Ultimate WGSS

Popular Feminism

Feminism that focuses on visibility and empowerment, often through mainstream media and culture.

Popular misogyny

Arises as a reaction to the visibility of feminism, expressing itself through backlash in media, online harassment, and traditional power structures.

Enlightened Sexism

Media that appears feminist but reinforces sexist stereotypes, often using irony. Assumes feminism's work is done, reducing women's power to consumerism and attractiveness. “Fantasies of power” of indv. women.

White Privilege

Unearned advantages granted to white people due to systemic racism. Often invisible to those who benefit from it, requiring active effort to dismantle.

Privilege

Unearned advantages including things you're freed from having to consider or worry about. Due to our membership in a dominant group.

Patriarchy

A societal system characterized by male dominance, identification, and centeredness. Maintained through cultural norms and institutions, requiring systemic change.

Social Construction of Gender

Gender as a societal construct, not based on biology.

Gender as Performance

Gender is not innate but performed through actions and expressions.

Gender as difference

We are different even when we are doing the exact same thing.

A vs. Not-A

Universal masculine in language

First Wave feminism

1830s-1920s called the women movement and conflated with suffragist movement; much of the activism focused on gaining right to vote but the social point was diverse (suffrage was just one point of oppression)

Second Wave Feminism

Began in the 1960s and focused on workplace, sexuality, family, and reproductive rights.

The Feminine Mystique

Betty Friedan's critique of the idealized housewife role. Highlighted the disconnect between societal expectations and women's discontent.

Oppression

a system of disadvantage and discrimination that is perpetuated by societal power structures.

Bird cage metaphor

illustrate how oppression is a complex system of interlocking barriers. Those with privilege only see one bar and question why the bird cannot get through; oppression constitutes the ensure cage)

Double bind

Situations with limited options that oppressed groups are put in in which none of the options is a good one.

Compulsory Heterosexuality

The societal expectation that heterosexuality is the norm. A tool of patriarchy to control women's relationships and energies.

Lesbian existence + lesbian continuum

The political choice to prioritize your bonds with other women over your allegiance to men (women-identification). Not necessarily limited to lesbian sexual presence rather any gathering/companionship of women

Misogyny paradox

The cultural expectation that men should like women, even as they are socialized into a culture that normalizes men's hatred of women.

Radical feminism

Focused on dismantling existing political and economic structures, especially those which are rooted in patriarchy. Ex. Questioning marriage and compulsory heterosexuality, thinking beyond capitalism - Man-hating

Liberal feminism

Focused on creating equality by working within existing political and economic structures. - Emphasis on legislative change. Ex. Friedan

Black feminism

emphasizes the experiences of women of color within sexed, gendered, and raced contexts.

Burden of education

Women of today are still being called upon to stretch across the gap of male ignorance and to educate men as to our existence and our needs. -Now we hear that it’s the task of women of color to educate white women.

Critique of the "Common Oppression" of women

"all women are oppressed" implies that women share a common lot, that do not create a diversity of experience that determines the extent to which sexism will be an oppressive force in the lives of indv women.

Critique of Lesbian Separatism

Do not advocate for fractionalization that white women who are separatists demand. As black people it necessitates that we have solidarity around the fact of race.

Intersectionality

The interconnected nature of social categorizations like race, class, and gender. Highlights how overlapping identities create unique experiences of oppression.

Mestiza Consciousness

A consciousness that embraces hybridity and multiple identities. Rejects binaries, embraces fluidity, and finds strength in marginalization.

Dual consciousness

To a mindset that sees the world in binary terms. Rigid separation between identities, cultures, or ideologies

Transnational feminism

focus on feminism in a world scale

Third world feminists

Works against "western feminist discourse"

Third wave feminism

reacted against postfeminism by becoming more diverse, inclusive, and intersectional, embracing flexibility and dismantling binaries. It focused on youth, self-expression, and reclaiming femininity, celebrating sexuality and sex-positivity while using irony to challenge norms.

Baret-Wester, Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny

Popular feminism and misogyny compete in the "economy of visibility." While popular feminism makes feminism accessible, it risks commodification, overshadowing the deeper work of dismantling structural inequalities.

Cooper, "Why Feminism Needed Beyoncé"

Beyoncé’s 2014 VMA performance and public persona made feminism more visible and relatable to mainstream audiences, bridging popular feminism with transformative critiques of race, class, and gender inequality.

Ahmed, "Bringing Feminist Theory Home"

Feminism is a daily practice of questioning societal norms, requiring emotional labor and resilience. It critiques neoliberal feminism for reducing feminism to individual empowerment and postfeminism for falsely claiming equality has been achieved.

Douglas, The Rise of Enlightened Sexism

"Enlightened sexism" in media appears feminist but reinforces sexist stereotypes, using irony to dismiss problematic representations.

McIntosh, "White Privilege and Male Privilege"

White privilege is an unearned advantage that challenges the myth of meritocracy. It is systemic and often invisible to those who benefit from it, requiring active effort to dismantle. Lists things white people can do.

Johnson, "Patriarchy, the System"

Patriarchy is a systemic issue rooted in male dominance, not just individual behaviors. It is maintained through cultural norms and institutions, and meaningful change requires addressing these systemic roots.

Lorber, "Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender"

Gender is a social construct, not biologically determined. It is so pervasive that it often goes unnoticed, and societal perceptions of male and female actions differ even when the actions are the same.

Butler, "Performance Acts and Gender Constitution"

Gender is performative, not innate. It challenges the binary gender system and essentialist views, allowing for more fluid identities and offering new ways to resist restrictive gender norms.

Martin, "The Egg and the Sperm"

Even scientific narratives perpetuate gender stereotypes, portraying the egg as passive and the sperm as active. This reflects and reinforces societal gender norms.

Joannides, "Dirty Word Chapter”

insults are derogatory towards women; male insults are typically homosexual; the fact that many of our insults are tied to sexual connotations leads to an overall negative view of sex in our society

Scanton, Anthony, and Gage, "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls"

Demanding equal rights for women and proclaiming their equal status Lays out the ways in which men have oppressed women, e.g. social obligations, property, elective franchise - - Resolves ways to include women in society.

Truth "Speech Delivered at the 1851 Women's Rights Convention"

Argues that there is no way women need to be restricted from gaining rights due to the societal limitations already in place.

Friedan, “the problem that has no name”

Women stuck in the home limited to improving only their domestic lives in the domestic sphere were getting depressed and feeling unfulfilled; women thought they were the only ones experiencing this unhappiness, as society portrayed it as "the dream".

Mainardi, “The politics of housework”

List of excuses men employ to escape housework. Woman and the home is a social construction.

Frye, Oppression

Definition of oppression, birdcage analogy, macroscopic lens)

Lorde, "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House"

Using the tools of the oppressor (e.g., patriarchal or racist systems) cannot achieve liberation. True change requires creating new systems that value differences and reject assimilation.

Gordon, “The Women’s Liberation Movement”

Consciousness Raising Personal is political--structural sexism Issues that were culturally and socially thought of as private but were widespread.

Hooks, “Black women shaping feminist theory”

criticizes Freidan: Black Woman have it different -oppression means lack of choice, discrimination would better describe most women.

Combahee River Collective Statement

Black feminism addresses the intersection of race, gender, and class oppression. It emphasizes the need for solidarity among Black women and critiques the exclusion of Black women in mainstream feminist movements.

Crenshaw, "Mapping the Margins"

Intersectionality is crucial for understanding how overlapping identities (e.g., race, gender, class) create unique experiences of oppression. It critiques single-axis frameworks that ignore these complexities.

Anzaldúa, "Towards a New Consciousness"

Mestiza consciousness embraces hybridity and rejects binary thinking. It finds strength in marginalization and creates new, inclusive identities that transcend rigid categories.

Mohanty, "Under Western Eyes"

Western feminism often portrays "Third World women" as a monolithic, oppressed group, ignoring their agency and diversity. It critiques the colonialist tendencies in Western feminist discourse.

Abu-Lughod, "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?"

Western interventions often misrepresent Muslim women as universally oppressed. It critiques the colonialist assumptions behind "saving" Muslim women and emphasizes the need to understand their diverse experiences.

Kristof and WuDunn, "The Girl Effect"

Empowering girls through education and microfinance can transform societies. The "girl effect" emphasizes self-efficacy over victimization, arguing that girls are not the problem but the solution.

Rich, "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence"

Heterosexuality is a political institution that controls women’s relationships and energies. Lesbian existence represents a feminist alternative and resistance to patriarchal norms.

Baumgardner and Richards, "Third Wave Manifesta"

A thirteen-point agenda with statements beginning with "To" - Choice: birth control, sex for pleasure, support visibility of lesbians & bisexuals, equal access to health care, maintaining welfare system, not tolerate slut-shaming, sexual harassment.

Henry, “From a mindset to a movement”

Criticized second wave for being anti-sexual and racist -increase in education about previous feminist movements instead of direct participation -Intersectionality -"girlie feminism" wearing traditional feminine things does not mean you are brain washed by patriarchy