When people think of “feminism”, they think of a specific media-generated image that usually involves “unseemly” body hair, bra burning, child- and man-hating, angry, masculine women, lesbians, and (weirdly) by turns promiscuous and prudes, depending on which end of the popular culture spectrum you’re coming from.

Thankfully, this feminism does not exist.

Many of these stereotypes are exaggerations (child- and man-hating), while others are specific to a certain subdivision of feminism (not shaving or wearing makeup). Some were simply made up to sell papers. (There was never any bra burning. Bras are expensive, hello. This was an exaggeration of an event where many feminists, in protesting a Miss America pageant in the ’60s, threw their bras into a trash can…unlit.) While a few have some basis in fact, in general, the popular perception of feminism is completely misconstrued.

Trying to define feminism in any strict way is similar to trying to define Christianity in any strict way. There is hardly anything on which there is not SOME form of disagreement. And while the movement as a whole does have commonalities, it’s important to understand the different particular strands which a given feminist can belong to.

Again, it’s like Christianity: do you know the difference between Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Latter Day Saints, and the Presbyterians? Some do, but odds are you don’t. Even when these denominations can agree on certain broad tenets, many believe that the others are STILL going to hell, for whatever doctrinal reason. It’s very important to notice the differences between the different types.

The following post was adapted from notes from my Sex, Power, and Politics Women’s Studies class.

Keep in mind that some of these types of feminism can and do overlap, and that individual women can subscribe to more than one of these feminisms.

Let’s begin, then:

Liberal Feminism

Liberalism is what the majority of the “mainstream” feminist movement has been. As a political philosophy liberalism reflects the Enlightenment’s emphasis on the rights of individuals (and individual liberties) within groups, and social/political reform to create equal opportunities.

Liberal feminist organizations work within established political and social institutions in an attempt to end discrimination through reform. Their goals are to change laws and social policies for the betterment of women, eg. Affirmative action and the Equal Rights Amendment.

Socialist Feminism

Socialist feminism has its origins in Marx and Engel’s writings on class struggle and critique of capitalism. Marx and Engels linked male control over women to the development of private property and women’s roles in the family. Marx once even called marriage “legalized prostitution” (this made me laugh very hard). They reasoned that it was modern capitalism that makes women a domestic slave, so women will be freed by abolishing private property. They linked male domination to an unjust economic system where the few controlled the many, where the few had almost everything and the poor had next to nothing. This fit in with their political and communist philosophies.

However, later socialist feminists rejected this idea that sexual oppression is secondary to class oppression, and expanded and modified their theories rather than adapting them. Socialist feminists reasoned that we don’t know which oppression caused which (sexual vs. class) because they emerged at the same time. As further evidence, women in “class-free” societies were still oppressed, sometimes even more so. (Women in communist China were freed from many of the rules restricting them from doing “men’s work”, so they could be soldiers, farmers, and warriors just like the men. However, the men were not expected to take on women’s roles of childcare and domestic work; women were simply expected to do both.)

Juliet Mitchell is an academic who analyzes women’s role and work in the family (especially in a capitalist system) as reproducers and consumers, as compared to the previous system where they were also producers. Before the industrial revolution and the rise of capitalism, women played a crucial role producing the things their families needed to survive; food, clothing, helping build houses, etc. Whereas now they serve primarily as reproducers to breed the next generation, and consumers to keep the flow of goods produced by capitalism, well, flowing. The stereotype that men work while women buy is actually linked to this idea that women, as the primary consumers, help maintain the economy, as the “demand” — without which our economy would collapse.

Radical Feminism

“Radical” feminists see patriarchal rule over women as “the original” form of oppression — before class oppression or racial oppression, there was oppression of women by men. Usually, radical feminists and their views are the source of “man-hating” stereotype, though most radical feminists say they do not hate men (and those few who do say they have good reasons for doing so).

Radical feminism critiques liberal feminism’s belief that equality can be won by changing laws that give women equal opportunities, since social institutions are patriarchal and thus can’t liberate women. Famous radical feminists include Andrea Dworkin, whose scathing critique of pornography and heterosexual relationships gained her much misunderstanding, and Mary Daly’s critique of patriarchal religions as one of the founding and most insidious sources of women’s oppression (namely in her book Beyond God the Father). Elizabeth Cady Stanton also critiqued religion in the first wave, in her book, The Woman’s Bible.

The solution for undermining the patriarchy for some radical feminists is to create a separatist women’s culture, where men are literally not allowed. There are some lesbian separatist communes who practice this in various forms, as well as several women’s “carnivals” that only allow women inside. Many critiques from radical feminists focus on pornography — of which they are highly critical, if not strongly opposed. Most radical feminists view pornography as the most blatant evidence of appropriation, use, and discarding of women and their bodies — the most obvious evidence of the patriarchy and it’s ownership of women and their bodies.

Multiracial Feminism

The most prominent feature of multiracial feminism is its critique of other forms of feminism as dominated by white, middle-class issues. Multiracial feminism assumes that “woman” is not a unitary category — there is no “one woman”, and “woman” does not have any specific race, class, age, sexual orientation, or physical ability. Multiracial feminism is based on the idea that individuals’ are composed of an intersection of race, gender, class, age, and sexual orientation which produces a complex, multifaceted identity. It also notes that the goal of a “gender-neutral”, “colorblind” society ignores the structural inequalities based on multiple oppressions. This can also be known as “anti-essentialist”. The most important book for this portion of the movement is This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color.

Post-modern Feminism

Post-modernists are very philosophical and theoretical, often using obtuse and highly academic language. The basic idea is that gender is entirely a social construction, one that can be interpreted as “discourses” (conversations) or “texts” that tell you how the creators of the piece understand gender. Gender discourses are constructed in particular historical and cultural contexts.

Categories of “woman” vs. “man” and the gender norms attached to them have no objective reality; they aren’t universal and aren’t fixed, Post-modernists are also very anti-essentialist. Post-modernists say that people create meanings (“significations”) all the time to display gender. In contrast to multiracial feminism, anti-essentialist postmodernism is opposed to identity politics where persons of an oppressed group are perceived to share the same experience. Identity politics “lumps people together”, and postmodernists don’t like that.

Postmodern critique of sexuality has led to queer theory, which proposes that sexual categories or identities are also social constructions or “performances”.

Some Notes on Anti-feminism: The Rise of Political Conservatism and the Religious Right

Anti-feminism has always existed where there has been feminism. Anti-feminism in the first wave (1848-1920) tried to affirm the idea of “separate spheres” and the “cult of domesticity”, and usually accused feminists and suffragettes of being low-class or anti-woman, ugly, etc. Their main goal was to try to defeat the ratification of the 19th Amendment via votes, and they almost succeeded, but it passed in Tennessee at the last minute.

During the second wave their most prominent activity was the organization of the defeat of the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, which succeeded in 1982. To this day, there is no portion of the constitution which guarantees equality for women.

Their activities during the third wave have mostly included a critique of women working outside the home unless absolutely necessary, bemoaning the divorce rate, hysteria about “family disintegration”, and demonizing the “the sexual revolution,” and it’s offspring, “promiscuity” among everyone (but mostly among women), pornography, homosexuality.

Modern anti-feminists see feminism as an attack on the family and on women’s sexual roles; despite the fact that that the women’s movement’s original focus was almost exclusively on women’s position within the family. They are usually against affirmative action programs and for restricting immigration; they frequently critique “secularism” and “pluralism” (both cultural and religious), and seek to restore the U.S. as a “Christian nation.” Since the 1980s, anti-feminists have organized to restrict and/or repeal laws that permit abortion and LGBT rights. One big group is called “Concerned Women for America”; infamous female anti-feminists have included Anita Bryant, a former Miss America; Beverly LaHaye, the current president and wife of Tim LaHaye, the co-author of the popular Left Behind series; amd Philis Shafly, the mastermind behind the defeat of the ERA who frequently bemoans women “abandoning traditional roles” and not being at home to take care of the children (despite the fact the her activism often led her to travel and be a “leader”, and her children were not taken with her.)

If you have anything to add, please do so. My class notes are surely far from perfect.

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Tags: Feminism, Feminism 101, History, Notes from Class, Philosophy | |