated women's child custody rights 5. Women getting the vote 2nd Wave 1960s-1970s Not unified because differences emerged between black, lesbian, liberal, and social feminism "The personal is political" New roles for women after WWII led to a powerful second wave of feminist thought and action in the 1970's, ___wave; 1970s; buried race issue, thought of as white middle-class; marital-rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence weren't socially visible. Paid little attention to lower social class problems, or problems that did not affect them. Equality feminists were more likely to be interested in payment of social security benefits and the premiums charged for life insurance policies 3rd wave 1990s the most recent period of feminist activity, focusing on issues of diversity and the variety or identities women can possess -clash against the generally white-privileged 2nd wave movement to include women of color and of other sexualities - feminist perspectives adopted in the 1990s, often by younger women, with an emphasis on personal voice and multiple identities, intersectionality, ambiguity, and contradictions
Combahee River Collective-
Related Readings: "A Black Feminist Statement (1977)", WL pg27 and pg 6 (really highlighted that the white feminist movements were not addressing their particular needs) And Becky Thompson's "Multiracial Feminism" pg. 35 Black feminist group in the mid to late seventies. Saw lesbian separatism, advocated by some white lesbians, as too limiting theoretically in practice Group members did not advocate equal rights for women within current institutions but saw the transformation of the political and economic system as fundamental to women's liberation Defined themselves as socialists
Social Feminism:
Sees the oppression of women in terms of two interconnected and reinforced systems - patriarchy and capitalism.
Gender vs Sex
Sex: medically defined, biological Gender: a human production, socially constructed, an individual's concept of themselves (gender identity) Neither is binary A sex category becomes a gender status through naming, dress, and the use of other gender markers. As a social institution, gender is a process of creating distinguishable social statuses for the assignment of rights and responsibilities. Gendered people emerge not from physiology or sexual orientation but from the exigencies of the social order. Related Readings: "The Social Construction of Gender" Judith Lorber "The Five Sexes" Anne Fausto-Sterling "The Second Sex" by Simone de Beauvoir Simone de Beauvoir: "One is not born a woman; one is made a woman" → she is emphasizing how the characteristics, behaviors, etc we associate with the category of "woman" are something that we learn (versus embodying from birth)
Patriarchy:
System based on domination (of women) and control (by men), we constantly interact with it and enforce it, another system is in marriage (default that a woman will take a man's name), careers, contraception. The system organization of male supremacy. Male-dominated, male-identified, male-centered, control-obsessed. The valuing of maleness and masculinity, and the devaluing of femaleness and femininity. Related Readings: "The Second Sex" by Simone de Beauvoir, "Patriarchy, The System (1997)" by Allan Johnson. Global patriarchy: the way the West interacts and treats the rest of the world Male dominance, a kind of society organized around certain kinds of social relationships and ideas that shape paths of least resistance (Allan Johnson). It's an arrangement of shared understandings and relationships that connect people to one another and something larger than themselves. → IT'S THE MATRIX → systems often work in ways that don't reflect people's experience and ... it's like monopoly → tells us how to play but not what and why → patriarchy is male dominated, male centered, and has control-obsessed character
Race:
The grouping of people based upon physical characteristics, ethnic background, and geographic roots. Judith Lorber - "The Social Construction of Gender." "Lynch Law in America," Ida Wells Barnett Centuries ago, even the scientific method was used to say there were biological differences between the races (there isn't) and that explanation was widely accepted. It's important to realize the role race plays in the Feminist movement and the way it is portrayed. During the first wave of feminism, even Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were opposed to black men earning the right to vote.
Compulsory Heterosexuality:
The idea that heterosexuality is assumed and enforced by a patriarchal society. This refers to the idea that heterosexuality can be adopted by people regardless of their personal sexual preferences. Adrienne Rich (popularized the term in 1980) argues that heterosexuality is not "natural" or intrinsic in human instincts, but an institution imposed upon many cultures and societies that render women in a subordinate situation. Examples: Common examples include the assumption that children will grow up to marry a person of the opposite sex, children must steer away from having friends of the opposite sex, sexual education books that exclusively discuss heterosexuality, the concept of "coming out", religious and secular organizations that assume all members are heterosexual, and believing that if one can pretend to be heterosexual that is better than being non-heterosexual. Related Reading: "The Beauty Myth" by Naomi Wolf
Feminist Backlash:
The idea that when women are finally granted rights and succeed in liberating themselves, they experience backlash in a new form that pushes them back. (one step forward, two steps back) For example, Naomi Wolf talks about how with the newly found sexual freedom women gained after the 1960s and 70s, they were met with the beauty myth which oppressed women in the sense that they were mentally hindered by this ideal beauty image that is difficult to meet.
Epistemology:
The theory of knowledge and undertaking, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology examines the difference between opinions and justified beliefs. A theory about knowledge, who can know, and under what circumstances. Element basic to process of creating knowledge, as identified by feminist philosopher Sandra Harding (1987) (Women's Lives pg 52)
Genetic Determinism:
The theory that biologically inherited traits - and the environmental influences that affect those traits - dominate who we are The theory that a groups biological or genetic makeup shapes its social, political and economic destiny. Related Reading: Women's Lives (pg 54) "The Social Construction of Gender" Judith Lorber page 64 Also possibly "Optional Ethnicities" by Mary C. Walters because cultural/ethnic/racial minorities are prevented from claiming ethnicities because of their genetics (ex. Being black vs. being white). Belief that human behaviour is controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, whether in embryonic development or in learning.
Intersectionality:
The theory that the overlap of various social identities - race, gender, sexuality, and class - contributes to the specific type of systemic oppression and discrimination experienced by an individual → how much oppression and power that you experience depending on the facets of your identity Related Reading: "Combahee River Collective (1977)"—a group of black women analyzing how race, gender, class, and sexuality intersect to make their experiences different from those of the dominant feminist movement (most heterosexual upper-middle class white women). This text does not use the term "intersectionality" but it is an early example of the idea. "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh. recognizes that she is oppressed on the basis of gender but she ALSO experiences social privilege on the basis of her whiteness. "The View from The Country Club: Wealthy Whites "The Matrix of Privilege," by Jessica Sherwood, "Optional Ethnicities," by Mary Waters "What Does the Female Gaze Look Like?: A Ms. Conversation with Jill Soloway" "Portraying Women as They Actually Are: A Ms. Conversation with Shonda Rhimes" "We Are All Works in Progress," Leslie Feinberg The term was coined by Kimberle Crenshaw (legal scholar) in the 90s. Sojourner Truth recognizing how dominant cultural attitudes towards white women (e.g. that they are delicate and need to be protected) do NOT apply to black women like herself (a former slave) asking "Ain't I a woman?"
Woman Question (The):
What factors shape how one becomes a woman, socially, legally, scientifically? "The woman question" is a phrase usually used in connection with a social change in the later half of the 19th century, which questioned the fundamental roles of women in Western industrialized countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, and Russia. Related Readings: "Questions about the "Woman Question": Déjà-Vu All over Again?" by Melissa Hyde, "The Social Construction of Gender," by Judith Lorber, "The Five Sexes," by Anne Fausto-Sterling, "Girl," by Jamaica Kincaid "The Second Sex: Introduction" Simone de Beauvoir
Media and Gaze:
Who's doing the looking: male gaze, heteronormative gaze, female gaze, tourist gaze, voyeurism gaze, oppositional gaze, western gaze, the commodified gaze, fetishized gaze, colonial gaze → who is looking back → the spectator, who is making the piece, the object of the piece. (who or what is being looked at) The male gaze: is the act of depicting the world and women in the visual arts and literature from a masculine and heterosexual point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure Oppositional Gaze: is a political rebellion and resistance against the repression of black people's right to a gaze. Coined by Bell Hooks. The female gaze: The female gaze is a feminist film theoretical term representing the gaze of the female viewer. It is a response to feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey's term, "the male gaze," which represents not only the gaze of the male viewer but also the gaze of the male character and the male creator of the film." (wiki) Related Readings: The principles of media literacy (Women's Lives pg 60-62) Women's Lives, Chapter 2, "Theories and Theorizing: Integrative Frameworks for Understanding", 60-62 "Portraying Women as They Actually Are: A Ms. Conversation with Shonda Rhimes" "What Does the Female Gaze Look Like?: A Ms. Conversation with Jill Soloway"
Liberal feminism:
explains the oppression of women in terms of unequal access to political, economic, and social institutions. Accepts existing institutions as they are, seeking only access for women within them.
Women and Gender Studies:
offers a feminist interdisciplinary course of study that expands the process of knowledge production to include considerations of gender, race, class, and sexuality in the United States and internationally. Related Readings: "Claiming an Education" Adrienne Rich, "Multiracial Feminism" Becky Thompson
Hegemonic feminism:
white feminism, fighting for feminism for cisgendered, white women → how sexism is above classism and racism → Prioritizes sexism White-led Middle and upper classes dominated Focuses on the United States (US-centric) More focused on individualized rights (change the laws to benefit us rather than starting fresh and the whole constitution)→ liberal feminism (see Liberalism) → wants change in the systems that already exist (which is made possible because it prioritizing sexism)
Dorothy Allison
→ "A Question of Class" (1993) She grew up poor in SC She already felt like a they because she was poor → didn't want to add onto that because she was queer Mother worked as a waitress Her people had been encouraged to destroy themselves Relationship of mother and stepfather → stayed together to support themselves individually → he was domestically violent and sexually violent towards her They started over in Florida Tried to copy the mannerisms of the girls in college and hide her own interests Tries to convey how we internalize the myths of our society even as we hate and resist them. Her family did not believe in taking pride in a job → you worked to survive Felt stuck between two worlds → ashamed of her family's racism but proud of their endurance Rule makers → put shame on her family She did not know who she was → college degree but working class, activist, her family Class, race, sexuality, gender, all the categories by which we categorize and dismiss each other need to be examined from the inside → Standpoint The horror of class stratification, racism, and prejudice is that some people begin to believe that the security of their families and community depends on the oppression of others, that for some to have good lives others must have lives that are mean and horrible Stop fearing becoming the 'they' that they talk about Did not like begging --> all family was bent on survival Her mom had a sugar daddy
Adrienne Rich
→ "Claiming an Education" → Speech delivered at the Douglas Convocation in 1977. American poet, essayist and radical feminist. Education entails being responsible for oneself Must have clear thinking, active discussion, and the intellectual and imaginative capacity to be persuaded that new ideas might be true You are the rightful owner of an education What you learn in university is what men have perceived and organized → it is subjective Don't let others do your thinking! Don't fall for shallow and easy solutions Demand to push yourself further
Jamaica Kincaid
→ "Girl" A poem with all the things she was told as a girl About how to be a lady. How to wash clothes How to act in public How to sew on buttons How to clean a house How you prepare dinner/ set up tea How not to become the slut she "was so hell bent on becoming"
Gloria Steinem
→ "If Men could Menstruate" It would be a worthy, enviable event Doctors would do more research about cramps than heart attacks Stats would say men did better in the olympics and in sports while on his period Menstruation = only men in combat according to the right-wing politicians Men would convince women that sex was more pleasurably on that time of the month Med schools might limit women's entry as they might faint on the sight of blood Power justifications pretty much if men could menstruate Related to the "Dominant Culture" argument. (see Dominant Culture)
Ida B. Wells
→ "Lynch Law in America" An African-American journalist, abolitionist and feminist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s. Lynch Law in America was one of the first uncompromising, graphically descriptive portrayals of lynching to be aimed at an audience that was largely white. Appeared in an issue of Arena, a Boston-based magazine with an audience of predominantly white people. Claim that lynching was not mindless mob action, but brutality with a hidden motivation, was equally innovative (referred to it as the "unwritten law" that the KKK followed) Wells-Barnett's ideas to explain lynching as a method of social control, disenfranchisement, and terror, a manner of controlling economic and political competition, and as a way to punish those who challenged the rigid ideology of sexual segregation. Lynching had become a national crime Use of statistics to describe the magnitude of the lynching problem was also a first. Wells-Barnett was able to forestall her critics' dismissal of lynching as an infrequent or usually warranted practice. She also pointed out that fewer than a third of the victims of lynchings were even accused of rape, which was its most common justification. Should stop lynchings... On the ground of consistency: we have been been outspoken and stopped injustice with other immigrants and such... we shouldn't stop now! On the ground of economy: When we lynch people from different countries → our country has to pay because we cannot protect (massacre of italy) Prisoners→ had to pay italy over 200,000 dollars For the honor of Anglo-Saxon civilization: Are you not better than the cannibals and Indians who tie and burn prisoners to protect their women? For love of country: We travel abroad and blush with shame from the lynching that happen back at home
Judith Butler:
→ "Performance of Gender" Major theorist who focused on the performance of gender. She says 'it's an unavoidable performance, we give it life and it lives through us, we can change it through collective action' (Nora's Lecture) American philosopher and gender theorist Gender is performative → we are acting in a way that is crucial in the gender we present to the world and are. They have effects → consolidate an impression of being a man or a woman. Gender is a phenomenon that is being reproduced → no one is a gender from the start; it is being produced and reproduced all the time. Informal kinds of practices like bullying which try to keep us in our gendered place It is most important to resist the violence that is imposed by ideal gender norms Someone yelled at Butler "Are you a lesbian?"
Naomi Wolf
→ "The Beauty Myth" The social power and prominence of women have increased, the pressure they feel to adhere to unrealistic social standards of physical beauty has also grown stronger because of commercial influences on the mass media. We may be worse off as a violent backlash of feminism uses images of female beauty as a political weapon against a women's advancements. Beauty is the last, best belief system that keeps male dominance in tact → beauty is a currency and it is dominated by politics like any economy Discusses that the beauty myth is composed of emotional distance, politics, finance, and sexual repression The beauty myth is not about women; it is about men's institutions and institutional power The beauty myth gained ground from the upheavals of industrialization as urbanization and the emerging factory system supported the new category of breadwinners Cultural conspiracy=women who feel old and ugly will buy things they do not need. An "anti-ageing" cream, say, or a blouse very little different from the blouses they already have. Wolf argues that women's magazines have played a pivotal role in the selling of the beauty myth. They have done more to bring feminism to the female masses than any feminist periodical, The beauty myth is prescribing behavior and not appearances Virginity stands for sexual innocence Aging in women is unbeautiful because women grow more powerful with time.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
→ "The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution, Seneca Falls (1848)" Was an American suffragist, social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early women's rights movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the Seneca Falls Convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is often credited with initiating the first organized women's rights and women's suffrage movements in the United States
Lucretia Mott
→ "The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution, Seneca Falls (1848)" a U.S. Quaker, abolitionist, a women's rights activist, and a social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongst the women excluded from the World Anti-Slavery Convention → helped write the Declaration of Sentiments
Anne Fausto Sterling
→ "The Five Sexes" Herms are visible in history (perhaps Adam was one/ became one when he had fallen from God's grace) Jewish books of law discuss the presence of herms Scientific dogma has held fast to the assumption that without medical care herms are doomed to a life of misery Science and society must squeeze into both
Simone De Beauvoir
→ "The Second Sex: An Introduction" (1952) French Feminist in 1940s One of the early philosophers observing how sex and gender are distinct "One is not born a woman, one is made a woman" What is a woman? → Women think with their glands (feel emotions) but men ignore the fact their hormones also dominate them with their testicles One is not born a woman, they become a woman Men think they are objective The woman body is not a hindrance Humanity is male and man defines women not in herself but as relative to him Man can think of himself without woman but woman must think of herself as must having a man Women have only gained what men are willing to grant → women lack concrete means for organizing themselves into a unit which can stand face to face with the correlative unit → they are never herded together → they have no past history or religion When men are in conflict with woman, they heighten the inequalities of women that are not a result of naturality (like pay-wage gap) rather than before in good terms he views women of largely equal to men We must get rid of all the vague notions of superiority, inferiority, and equality and start fresh → no more Jesus was a man and so is superior or God made man first so he is superior than women say he made a mistake and made woman
Judith Ortiz Cofer
→ (1993) "The Story Of My Body" Discusses her skin as a scabby cat (school nurse) with permanent scars → Italian man in store called her dirty because she was Puerto Rican Follows the rules of society based on skin, size (she was a shrimp and thus was a shrimp with sports) → learned how to be pretty from her mother Describes the weird scale of being too dark in the US or too white in Puerto Rico She had "her" doll with blond hair in convenience store → italian store owners watched her so she wouldn't steal it → girl not conforming to her position in life because she has a white doll A very race-split school (whites vs the blacks vs. the puerto ricans) would compete with each other in school She rather go to the library She didn't want to be associated with handicap as she was already associated with other things (moving away from her in the picture) Looks= white girl > jewish girl> puerto rican > black girl The whole deal with Ted → his father said no to taking her out She said that her skin color, size, and appearance were variables → things that were judged according to her self image, the time, the places she was in, people she met She was exotic in college → likes stability more than social life Married young to avoid stress
Patricia Hill Collins
→ Writer and social theorist, wrote book called "Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment" in 1990. Extended and reframed idea of standpoint theory; historically shared, group-based experiences In "Black Feminist Thought", she explores topics such as social location, situational knowledge and standpoint theory Argues that the small, particular details of everyday life for racial minorities can be used to create a universal "truth" about their existence
Chandra Mohanty
→ feminist educator and scholar, described her standpoint as a South Asian in US. Drew on postcolonial feminism ideas. Wrote Feminism without Borders; decolonizing theory and practicing solidarity, wrote Third World Women and politics of feminism (1990) Focused on transnational feminist theory
