Peeling Back the Layers of Feminism
Feminism, it’s a loaded word. It’s almost impossible to come to a consensus on it’s true definition. Feminism in it’s purest form is often wrongly defined, misused, and abused. In this article we will explore feminism at it’s fundamentals, and go over all the ways in which feminism can be an extremely diverse subject, and a unifying one.
“Feminism is characterized by distinct and varied interests, such that feminists do not share a universal concept of social world or a universal project-” Dr. Rita Dhamoon
As a basic movement, the key aspects of feminism can include:
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A critique of societal norms
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A drive for social justice
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An emphasis on power as a device that can represent oppression
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The idea that sex and gender are only basic ideas placed into categories, and the substance and relationship of these categories is a matter than can be argued and disputed.
The work done by feminism or feminist movements can include;
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Various ideologies that encompass a general system of beliefs and values that explain how and why gender oppression occurs, and offer an improved vision of society or of the government that is based on a change in gender roles.
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A paradigm that researches, investigates, and examines gendered life in it’s various forms, and offers gender-centered types of analysis.
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A basic set of social movements who aim to address unequal relations of power.
As a social movement, feminism has consistently worked towards complete social, political and economic equality of all people. It has been a declaration that throughout history women have been disadvantaged relative to the men of their race, class, ethnicity, or sexual identity.
It is a commitment to changing the structures that systematically privilege men over women. These privileges include big picture things like the wage gap and rape culture, but also can be seen in very small, everyday subjects. One example is gendered language, which encompasses the idea that basic nouns are often male in origin, the use of male generic terms typically omits females. That being said, ‘gender neutral” alternatives are becoming more common. Another example, is the primacy of masculinity. The precedence of male terms in everyday conversation and literature reinforces male superiority, “he and she” not “she and he.” This encourages the idea that the male standard is normal, and that females/women are defined in contrast to men. Androcentric -understanding that base/standard is masculine.
Some of the debates found within the feminist community focus on the differences among women, the relationship between sex and gender, and the question of equality being a recognition of differences, or an acceptance of sameness. Is feminism a fight for equality among genders, or a recognition of the power and rights of women specifically?
Occasionally the feminist movement omits tolerance for femininity. During the “second wave” of feminism, which occurred between the 1960s-1980s, many feminists came to resent the idea of femininity. Femininity was seen as a tactic used by the patriarchy and male supremacists to force ideal traits, looks, and behaviors upon women. Often for women, femininity is mandated by society, and then it is punished. Modern day feminism occasionally battles between upholding these past ideals that discourage femininity, and reclaiming femininity. This includes women attempting to gain control over the self-objectifying areas of female oppression like the terms “slut” and “bitch,” support for women who wear dresses, makeup, and heels, and women who openly and enthusiastically embrace their sexuality. These ideas can be extremely controversial within the movement, some feminist feel that by embracing femininity women are only encouraging oppression. More specifically, things like the bitch movement, while it may be empowering for some women, can be extremely oppressive based on the racial connotation the word holds for other women. In short, the line between empowering femininity and oppressive femininity is a blurry one.
Race has played a big part in the debates within feminism. The race debate focuses on the idea of feminism as being ethnocentric – which is to take certain races or ethnicities as being the standard and other races are just a deviation. Sometimes this is referred to as White Feminism: Julie Zeilinger defines it as “prioritizing the experiences and voices of cisgender, straight, white women over women of color, queer women and those who fall outside this narrow identity.” It is often forgotten that feminism isn’t alway about shaming men for cat-calling and fighting for equal pay. Individuals and groups may be privileged without realizing it or wanting it, it is important to remember that privilege is something that belongs to groups not to individuals. Because individual are part of multiple social groups, it is possible to be advantaged in one aspect like class, and disadvantaged in another like race or sexuality. If feminism is going to fight for women’s equality, it needs to fight for all women. Women of all races, religions, ethnicities, classes, and sexualities.
“I am not free while any woman is unfree. Even when her shackles are very different from my own.” –Audre Lorde
What many people don’t know it that there is not one singular type of feminism. Feminism has many different layers, definitions, and values, depending on who you are talking to. The truth is, Feminism has never been singular movement or idea, and has always inspired debate. The various branches found within the movement are called Feminisms.
Liberal Feminism
Focuses on the oppression of women is a denial of equal rights, representation, and access to opportunities within formal institutions. It focuses on on women’s exclusion from political power, and a desire to reform the system by fighting for issues like representation in the government, equal employment and pay. Liberal feminism has a gender neutral approach to equality, believing that all men and women are created equal and should be treated the same
Radical Feminism
Focuses on the oppression of women that is caused by the patriarchy, male authority which is typically manifested in sexuality, and carried into the male dominated world of work, government, religion, media, and law. It has a revolution instead of reform approach, and focuses on formal and private institutions by concentrating on issues like violence against women, pornography, compulsory heterosexuality, sexual harassment, rights of sex trade workers, and reproductive freedom. Radical feminism is not a movement that has a gender neutral approach, radical feminist believe that instead of treating women the same as men, society should value women and the “feminine.” Radical feminism is often critiqued as a separatist movement, because there has been concern when men wish to become a part of the feminist movement.
Marxist/Socialist Feminism
Focuses on political and economic sources of gender oppression, and views the oppression of women in terms of their secondary positions within the system of patriarchal capitalism. This branch of feminism attempts to challenge the masculinist character of the family when it comes to wages, women engaging in unpaid household work, lower wages for women and international division of labor that creates radicalized-gendered workers of the “third world”. It begins talking about the issues of race and class, emphasizes working class women, focuses on capitalism, overthrowing the system, and creating an egalitarian system.
Intersectional Feminism
Focuses on integrating understandings of women’s oppression within other systems of inequality like racism, classism, homophobia, ableism, colonialism. This branch of feminism encompasses more specific areas such as black feminisms, chicana/latina feminisms, indigenous feminisms, postcolonialisms feminisms, antiracist feminisms, critical disability feminisms etc. The goal of intersectional feminism is to understand the intricacies among women, and that it is possible for men to be advantaged in gender but not in class, and for women to be disadvantaged in gender but may be advantaged in race or class.
So, that was a lot of information, and you still may not be 100% sure what feminism is. You may not even know exactly what kind of feminist you are, but the one thing all of us feminists can agree on is that while your specifics on feminism may change or be different from your neighbors, the oppression of women needs to stop, and ALL women need to support and fight for one another.
If this topic interests you, I highly suggest taking WMST-2000 (3) Introduction to Feminist Studies with professor C. Montoya. This class has inspired much of the content I covered in this article, and has helped me to challenge, expand, and better understand my ideas of feminism.