Lecture 1: Gender, sex, waves, history, metaphysics, epistemology

What is gender?

Qualities that make men and women different

What is feminism?

The commitment to abolish oppressive systems

What is sex?

A category assigned to women → creates different systems of oppression

What is wave 1 of feminism?

• Equal education

• voting rights

• legal equality

What is wave 2 of feminism?

• Civil rights

• not targeted based on sex

What is wave 3 of feminism?

• Social equality

• women representation in society

• universal experiences for women

What is intersectional feminism?

• Multiple marginalization that overlap

• white women & black women face different realities

What is gender essentialism/realism

There are biological factors that affect how we behave

What did Manet’s nude painting say about women?

• The women were not painted to have perfect/idealized features

• there were ideas of modesty (covered genitals)

What is metaphysics?

Philosophy branch that deals with the first principles

• Ethics

• aesthetics

• social/political philosophy

What is epistemology?

1. Knowledge is socially situated

2. Marginalized groups are socially situated

3. Power relations begin with marginalized people