Gender Studies Midterm
Second Wave of Feminism
1960s-Betty Frieden, The Feminine Mystique-critizies traditional gender roles, encourages women to question/challenge these roles, consciousness raising groups-small groups of women discussing the issues they face, protests Miss America, NOW-National Organization for Women, Distinction between the private and public sphere
Civil Rights Act (1964)
1964; banned discrimination in public acomodations, prohibited discrimination in any federally assisted program, outlawed discrimination in most employment; enlarged federal powers to protect voting rights and to speed school desegregation; this and the voting rights act helped to give African-Americans equality on paper, and more federally-protected power so that social equality was a more realistic goal
Iris Young - Five Faces of Oppression
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Marxist Feminism
Feminist perspective stating that the main cause of the oppression of women is capitalism because it allows for economic inequality, dependence, and political powerlessness, ergo creating unhealthy social relationships among men and women.
Frances Harper
She was also active in other types of social reform and was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, which advocated the federal government taking a role in progressive reform. She helped escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad on their way to Canada. She began her career as a public speaker and political activist after joining the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1853.
major goals of the third wave
maintain peace and security. develop international cooperation
Ann Ferguson - Pleasure, Power, and the Porn Wars
Libertarian or "pro-sex" feminists stress the importance of women's claiming the right to consensual pleasure in sexual activity. Any feminist sexual morality that attempts to draw the line at certain sorts of consensual sexual acts engaged in for pleasure is... reactionary, perpetuation Victorian stereotype of women. Radical feminist reject this anti-sex characterization of their position. They stress the danger in existing socially-constructed sexuality, which sexualizes inequality for women and fosters male dominance.
Sexuality, Pornography, and Method: 'Pleasure Under Patriarchy'
Male dominance is sexual: Men in particular, if not men alone, sexualize hierarchy; gender is one. These practices, taken together, express and actualize the distinctive power of men over women in society; their effective permissibility confirms and extends it.
Machismo
Men are the primary decision makers. A sense of virility, personal worth, and pride in one's maleness.
Black Power Movement
Mid-1960's movement that called for modifying integrationist goals in favor of gaining political and economic power for separate black-directed institutions and emphasizing pride in African American heritage.
U.S. Dept. of Labor Report (1965)
shows that the US is approaching a new crisis in race relations. Expectations of the Negro Americans will go beyond Civil Rights. Being Americans, they will now expect that the near future equal opportunities for them as a group will produce roughly equal results. Special effort needs to be made 1) racist virus in American blood stream still affects us 2) three centuries of sometimes unimaginable mistreatment have taken their toll
Role of Mexican Revolution (1910) in changes for Mexican women's traditional
similar to WW2 where women were forced to take on more important roles.
Karen Rian - Sadomasochism and the Social Construction of Desire
the bottom-line issues of the debate between sadomasochism and its compatibility with feminism are the repressive intolerance of sexual minorities versus the incompatibility of feminism with power and/or violence in personal relationships.
Feminine Mystique
Name of the book by Betty Friedan that discussed the frustration of many women in the 1950's and 1960's who felt they were restricted to their roles of mother and homemaker.
Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
She was among the most persuasive female writers of the Enlightenment. She argued that women, like men, need education to become virtuous and useful. She urged women to enter the male-dominated fields of medicine and politics.
De Gouge - Declaration of the Rights of Women
Set guidelines for instilling women's rights. Includes women are born free and equal to men, principle of sovereignty comes with the reuniting of men and women, and no women are exempted. 17 different rights
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(1815-1902) A suffragette who, with Lucretia Mott, organized the first convention on women's rights, held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Issued the Declaration of Sentiments which declared men and women to be equal and demanded the right to vote for women. Co-founded the National Women's Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony in 1869.
Frederick Douglass
(1817-1895) American abolitionist and writer, he escaped slavery and became a leading African American spokesman and writer. He published his biography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and founded the abolitionist newspaper, the North Star.
Elaine Brown
(Black Power) The last president of the Black Panthers. Born in Philadelphia, mom worked, dad gone, taught piano lessons. Was in gangs, ran off to LA. Waitress at the Pink Pussycat Club. "Shacked up" with Jay Kennedy(she left him and commits to Black Panthers). People wanted to kill her for being a women, she served in exile. She ran for city council in Oakland, failed but got money for Panther's Liberation Schools(moving Panthers in constructive direction). She ran the "breakfast for children."
familial roles
- US Society: mother is primary care giver, father is breadwinne
Andrea Dworkin
-Spokesperson for social critique (media, reproduction, education, workplace. Pornography is the tool by which men control, objectify and subjugate women
14th Amendment
1) Citizenship for African Americans, 2) Repeal of 3/5 Compromise, 3) Denial of former confederate officials from holding national or state office, 4) Repudiate (reject) confederate debts
Black Panther Party (1966)
1. A group founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in October 1966 in Oakland California. The group practiced militant self-defense of minority communities against the US government, and fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community based programs
Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
1863, Lincoln's proclamation made after a crucial victory at Antietam, allowed lincoln to push for something radical; frees all slaves in areas under rebellion; this excludes the border states, keeping them on the side of the union, prevents foreign powers from entering the war for slavery, provides a rationale for the war, and allows blacks to enlist in the army;
Betty Friedan
1921-2006. American feminist, activist and writer. Best known for starting the "Second Wave" of feminism through the writing of her book "The Feminine Mystique".
Lucretia Mott
A Quaker who attended an anti-slavery convention in 1840 and her party of women was not recognized. She and Stanton called the first women's right convention in New York in 1848
Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (1961)
A body that advises the president on some problem, making recommendations; some are temporary, whereas others are permanent.
Consciousness raising groups
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.
Chicana Feminism
A movement that accompanied the Chicana movement in which Chicanas rejected the notion of male dominance as a form of national pride. Chicanas fought for male-female equality
Title IX (1972)
A part of the Education Amendments which prohibited sex discrimination in any educational programs or activities that are funded by the federal government.
Liberal feminism
A strand of feminism that emphasizes gender equality and views the "essential" differences in men's and women's abilities or perspectives as trivial or nonexistent. Hypothesizes that women would behave similar to men in positions of power.
National Woman Suffrage Association
A woman's suffrage group started by Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in response to the split within the American Equal Right Association over if the group should support the 15th amendment. Anthony and Cady thought that they shouldn't support the 15th amendment unless it included the vote for women. Their approach to achieving women's rights was to get a federal constitutional amendment passed.
Socialist Feminism
According to ____, gendered job segregation is "the primary mechanism in capitalist society that maintains the superiority of men over women, because it enforces lower wages for women in the labor market."
Ida B. Wells
African American journalist. published statistics about lynching, urged African Americans to protest by refusing to ride streetcards or shop in white owned stores
19th Amendment (1920)
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920) extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections.
Women's Rights Convention (1854)
An 1848 gathering of women angered by their exclusion from an international antislavery meeting. They met at Seneca Falls, New York to discuss women's rights
Assata Shakur
An African-American activist and a former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army. Most definitely a pro-violence rebel as he was charged and indicted in relations to 7 incidents involving murder, armed robbery, bank robbery, and kidnapping.
Gloria Steinem
An American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Roe v. Wade (1973)
An extremely controversial Supreme Court decision in 1973 that, on the basis of the right to privacy, gave women an unrestricted right to abortion during the first three months of pregnancy.
Abolitionist movement
An international movement that between approximately 1780 and 1890 succeeded in condemning slavery as morally repugnant and abolishing it in much of the world; the movement was especially prominent in Britain and the United States.
The Master's Tools will Never Dismantle the House
Audre Lorde (1984) feminist academia had coalesced around a false consensus that left out the voices of those whose difference was essential to the project of overturning patriarchy.
Angela Davis
Black Communist college professor affiliated with the Black Panthers, she was accused of having been involved in a murderous jail-break attempt by that organization.
Combahee River Collective
Boston-based organization where Harriet Tubman led action to free 750 slaves. Significance - led the way for crucial anti-racist activism & it provided a blue print for Black feminism
Cherrie Moraga - La Guera
Chicana writer and poet feminist scholar essayist and playwright explores intersectionality based on race, gender, class, and sexuality.
Classical vs. welfare liberal feminists
Classical: don't want government involved in lives, freedom of expression and religion. Welfare: people can get social services, government can intervene when necessary.
First National Chicana Conference (1971)
Conference of Latina women that released a final report (see B&B page 141) that discussed its support for sex education/pro-sex mentality, reproductive rights, training sons to respect women, while being against institutionalized religion (especially Catholicism). Related to the Conferencia de Mujeres por La Raza.
Victoria Bromley - Feminism Matters, Chapter 1
Defining the "F-Word." Discusses the stereotypes of feminists. Depicts the term essentialism.
Soujourner Truth - Ain't I a Woman
Demand for intersectionality in feminist movements. Extemporaneous speech.
Alma Garcia - The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980
Described issues in Chicana Feminism. This includes the stereotypes and comparison to Asian American and Black feminism. Talks about more of a cultural connection to the nuclear family
National Black Feminist Organization
Dicker: formed in 1973, created "the vital and revolutionary importance of [feminism] to Third World women, especially black women.", focused on concerns of black women by informing black women of what feminism is, 1974 - black lesbians in NBFO created the Combahee River Collective (a socialist black feminist organization emphasizing the intersections of racial, gender, heterosexualm and class oppression), Barbara Smith and Audre Lorde founded Kitchen Table/Women of Color Press (the first publishing house in the UNited States for women of color)
American Equal Rights Association
Founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Lobbied for reform in government and society for all peoples but largely women and blacks.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union (1874)
Founded in 1874, this organization advocated for the prohibition of alcohol, using womens supposedly greater purity andmorality as a rallying point. advocates of prohibition in the US found common cause with activists elsewhere, especially in Britain.
National Association of Colored Women (1896)
Founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination; opposed racism & strove to gain civil rights for African Americans; got Supreme Court to declare grandfather clause unconstitutional
National Organization for Women
Founded in 1966, called for equal employment opportunity and equal pay for women. Also championed the legalization of abortion and passage of an equal rights amendment to the Constitution.
Role of patriarchy in oppression of women
Gave all power to men which put women in a powerless position.
American Women's Suffrage Association
Headed by Susan B. Anthony, a group seeking to amend the constitution in favor of women's suffrage. A movement born out of the industrial revolution in the late 19th century.
Alpha Suffrage Club
In 1913 in Chicago, Ida B. Wells founded this club, which sought to fight racism & support women. Functioned at the local level.
Susan B. Anthony
Key leader of woman suffrage movement, social reformer who campaigned for womens rights, the temperance, and was an abolitionist, helped form the National Woman Suffrage Assosiation
Robin Morgan - Lesbianism and Feminism: Synonyms or Contradictions?
Keynote address at the West Coast Lesbian Feminist Conference. It is about fighting the male mass media stereotype of the Women's Movement. Discusses the lesbian straight split. You can still be a feminist if you are a heterosexual wife.
Triple oppression
Latinas are oppressed because they are 1) women 2) Latina 3) by brothers, fathers, boyfriends, etc.
Sex Wars
Occurred in the late 1970s, early 1980s in which feminists discussed/debated issues pertaining to sex. Treated sex as a political force. Gayle Rubin discusses this in "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality"
American Equal Rights Association Convention (1869)
Organization founded in 1866 by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to secure equal rights for all citizens regardless of race or sex.
Black Feminists
Patricia Hill Collins claims that gender intersects with race, class, nationality, and religion. Which group has made the case that early liberal feminism was largely by, about, and for white middle-class women?
Radical feminism
Perspective that finds commonality and doesn't find disadvantages between social classes and racial-ethnic groups. Focuses on rates of poverty among age-groups and how their early-life experiences influenced it (elderly women).
Equal Pay Act (1963)
Required equal wages for equal work in industries engaged in commerce or producing goods.
Aaron A. Sargent
Politician, lawyer, and journalist. introduced the 29 words that would later become the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, allowing women the right to vote. S
National American Women's Suffrage Association (1890)
Pro-suffrage organization formed by the joining of the national woman suffrage association and the american woman suffrage association. Organization established in 1890 to promote woman suffrage; stressed that women's special virtue made them indispensable to politics.
Shulamith Firestone - The Dialectic of Sex
Radical Libertarian feminist who believes that marxist philosophy shows the root of all oppression as the struggle between the sexes.
Split between radical libertarian feminism and radical-cultural feminism
Radical libertarian feminism- promoted androgyny, Geyhe Rubin- Sex gender system reenforce ideas gender roles are neutral (thinkers include Firestone) Radical Cultural feminism- promoted femaleness. (Mary Daly) The divide between radical-libertarian feminists and radical-cultural feminists is widened when it comes to issues of female reproduction and motherhood. Radical-libertarian feminists believe that the root of all female oppression lies in women's ability to bare children. Shulamith Firestone reworks Marxist philosophy to explain the root of all oppression as the struggle between the sexes. Where Marx states that the only way to remove oppression is to "seize the means of production, women must seize the means of reproduction"
Declaration of Sentiments
Revision of the Declaration of Independence to include women and men (equal). It was the grand basis of attaining civil, social, political, and religious rights for women.
Segregation of white and black unions
Some white unions were excluding or silencing black members, so to get representation the unions split
15th Amendment
States cannot deny any person the right to vote because of race. Third of three "Reconstruction Amendments" passed after Civil War. First Voting Rights Amendment (with 19, 24 & 26)
First Wave of Feminism
The earliest period of feminist activity in the United States, including the period from the mid-nineteenth century until American women won the right to vote in 1920.
Chicana liberal feminism
The oppression of the Chicana is intricate and arises from a multitude of domineering means. She is an ethnic minority, she is woman who is universally oppressed by men, and her Chicano heritage exaggerates this male domination over women. The first type of oppression mentioned is due to ethnicity of the Chicana. The Chicano culture is politically and economically exploited by Anglo society. Chicanos are considered subordinate, dependent and have been subjected to numerous accounts of genocide. Another type of oppression is due to gender. Women across the vast majority of cultures are considered subordinate and are universally oppressed by her male counterpart. In addition, there is also an internal oppression caused by the Chicana heritage. Some identify this as machismo and caused by the colonization of the Chicano. Whatever the origin, it has a depreciating effect on the Chicana and must be addressed
American Booksellers Assoc. vs. Hudnut (1985)
The ordinance's definition and prohibition of "pornography" was unconstitutional. The ordinance did not refer to the prurient interest. Rather, the ordinance defined pornography by reference to its portrayal of women, which the court held was unconstitutional, as "the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message [or] its ideas."
bell hooks - Feminism is for Everyone
The patriarchal society is based on the power of man over women; of boss over underling; of lesbian lover over partner; and, of parent over child. Relationships built on this uneven turf are doomed to fail. In order to achieve societal transformation, everyone must learn to think in a non-sexist fashion. Activist hooks repeatedly makes the point that little boys and little girls need to receive an equal education on sexism. They will therefore be able to naturally develop the ability to think in an anti-sexist manner. By creating a society in which women and men are truly equals, the potential for honest, full, committed relationships for everyone will be the reward.
Intersectionality
The study of intersections between forms or systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. An example is black feminism, which argues that the experience of being a black woman cannot be understood in terms of being black, and of being a woman, considered independently, but must include the interactions, which frequently reinforce each other.
Linguistics
The study of language, including speech sounds, meaning, and grammar.
Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
Took place in upperstate New York in 1848; women of all ages and even some men went to discuss the rights and conditions of women; wrote the Declaration of Sentiments which tried to get women the right to vote.
Audre Lorde's critique of Daly's Gyn/Ecology
Uses powerful Afrakete folklore to argue a lack of African American representation in Lorde's work. Shows her distorting arguments from black feminists, and shows that the work has no intersectional inclusion.
Illegalization of Marital Rape
Was illegal until the legislation in 1993. Really gives mothers more power in spousal relationship and power dynamics.
Third Wave of Feminism
Wave of feminism: more of a concern with intersections between gender, race, class, and sexuality - problematizes the universality of the term women and tends to focus on sexuality and identity issues
Criticisms of liberal feminism
Weak front for elite, established interests; atomistic theory that views people as isolated instead of as part of a community (contrary to Marxism etc.)
Audre Lorde
a black writer, feminist, womanist, and civil rights activist. As a poet, she is best known for technical mastery and emotional expression, as well as her poems that express anger and outrage at civil and social injustices she observed throughout her life. Wrote a letter showing Mary Daly's lack of intersectionality.
Radical lesbian feminism
a cultural movement and critical perspective, most influential in the 1970s and early 1980s (primarily in North America and Western Europe), that encourages women to direct their energies toward other women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logical result of feminism. Figures include: Mary Daly, Monique Wittig and Audre Lorde,
Patriarchy
a form of social organization in which the father is the supreme authority in the family, clan, or tribe and descent is reckoned in the male line, with the children belonging to the father's clan or tribe.
Bell hooks - Feminism is for Everyone: Passionate Feminism
a short, accessible introduction to feminist theory by one of its liveliest and most influential practitioners. Designed to be read by all genders, this book provides both a primer to the question 'what is feminism?' and an argument for the enduring importance of the feminist movement today.Beginning with a broad survey of feminism's most important themes and concerns, bell hooks demystifies contentious concepts and turns apparent ideology into common sense.
Civil Rights Movement
a social movement in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s, in which people organized to demand equal rights for African Americans and other minorities. People worked together to change unfair laws. They gave speeches, marched in the streets, and participated in boycotts.
"The Women's Bible"
a two-part non-fiction book, written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a committee of 26 women, published in 1895 and 1898 to challenge the traditional position of religious orthodoxy that woman should be subservient to man.[1] By producing the book, Stanton wished to promote a radical liberating theology, one that stressed self-development.[2] The book attracted a great deal of controversy and antagonism at its introduction. Initial separation of Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
Equality of Opportunity
a widely shared American ideal that all people should have the freedom to use whatever talents and wealth they have to reach their fullest potential
International Women's Rights Convention (1888)
a women's organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington D.C. with 80 speakers and 49 delegates representing 53 women's organizations from 9 countries: Canada, the United States, Ireland, India, England, Finland, Denmark, France and Norway. merican suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony discussed the idea of an international women's organization with reformers in several countries. A committee of correspondence was formed to develop the idea further at a reception in their honor just before they returned home. The National Woman Suffrage Association, led by Anthony and Stanton, organized the founding meeting of the ICW, which convened in Washington, DC, on March 25, 1888.
Anna Julia Cooper
an American author, educator, speaker and one of the most prominent African-American scholars in United States history. Upon receiving her PhD in history from the University of Paris-Sorbonne in 1924, Cooper became the fourth African-American woman to earn a doctoral degree. Did not think she was a feminist because she understood that she was a minority (black, women). Believed the black race was to advance through the elevation of black women
Catherine MacKinnon
arguing that sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and any other sex discrimination prohibition. Anti-pornography.
National Baptist Women's Convention
began in the Antebellum period. Both free blacks and slaves were welcomed into the Baptist Church by missionaries in the First Great Awakening, and the second Awakening in the early 19th century brought in more member
Discrimination of black suffragettes
cannot move up in ranks/ payed less/ if captured returned to slavery or killed
Mary Daly - Gyn/Ecology
cultural feminist, arguing that the way to gain female empowerment is through embracing femaleness. Daly argues that men throughout history have sought to oppress women. In this book she moves beyond her previous thoughts on the history of patriarchy to the focus on the actual practices that, in her view, perpetuate patriarchy, which she calls a religion.
Goals of second-wave
develop feminist theory raise awareness of female oppression among women organize act Protest and activism Legislative changes
Monique Wittig - One is Not Born a Woman
discusses material feminism. It argues that "A material feminist apporach shows that what we take for the cause or origin of oppression is in fact only the mark imposed by the oppressor: the 'myth of woman,' plus its material effects and manifestations in the appropriated consciousness and bodies of women."
Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978)
employers must treat pregnant women as they would any other employee, providing they can still do the job. This act has saved jobs for women and allowed them to advance even if they became pregnant.
Title X (1970)
enacted under President Richard Nixon in 1970 as part of the Public Health Service Act. The only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. Legally designed to prioritize the needs of low-income families or uninsured people (including those who are not eligible for Medicaid) who might not otherwise have access to these health care services. These services are provided to low-income and uninsured individuals at reduced or no cost. Its overall purpose is to promote positive birth outcomes and healthy families by allowing individuals to decide the number and spacing of their children. The other health services provided in funded clinics are integral in achieving this objective.
Lucy Stone
formed American Women's suffrage movement, School teacher, daughter of a farmer, became abolitionist, lecturer for Anti-Slavery Society, good at giving speeches, disagreed with Susan Anthony, did not want to separate the women's rights movement from the aboltionist/civil rights movement.
Married Women's Property Act
gave women the right to earn wages and property; enabled women to have more leverage in society by being able to earn wages and own property
Sexism in black liberation movement·
lack of representation in black liberation movement for women. Did not hold leadership positions, were not seen as viable counters.
Antipornography Civil Rights Ordinance (1983)
name for several proposed local ordinances in the United States and that was closely associated with the anti-pornography radical feminists Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon. It proposed to treat pornography as a violation of women's civil rights and to allow women harmed by pornography to seek damages through lawsuits in civil courts. The approach was distinguished from traditional obscenity law, which attempts to suppress pornography through the use of prior restraint and criminal penalties.
Frances E. Willard
president of Christian Temperance Union
Oppression
prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control
Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference
the pre-existing picture which the oppressors have of the oppressed must change, and that this is the job of the oppressed; they must educate or re-position themselves in society. She believes that the whole society must change their way of seeing difference.... Still, society is infused with certain ideas and thoughts about difference, and it would be difficult or perhaps even impossible to develop real change. Lorde mentions the American "mythical norm," which is the image of the ideal American that society upholds; this figure is "white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure" (855). Society believes that this ideal is the source of power and superiority, and it is from this point of view that white women are oppressed. However, white women are only concerned with their own condition, which makes Black women become the "other."
Riot Grrrl Movement
underground feminist punk rock movement that originally started in the early to mid-1990s: Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, seen at the beginning of the 3rd wave of feminism, began in 1990s DIY subculture out of olympia WA. female punk rock rebellion against male punk rock scene, expressed radical politics, sexuality and behavior, and emphasis on not being good. inspired phrase girl power
Mary Church Terrell
was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree, and became known as a national activist for civil rights and suffrage. First president of NACW