WS EXAM 1
Mari Matsuda
Mari Matsuda: "All forms of oppression involve taking a trait X, which often carries with it a cultural meaning, and using X to make some group the 'other' and to reduce their entitlement and power.
Reimaging masculinity
Men also experience double binds, where either accepting masculine gender roles or rejecting them results in a negative outcome • Example: Men are shamed for expressing their emotions, but are also shamed for failing to communicate
act like a man box
Paul Kivel's "Act Like A Man Box" • Boys and men must fit inside this box or risk being called "wimp,sissy, nerd, mama's boy, etc."
Opression
Prejudice and discrimination toward a group and perpetuated by ideologies and practices of multiple social institutions.
Psychoanalytical
Psychoanalytical (Freud, Jung, Gilligan, etc.) • Essential moral orientation differences • Women - more caring, men - more just
what are different forms of oppression
Racism Sexism Ableism Classism Heteroism Ageism Others.
Biological Determinism
Biological determinism • Men and women are "just born that way" • Genetic, biological, physical differences
Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
Article that white people do not notice that they are at more of an advantage than their black counterparts.
Marilyn Frye
[The experience of oppression] is that the living of one's life is confined and shaped by forces and barriers which are not accidental or occasional and hence avoidable, but are systematically related to each other in such a way as to catch one between and among them restrict or penalize motion in any direction."
Gender socialization
n-The process (social feedback, institutional organization, policies) that communicate socially appropriate roles for boys and men and girls and women. Some of the primary sites of gender socialization include the family, education, religion, popular culture and the media, sports, and the legal and criminal justice systems.
horizontal hostility
when individuals direct the resentment and anger they have about their situation onto those who are of equal or lesser status Slut-shaming" • Working mothers vs. stay-at-home mothers • Light-skinned vs. dark-skinned • Lesbians and gay men vs. bisexuals
privilege
Definition: "benefits, advantages, and power that accrue to members of a dominant group as a result of the oppression of the marginalized group." Launius & Hassell, p. 74) People can be privileged without even realizing, recognizing, or even wanting it
fourth wave
Disagreement about whether Third Wave has ended or we are in the Fourth Wave • Movements to consider: • #MeToo and #TimesUp • Slut Walks • Women's March • Women running for office in greater numbers than ever • Brett Kavanaugh Hearing
Feminism stereotypes
Feminism is dead Feminists are ugly, hairy, braless, don't wear makeup, etc. Emphasis on the ugly Feminists hate men Only women can be feminists Feminists are lesbians (or male feminists are gay) Feminists are making a big deal out of nothing
Waves of feminism
First Wave (1840s - 1920) •Second Wave (1963 to the 1980s) •Third Wave (1990s? to present?) •Fourth wave?
patrichary
Literally, rule of the fathers; a family, social group, or society in which men hold power and are dominant figures; a social order in which men, for the most part, have primary access to resources and hence to power and authority that they use to maintain themselves in power and resources." (Launius and Hassel, p. 197)
mansplaning
Mansplaining is "to explain in a patronizing manner, assuming total ignorance on the part of those listening" (Launius & Hassel, p.95).
Transgender
An individual for whom there is a lack of congruence between their gender assignment and gender identity.
Estelle Freedman def of feminism
"Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between women and men, with the understanding that gender always intersects with other social hierarchies."
Bell Hooks definition of feminism
"Feminism is the struggle to end oppression." "The foundation of future feminist struggle must be solidly based on a recognition of the need to eradicate the underlying cultural basis and causes of sexism and other forms of group oppression."
ideologies
"Ideologies are sets of ideas or beliefs. Just as there are dominant and marginalized groups in a society, so there are dominant ideologies"
Patriarchy
"literally, rule of the fathers; a family, social group, or society in which men hold power and are dominant figures; a social order in which men, for the most part, have primary access to resources and hence to power and authority that they use to maintain themselves in power and resources (Launius & Hassel, 2015, p. 197).
gender ranking
-Social value attached to masculine and feminine attributes (with higher value attached to masculinity).
first wave of fem
1840 - Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton refused entry to the World AntiSlavery Convention in London • 1848 - Mott and Stanton joined Martha Write, Mary Ann McClintock, and Jane Hunt in organizing Seneca Falls Convention • Declaration of Sentiments - modeled after Declaration of Independence • Demanded property rights, right to vote, greater educational and professional opportunities 1920 - the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote • 1923 - Alice Paul introduces the Equal Rights Amendment designed to guarantee equal legal rights to all Americans regardless of sex (ratified by 37 out of 50 states) • Critiques: • First wave feminism focused on upper- or middle-class White women • Ignored the perspectives and needs of women of color • Ignored history of Native American women
second wave
1963 - Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine Mystique, which focused on the role of women solely as mothers, housewives "The Problem with No Name" • 1965 - contraceptive pill made legal • 1972 - Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 guaranteed equal participation in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding • 1973 - Roe v. Wade provided legal access to first trimester abortions Critiques of Second Wave Feminism: • Again, focused on White, upper- or middle class women • Examples: • focus on reproductive rights in form of access to contraception and abortion; ignored the struggle of women of color to avoid forced sterilization and bring up healthy children • The Feminine Mystique ignored the plight of poor women and women of color who were struggling in the workforce • Deliberately excluded gay women and men; derided trans women as "fake women"
social construct
A concept or perception of something based on the collective views developed and maintained within a society or social group; a social phenomenon or convention originating within and cultivated by society or a particular social group, as opposed to existing inherently or naturally.
Intersectionality
A feminist stance explores how systems of privilege and oppression intersect Launius & Hassel, p. 114 The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage; a theoretical approach based on such a premise.
cisgender
A person who experiences congruence between their gender assignment and gender identity.
gender identity
A person's gendered sense of self.
gender
A social concept referring to a complex set of characteristics and behaviors prescribed for a particular sex by society and learned through the socialization process. The socially treated expectations for the looks, behaviors, and functions of that sex that are, however, often perceived as innate and not learned. Identifies people as feminine or masculine.
third wave
Term coined by Rebecca Walker in essay "Becoming the Third Wave" • 1991 - Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearing awakened focus on sexual harassment • Riot Grrl music scene - focused on women's empowerment and freedom to express their gender - reclaimed the idea of "girly-ness" • Focus on workplace rights for all women • Focus on Intersectionality (term coined by Kimberle Crenshaw) • LGBTQ rights Racial Justice • International feminist issues • Choices • OK to work or be a stay-at-home mother • OK to be modest in dress or celebrate one's sexuality and express one's creativity through dress, makeup, etc. • Pornography and sex work - disagreement about whether they oppress women or are ways for women to earn money (erotic capital)
bootstraps myth
The bootstraps myth is the idea that upward class mobility is not only possible but probable, and that individual will and hard work are the only requisites for moving out of poverty and into the middle class. One of the consequences or implications of this myth is that poor people are then blamed for their continued poverty" (Launius & Hassel, p.82).
gender comportment/expression
The expression of the gendered sense of self, which Susan Stryker defines as "bodily actions such as how we use our voices, cross our legs, hold our heads, wear our clothes, dance around a room, throw a ball, walk in high heels"
Tough Guise
The front that men often feel they must put on in order to be seen as tough or manly
Feminist
The social and political movement advocating for women's equality (Launius & Hassel, 2015, p. 191).
sex
The specific biological categories of female and male; identification by sex is based on a variety of factors including chromosomal patterns, hormonal makeup, and genital structures.
institutions and institutional are used to
The term "institutions" and "institutional or structural" forms of oppression are used frequently to highlight the way that systems function to grant resources and privileges to some groups and withhold them from others" (Launius & Hassel, p.78). Institutions can be formal like law and policy-making groups (Senate, House of Representatives) or less formal like popular culture and mass media.
internalized oppression
Those who have ''adopted the [dominant] group's ideology and accept their subordinate status as deserved, natural, and inevitable'' (Griffin, 1997, p. 76)
double binds
• a situation in which a person is confronted with two irreconcilable demands or a choice between two undesirable courses of action. • "Women in the public sphere are faced with two choices with two lessthan-desirable options of adhering to or rejecting feminine gender norms, risking negative repercussions either way."