What is Feminism?
1.
A feminist has been defined as a person whose beliefs, values and attitudes reflect a high regard for women as human beings (Hunter College Women's Studies Collective, 1983). It is important that women are valued not for attributes imposed on them by others, but for those attributes that exist in women and are chosen by women. Gloria Steinem (1994) saw feminism as a belief in the full social, political, and economic equality for women. I like to add "and is willing to work for equality." Notice that a feminist is not necessarily a women, nor are women necessarily feminists. You may know some men who are stronger feminists than some women. Notice also that the definitions say nothing about attitudes toward men. Feminism is not an anti-man movement because men as well as women are locked by stereotype into a "psychological straitjacket for both sexes."
2.
Feminism may be a perspective, a world view, a political theory, a spiritual focus, or a kind of activism (Sheila Ruth, Issues in Feminism, 199
.
3. Feminism begins but cannot end with the discovery by an individual of her self-consciousness as a woman . . . .
Feminism means finally that we renounce our obedience to the fathers and recognize the world they have described is not the whole world (Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born, 1976).
4. Feminism is the political theory and practice to free all women; women of color, working-class women, poor women, physically challenged women, lesbians, old women, as well as white economically privileged heterosexual women. Anything less than this is not feminism, but merely female self-aggrandizement (Barbara Smith in Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaluda, This Bridge Called My Back, 1981).
5. Feminism is a method of analysis as well as a discovery of new material. It asks new questions as well as coming up with new answers. Its central concern is with the social distinction between men and women, with the fact of this distinction, with its meanings, and with its causes and consequences (Juliet Mitchell and Anne Oakley, The Rights and Wrongs of Women, 1976).
6.
Feminism is an entire world view or gestalt, not just a laundry list of "women's issues." Feminist theory provides a basis for understanding every area of our lives, and a feminist perspective can affect the world politically, culturally, economically, and spiritually (Charlotte Bunch, Learning Our Way, 1983).
7.
Varieties of Feminism. Feminism is a big umbrella term covering many varieties of feminists, and those varieties have been defined in many ways. Here we distinguish five kinds of feminism. Other distinctions are possible, and some people see more than one label as relevant to themselves. The variations have been well described as different lenses for viewing the experiences of women, each useful for seeing some phenomena better than others (Unger and Crawford, 1996).
a.
Liberal feminists emphasize the equality of women and men and the principle that women and men, boys and girls, would behave the same if given equal environments and opportunities.
b.
Cultural feminists value differences and stress that the attributes associated with women's culture (e.g., caring, relationships) have not been sufficiently valued and honored. Liberal feminists often are seen as minimalists and cultural feminists as maximalists. Minimalists minimize gender differences, while maximalists. (e.g., Chodorow, 1978; Gilligan, 1978; Miller, 1984) are seen as emphasizing *** differences and pointing to the universal (at least in Western culture) essence of being a woman.
c.
Radical feminists have little concern with the debate. They see male domination of women as the most fundamental form of oppression and focus on understanding how men obtain and use power. Those who are radical lesbians are especially noted for calling attention to men's domination in sexual politics. Note that not all radical feminists are lesbians, and not all lesbians are radical feminists.
d. Some lesbian feminists are
separatists, a fourth version of feminism. They want women to be self-sufficient apart from men as representatives of patriarchal society, and they try to isolate themselves from men as much as they can. Some feminists are "sometimes separatists." They favor some separate activities, such as groups or concerts, or conferences for women only, while not otherwise separating themselves from men.
e. Alice Walker (1983), who wrote The Color Purple among other books, uses the term
womanist to define feminism out of African American women's experiences, allowing women to claim their roots in their culture along with their feminism. A womanist is outrageous, courageous, responsible, serious. She loves women and men sexually or nonsexually. She loves dance, the spirit, food, herself. Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender (Walker, 1983, xi). Walker defines womanist in terms of personality traits rather than creedal statements; she often uses words in ways that cut beneath the abstractions they so often convey so as to communicate the immediate feelings of women. As a white man, I feel the concept of womanist challenging me to be fully alive; the concept does not tell me about my beliefs, but about my potential aliveness, and from that aliveness creedal statements may follow.
source:
http://frontpage.uwsuper.edu/psychol...8/feminism.htm
Feminism: what it is and different kinds of
Originally Posted by Juan Miguel
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