Whilst many disagreements have arisen in feminist discourse over the years, none has been quite as prevalent or divisive as the issue of the commodification of sexuality. There are two central groups in feminist ideology that are divided on this issue, liberal feminism and radical feminism. Liberal feminism is influenced by the ideas and values of liberalism. Thus, these feminists share a contractarian view which places an emphasis on a woman’s ability to make choices for herself and that the selling of one’s sexuality is merely an expression of that choice. Paradoxically, radical feminists believe that because women live in a patriarchal society, the commodification of sexuality can never be a choice or a form of expression. Rather, forms of sexual commodification such as pornography and prostitution just enforce male oppression. This essay will explore these two ideological positions in regard to their divergent definitions of human nature and freedom which has created a division within feminism about the commodification of sexuality.
Liberal feminism is grounded in the ideological framework of liberalism and therefore shares a commonality with liberal themes of human nature. Whilst acknowledging the biological differences between sexes, early liberal feminists argued that prevailing liberal ideas should also be applied to women. Therefore, both men and women possesses natural rights, they should have equal rights under law and share equal opportunity (Beasley 1999).
The second point is that liberalism upholds the principle of equality for all regardless of name, social status, and gender, racial, cultural, or ethnic background. Liberalists advocate for a level playing ground which calls for the government to strictly control the economy and also have more power in the social arena so as to protect people from economic exploitation. Liberalists strongly push for controlled corporations, an economy that is well
Professor’s Comment: This powerful essay contrasts the views of two feminist, Catherine MacKinnon and Sallie Tisdale, each of which perceives pornography in widely divergent ways. While MacKinnon's 'Not A Moral Issue' explains the adverse impacts of pornography to women and society as a whole, Tisdale's 'Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex' is receptive to pornography despite these adverse impacts, suggesting in fact that the solution to the problems associated with pornography is a greater role of women in production of that pornography.
Liberal Feminism-: Feminists make progress toward sexual uniformity by means of sensible political and lawful change. Liberal woman's rights is a type of women's liberation that contends that balance for ladies can be accomplished through lawful means and social change. This is the assortment of
The third wave of feminism coincided with the end of the second-wave. It occurred from the 1990s and is still present in contemporary society. This wave focuses on a post-modern understanding of gender boundaries and sexual identity. Most notably, the emergence of anti-pornographic movements during the third wave created a divide between radical and sex-positive views on sexuality. In MacKinnon’s article “Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: An Agenda for Theory,” she draws on the parallel between sexuality and marxism. The exploitation of work in marxism is comparable to the exploitation of female sexuality for men (MacKinnon 16). The exploitation of women as a sexual object for male gratification is apparent in pornography. MacKinnon
The main view of liberal feminism is that all people are created equal by God and deserve equal rights. These types of feminists believe that oppression only exists because of the way men and women are socialized by society, which supports patriarchy and keeps men in powerful positions. Liberal feminists believe that women have the same mental capacity as males and should
The Traffic in Women: The “Political economy” of sex by Gayle Rubin is an exploration of the origin of women’s oppression. Rubin’s main objective is to arrive at a more fully developed definition of the sex/gender system, otherwise referred to as “mode of reproduction” and/or “patriarchy”. She further develops her definition through the analysis of the work of Levi-Strauss and Freud from a marxist perspective. Rubin provides the following preliminary definition of the sex/gender system “A set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed sexual needs are satisfied.” (159) She attempts to add to her definition of the sex/gender system through the analysis of the overlapping work of Claude Levi- Strauss and Sigmund Freud. Despite implications with their work, Rubin believes that both Levi-Strauss and Freud provide conceptual tools in describing the sex/gender system. Rubin looks at a Marxist analysis of sex oppression, as well as, Engels theory of society which integrates both sex and sexuality. Furthermore she incorporates aspects of each theory addressed into her own working definition of the sex/gender system. By shifting between Marxist, structuralist and psychoanalyst explanations of sex oppression, Rubin is able to construct a multi-dimensional definition of the sex/gender system that is not only inclusive but also provides a basis of which to build from.
Liberal feminism approaches feminism with a more individual aspect. One of the key problems that they have is that discrimination against women limits their opportunities (Mintz et al., 81). The link to my issue due to the fact that liberal feminist wants to cut unjust laws and create more affirmative actions that will allow women to participate in society to their fullest (Mintz et al., 81–82). The ideology employs an emphasis in the power that an individual has to change prejudiced procedures targeting women (Liberal Feminism). Their main goal is to ensure that women have the same freedom and opportunity in life as men do, whether it would be employment, education or politics (Mintz et al.,
Liberal feminism wanted to integrate women into modern day society. The argument was that social problems were mostly caused by the ignorance and social constraints of freedom of choice for women. The inequality in gender resulted from the socialization that forces everyone to grow up with the wrong ideas that men and women cannot choose how to live their own lives. They have been taught from the beginning of life that men and women are
Liberal feminists-is all about maintaining their equality and this is judged on the way they act as a person or the choices they choose to
Liberal feminism, which is mainly concerned with solving all social problems to fight ignorance and social restraints on freedom of choice for everyone, not just woman.
Secondly, liberal feminism has been criticised because it tends to assume that all women accept their gender identities in a passive way. Liberal feminism also does not take race or class into consideration. Marxist feminists believe women's subordination is down to the influence of capitalism. Women are seen as a reserve army of labour.' Companies only hire them when they really need them, and they do less important jobs than men, making them more disposable. Women change jobs more frequently than men, so are more vulnerable at times of redundancy, they tend to be less skilled, and capitalist ideologies locate women in the home.
Low-calorie Feminism and Full frontal feminism are very similar, except for a few key pointsOlder feminist are for gender equality but, tend to have a bad reputation and are often thought of as man-haters. This is because a small sub-set of the group, or radicals do sometimes preach anti-men propaganda.Those who follow the older feminist ideologies are frowned upon, perhaps because they've failed to adapt to modern society, The best metaphor I can think of is an aging parent trying to fit in with their child.Many newer-wave feminists are alienated by this reputation and its anti-sex beliefs. Newer- wave feminists are okay with enjoying sex, and are more focused on gender-related social equalities, without some of the limitations and unnecessary
Marxist feminism believes that the only way to fix the wage gap would be to completely reconstruct the capitalist system where radical feminism believes that the wage gap could only be fixed if the patriarchy was completely destroyed. One key difference between Marxist feminism and radical feminism is that Marxist feminism focuses more on material wealth rather than social wealth. Radical feminism is more about social status rather than production status. A liberal feminist has the viewpoint that each individual women must take action to gain her rights. Therefore, their view on the wage gap differs as they don’t believe in a reconstruction of an entire system and they don’t fall into the same radical beliefs as radical feminists. However, all three of these feminist viewpoints all want the same thing, equal pay and equality in general. They all have differing and contrasting opinions on how to reach that point, but ultimately they have the good of society in
In this essay I will analyse ‘The Sex Wars’. I aim to evaluate and criticize both the radical and liberal strands of feminism surrounding the topic of sexuality, prostitution and pornography. It is important to note that ‘Feminism’ acts as an umbrella term for the strands of feminism which falls under it and not as a finite term. Therefore, we cannot collectively define each thread of feminism as preaching the same ideology. Furthermore, I will break this essay down as follows, where the battle between the sexes began and why, the pro-censorship and pro- sex feminism views, the impact ‘The Sex Wars’ had on society and as a result, the general understanding of feminism.
Catharine MacKinnon, in her book Feminism Unmodified, takes a unique approach to the problem of gender inequality in America. She claims that pornography defines the way in which America’s patriarchal society perpetuates male dominance, and attacks traditional liberal methods that defend pornography on the basis of the first amendment’s right to free speech. According to MacKinnon, pornography is not an example of speech but rather an act. She proposes that this act discriminates against women as a class, and therefore violates their civil rights and should be outlawed. MacKinnon’s critics may think her argument is excessively radical, and contemporary society may not embrace the