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Gender theory - Coggle Diagram
Gender theory
Intersectionality
A key recognition that race, class, dis/ability, sexuality and other categories need to be considered when discussing issues around opression and inequality.
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Waves of feminism
Second wave: 1960s
Feminine Mystique (1963)
- Hugely influential text
- Argued that 'through the regulatory powers of patriarchal femininity, women were domesticated and kept in the home longing for ‘more’ (i.e., careers)'
- But centred on white, middle class women as later pointed out by bell hooks
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Femininity painted in broad strokes which often foregrounded experiences of white, middle class, cisgender women and didn't consider intersectionality etc.
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Sexual difference
Attempts made throughout history to prove that gender roles had a basis in nature - and progressive social politics therefore went against nature (Emily Martin 1987)
Going back to the 19th century where metaphors of sexual difference appear, based on 'science' e.g. biologist Patrick Geddes (Emily Martin)
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Notion that there is a biological basis for differences between men and women, the two sexes positioned in a binary
Key figures today
Judith Butler
- Gender as an ongoing process of negotiation and performance, popularised idea of 'performativity'
- Challenged notion that distinctions between sex and gender are based in nature/nuture
- Most referenced work from 1990s but continues to publish/interview/be a relevant expert in the field
Gender roles
'The phrase gender roles describes norms of behaviour and attitudes in a given culture attributed to people on the basis of their sex to which people are expected to conform' (Dictionary of Gender Studies, 2017)