Feminist Analysis

The 1960s and 1970s typified a period when women not only fought for equality in the United States, but they also began to materialize within the changing trends of historiography. Prior to this, women had often been obscured in history and merited little consideration or focus. Historian Karen Sayer addressed the developing period as one where there was a “paradigm shift, one in which historians began to argue that the experience of the economically powerless and politically inarticulate was important. At the same time, women began to explore their own marginalized position, and women’s history emerged as they made shift to look to the past.”

America has changed over the years in a multitude of way. Women have touched it all, everything from humanities to arts to science to government. When studying history, students usually learn about the fights the men have fought; women are often overlooked. This paper is dedicated to learning about women and their fight to create history; this paper is dedicated to learning about the struggles women have faced that have been overlooked by those that dictate what a history book is supposed to contain. Women's history is just as important as men's history, therefore, this paper will contain just a small portion of history made by two important women.

Everyday history is evolving and being affected by the past. With history comes questions as to how it came into being, and the fascination that is inscribed with it. Where did I come from, why do wars happen, why is society like this, are all questions that can be explored through the viewing of history. With this in mind, this essay will discuss the possible reasoning’s behind: Why have the roles of American women in society changed since the 1940’s? While this question will not have a distinguished answer, several factors have contributed to forming an answer such as: World War II, Madison Avenue, and contraceptives.

The Puritans were a religious group who left the Church of England because they wanted to have more freedom with their religion. They thought the Church of England was “too Catholic”. They believed the Bible and its rules were the number one thing to go by and that all humans were evil and had to overcome their sin. Women had to cover their whole bodies in clothing. They couldn’t show their ankles or wrists. They also had to wear their hair up and out of their face at all times, except if they were in a room alone with only their husband. They always were on one side of the church away from the men or in the back on the church. These women in the society that will be talked about have broken laws and have been misjudged.

Women in America were not always perceived as equals to men. It took a great deal of blood, sweat, tears, and most of all time, for women reach the quality of life in todays culture. American women had always pushed feminism, but it wasn’t until the time period around World War II, that equality for women initiated to more than a vision. From the 1940’s to the 1960’s there were several phenomena that nudged society in ways that would improve women’s life and bring forth the women’s movement.

Most understand feminism as a movement that strides for political, economic, and social equality across gender lines. At its core, it is about dismantling oppression. Yet, everyone experiences oppression to a differing degree based on their social identities. To understand these differing forms of oppression and how they overlap, the idea of intersectionality must be added to feminism. But not too many people are familiar with what intersectional feminism is.

Once upon a time in a world dominated by men, women had been forced to comply with society 's blinding notion that they were pieces of property meant to play the domesticated role of a dutiful housewife. This was true up until the late 1840s when women began to realize their worth was so much more than a floor-moping, dinner-making, stain-bleaching slave to six children and an ungrateful husband. That may sound rash and some situations may have been different, but before the civil war these women did not have the opportunities to be properly educated like men. Courageously strong women, over time, from the early 1800s up until the 1920s and counting, such as Elizabeth Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem have all become recognized for their dedication and persistence in bringing about changes in defending the rights of women and suppressing the bias against gender equality thus paving the road of feminism. However, even in today’s world anti-feministic backlashes are still occurring in the sense of politics, workplace, and society.

Daddy’s princess. Big brother’s responsibility. Daddy’s little girl. Some people view these as a sweet pet names for young ladies, but these verbal cues inexplicitly condition women to view themselves as the property of men starting at a young age. These learned notions may take hold as women begin to develop. As young girls mature, they find themselves striving to please their fathers and other male figures as one of their main aspirations in life due to this conditioning from society. (Rholetter p. 1) The submissive nature of young girls is a common theme in literature, but looking through the Feminist Lens offers readers a better understanding of the struggle surrounding remaining submissive or demanding power occurs.

As if women’s history had a time and space continuum, whereas you must always question, delve deeper and research into gender simultaneous to see the big picture.

Many women’s rights activists have been at the forefront of confronting domestic violence and other issues affecting women. Due to the government’s suspicion of large-scale protests and rallies, many activists rely on creatively presenting their activism as art, which does not require as many people participating in such demonstrations and arouses less attention by the government. China requires many NGOs to work with official government organizations such as the All-China Women’s Federation. However, realizing the need for a more grassroots approach rather than an imposed top-down approach, many activists take activism into their own hands. For example, Li Maizi and a group of women wore white wedding gowns splattered with fake blood in Beijing

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James has been critically acclaimed by numerous authors, philosophers and critics ever since the novel was originally published in 1898. The story of an unsuspecting governess who has been hired by a charming bachelor to take care of his niece and nephew is the perfect stomping ground for critics of all categories, however, the best criticism category I see fit for this suspenseful novel is a feministic one. The governess, whose name we are not told, traveled to a great estate in the countryside to look after two children, Miles and Flora. While there, she had strange encounters with the supernatural spirits of Mr. Quint and Miss Jessel, the previous chauffeur

This paper will analyze, the bill dubbed as the “slapping law”, in Russia. Using the perspective of Radical Feminist Thought, I argue that such violence is normalized through the lack of current public resistance to this crime and contends that women themselves begin to see this type of treatment as acceptable. Structurally, this paper will begin by providing a concise summary of the values of Radical feminism to give clarification on the standpoint of this feminist position in analysis of the current event. It will describe the history of criminalizing domestic violence; how liberal and radical feminist views differ in looking at the private/public and how popular understanding of domestic violence has shifted significantly over the years

In the wider conversation of modern day feminism, many people tout loud acts of rebellion such as burning bras or refusing to shave as protests against the patriarchy. Marches and loud voices are often given the spotlight in showcasing ways women fight back against the oppression they are subjected to on a daily basis. The wider narrative often forgets about the subversive acts that women do everyday to challenge the patriarchal hierarchy of power: mothers raising sons who will be the men to stand up to misogynists each day, teenage girls who shop on all areas of department stores in order to mix and match what may be seen as traditionally male or female clothing, housewives who also run side businesses from their homes to provide them with additional money just for their needs. These subversive acts are women who don’t ask for permission when they see an opportunity for healing or liberation, deciding to take the chance because they have already lost so

Some of the major movements of the 1960s were the youth movement and the feminist movement. The youth movement focused on young people that felt the government was broken and schools didn’t respect people's God given rights. The feminist movement was more focused on women who wanted to be treated equally to man and not downgraded. Both these movements greatly affected the 60s and even affects today’s society. The feminist movement has survived for many years with continued problems while the youth movement was slowed down after the Vietnam war.

The literary novel The Awakening written by author Kate Chopin was groundbreaking in its time as a story following Edna Pontellier’s transformation from an obedient, traditional housewife and mother into a self-realized, sexually liberated and independent woman— all written during the Victorian era of patriarchal constraints and beliefs that a woman was fit to be only a wife and mother. Chopin introduces a multitude of feminist issues throughout the duration of the story, including the societal structures of motherhood, marital expectations and feminine liberation. The fact that Chopin’s novel addresses these issues is a testament to how radical and ahead of its time The Awakening was. Although this novel was originally published over a century ago, it is clear that the feminist topics that Chopin proposes in the novel are still relevant today in our modern day patriarchal society.