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Feminism Key Thinkers - Coggle Diagram
Feminism Key Thinkers
Key Thinker 1, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
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Quotes
"The labour of women in the house, certainly, enables men to produce more wealth than they otherwise could; and in this way women are economic factors in society. But so are horses."
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Key ideas:
- women are limited by the economic dependancy on men
- we should reform society from one based the nuclear family to one based on communal living
- view of human nature suggests that biology is less important than gender, as humans we are socialised
- human nature is such that all humans are equally rational
- women require equality of opportunity
- childcare and housework are forms of domestic slavery
- women have to please men sexually to gain financial support
- gender stereotyping is a big concern (Gilman was confined to the private)
1) Sex and domestic economics are hand in hand – for women to survive, they have to depend on their sexuality and body in order to please their husbands.
2) Societal pressure – young girls are compelled to conform in society and prepare for motherhood by playing with toys and wearing clothes that are specifically designed for and marketed to them.
Context
American socialist feminist that experienced post-natal depression and was confined to one room by her husband. This led to her critique of society where women are dependant on their husbands financially and please them via sex. Girls are socialised from a young age to be domestic from family and culture. Women need economic independence from men via communal living and changes to law.
Key Thinker 3, Kate Millett (1934–)
Quotes
"Many women do not recognise themselves as discriminated against; no better proof could be found of the totality of their conditioning"
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Context
American radical feminist that wrote Sexual Politics (!970) and said female oppression was cultural and political. Removing the nuclear family is the best way to liberate women as it will stop men dominating their wives. Masculine authority is taught through childhood and reinforced by culture. Women are degraded by art and literature so we need a sexual revolution
Key ideas:
- the family set up mirror society set up, family is a patriarchal unit
- society has a gender hierarchy and young girls are taught this repeatedly and observe this hierarchy
- a man has nearly total ownership over his wife
- female oppression is both political and cultural
- we need a sexual and cultural revolution
1) Family – undoing the traditional family was the key to true sexual revolution.
2) Portrayal of women in art and literature –patriarchal culture produced writers and literary works that were degrading to women.
Key Thinker 2, Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)
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Quotes
"No biological, psychological, or economic fate determines the figure that the human female presents in society; it is civilisation as a whole that produces this creature, intermediate between male and eunuch, which is describes as feminine."
" one is not born, but rather becomes, a women."
Context
Was a socialist feminist who cam to see a socialist revolution was not sufficient to stop patriarchy. Femininity is a social construct taught to us to make women slaves. Men's views are seen as the norm so women's views are seen as inferior (otherness), women have been socialised to accept this. Did not see 'feminine nature' as positive and women should not turn away from the 'male world'
Key ideas:
- focuses a lot on society and culture creating the 'idea' of a women
- gender roles are created for us by society and they push us to conform
- wants women to recognise reject the way society has made us think
- women can have more freedom with better state provision of education and state funded childcare & conception
- women should liberate themselves with a feminist consciousness and a rejection of dominant values in society
1) Sex versus gender – ‘one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman’.
2) ‘Otherness’ – men are perceived as the ‘norm’ and women deviants from this norm.
Key Thinker 4, Sheila Rowbotham (1943–)
Quotes
"It is only when women start to organise in large numbers that we become a political force, and begin to move towards the possibility of a truly democratic society in which every human being can be brave, responsible, thinking and diligent in the struggle to live at once freely and unselfishly. Such a democracy would be communism, and is beyond our present imagining."
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Context
Women’s oppression was the result of economic and cultural factors, especially marriage. The way to improve the position of women was to radically change the ‘cultural conditioning’ of humanity e.g. overthrow capitalism to change ideas of childrearing and the workplace. Capitalism disadvantages women as it makes them sell their labour but also use labour to support the family which upholds capitalism. Men dominate their wives which provides them a relief from capitalism.
Key ideas:
- capitalist economics is the root of gender inequality, gives little chance for women to escape
- we must remove this economic system
- women are a cheap reserve of labour
- they are oppressed at home, but home is not all bad as it allows humans to have refuge from capitalism
- equality needs a socialist future
- BUT, a socialist revolution will not automatically liberate women, patriarchy predates capitalism
1) Capitalism – women are forced to sell their labour to survive and use their labour to support their family under the capitalist system.
2) The family – not just an instrument for disciplining and subjecting women to capitalism but a place where men took refuge from alienation under a capitalist economy.
Key Thinker 5, bell hooks (1952–)
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Quotes
"We had been socialised as females by patriarchal thinking to see ourselves as inferior to men, to see ourselves as always and only in competition with one another for patriarchal approval."
"Women in lower class and poor groups, particularly those who are non-white, would not have defined women's liberation as women gaining social equality with men since they are continually reminded in their everyday lives that all women do not share a common social status."
Context
hooks used a pseudonym (her grandmother) and lower-case letters to empower her to fight against oppression, without the ego associated with names. Wanted to bring attention of black women to the movement of previously white, educated, middle-class women. WOC had been torn between supporting the feminism movement and the civil rights movement. There should be solidarity between gender, races and classes
Key ideas:
- patriarchy teaches women to hate themselves and see themselves as inferior, creating an unequal society
- critique of earlier feminism without rejecting many of its ideas
- feminism ignored the needs of black women
- children, boys and girls, are socialised negitively
- boys taught to repress emotions and girls taught the most important thing is to attract a men
1) Women of colour –cultural concerns of women of colour brought into the mainstream feminist movement.
2) Intersectionality – the mainstream feminist movement had focused mostly on the plight of white, college-educated, middle/upper-class women who had no stake in the concerns of women of colour.
We do not need to specifically categorise key thinkers, can just say e.g. "a socialist idea from"