Women’s studies

Feminism Gender Studies

What is feminism

1. Concerns equality & justice for all women and it seeks to eliminate injustice

2. It is inclusive & affirms women

Feminist Theory

• oppressed by the Patriarchy

  • economically

  • socially

  • politically

  • psychology

Waves of Feminism

1. late 1700-1920

• called the activism phase

• Susan B Anthony, Mary Wollstonecraft

• major goals/ideas

  • participation in democracy

  • sufferage

  • abolition

2. late 1960’s-1980

• Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem

• major goals/ ideas

  • role of women

  • gender equality

3. 1990’s— present

• Gloria Evangelina Anzaldua, Lady Gaga, Beyonce

• major ideas/goals

  • self-acceptance

  • intersectionality

Myths

Pop culture tells us many things about women. These myths have molded women’s place in society.

What do they say?

Feminists are considered:

• Angry and whiny

• women who are too serios

• over-exaggerators

• men-haters

• gay and overly masculine

• reject motherhood, femininity and children

• white middle class movement that takes away from more important issue

Types of Feminism

Feminists often focus on a particular area of sociality in regards to answering questions of women’s rights and equality.

• Radical feminist

  • belief that the current system of society is corrupt and must be completely change

• marxist feminism

  • uses socio-economic theories to exlain the conditions of women

• socialist feminism

  • analyzes class systems alongside radical feminist ideas

• multiracial feminism

  • intersectional, looks at race as an interlocking inequality that works with gender to shape experience

• postmodern feminist

  • reality is created based on various social systems & within constraints; language constructs reality.

Terms

Flashcards)

Inscribing gender on the body

Society often tells us things about our bodies that help us form an opinion of what a woman (or man) should look and act like. This is often done through consummerism, as shown with Joan Jacobs Brumberg’s “Breast Buds and the ‘Training Bra’ which talked about how objectifying women’s breasts turned into selling produts to support said body parts. These coporations would sell these prodcuts by making women think they need them, and then pushing those narratives onto younger girls. This is an exammple, and these things still happen to this day.

Terms

Flashcards)

Women in media

• Gender in television still seem to be traditional, but some shows resist traditional representation or twist it to make a statement

• Laura Mulvey: “The male gaze” the idea that viewers see the movie through the eyes of a man

  • Rom coms reninforce the idea that romace & marriage are a key to a woman’s happines

  • women giving up their jobs to marry etc.

  • stereotypes about ambitious women

  • even in disney, women used to be represented as sexualized, middle class or rich, but still having some choice

  • celebrities are often put under harsh conditions in order to show off an unattainable body

  • even children in entertainment are preserved and shown in explicit ways

Women as Leaders

• While women today are more able to become leaders (ie run for government office, be a judge, climb a business heirachy) they are still a great minority in leadership

Unpaid Labor

• Women do over two thrids if the household work on average, and not necessrily because they’re better at it.

• Labor in the home is underpaid and undervalued

  • Men are praised for doing these domestic chores, but they are expected of women

  • If men are expected to do any kind of housework, it is typically seasonal work (mowing the lawn, shoveling snow) or any work that involves tools or machines (painting, basic repair & maintenance)