Feminist Feminism

When one closes their eyes and hears the word feminist, one can imagine seeing a mob full of women marching down the street burning their brassieres while chanting anti-male chants, while holding signs that sheds light on the unfair treatment women were exposed to for several decades. On the other hand, if one closes their eyes, and hears the word feminine, one can imagine seeing either a dainty female looking sweet and innocent, something like a princess, or a lady with “tasteful” sex appeal. These images along with other images associated with femininity and feminist comes from how the media, new papers, and stories portray them. Looking on the surface, they seem quite the opposite in nature. In Claire Miye Stanford’s essay “You’ve Got the Wrong Song: Nashville and Country Music Feminism” Stanford poses a question, “Can a show that is so ostensibly interested in the ‘feminine’…also be feminist?” (Stanford 277). At first glance, one would disagree, but more TV shows are portraying their leading women as a feminine feminist. Shows like Nashville, Insecure, and Orange is the New Black are breaking the boundaries and changing the views on what the new feminine feminist looks like.

Early feminism was typically focused only on white women, likely because racism was still extremely prominent at the time feminism began emerging. It was not until Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced the term “intersectionality” in 1989 that feminism started to look at oppressed group’s needs (Nash, 2008, 2). Intersectionality is a way of thinking that acknowledges that when a person has identities that belong to more than one oppressed group, it impacts their quality of life more negatively. In this paper, I will argue that intersectionality is important in the discussion of feminist theories and activism because it ensures that feminism is for all women, not just a select group of them. Intersectionality has changed the way the feminist movement handles the overlapping of different identities, which has helped feminist theorists understand the experiences of women of colour much more clearly. While intersectionality has a very important role in the conversation and practice of feminism, there are certainly critiques of the concept that should be brought up. These critiques, however, can offer a way to improve the study of intersectionality.

Looking back with a historical lens, it’s evident that the fight for women’s rights has progressed in a step wise process. The nineteenth amendment opened a new door of opportunities for women to take advantage of. In modern times, the continued push for equal rights is evident through the fight for reproductive rights and equal pay. Even with the right to vote, women are still being under represented and out of control when it comes to their reproductive rights and in the workplace. Opposing beliefs regarding feminism have prevented the progression of more gender equality in the United States. What originally started as a plea for a political voice helped to shape the history of the nation. Women’s suffrage paved the way for countless groups and further feminist

I had never really thought about what it meant to be a feminist, it was just a role I had unquestionably assumed as I consider myself to be an advocate of women empowerment. After last week’s readings, I began to question what exactly does being a feminist entails, and why the label carries very different meanings and connotations to different people. There is a common misconception that feminists are radicals, seeking to be superior to men. This is rooted in the fact that women today do not face the same struggles as its predecessors; namely, the inability to vote, work, study, and own property, to name a few. It is true that I have more rights and privileges than women such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth,

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.

Because women come from all races, social classes, and age, they have been an important instrument in shaping western ideology and the world. Feminism is a broad term encompassing the entirety of the historical movement in the nineteenth century and the philosophical thought leading into the twentieth century (Zophy and Kavenik 206). Although the term wasn’t popularized until the 1950’s and 60’s, it represents the ideology into the modern era. With Woman’s History being a major thread of United States history, it is important we understand the progression of women’s rights, freedoms, and feminism throughout the Colonial Era, the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, and the rise of second and third wave

Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's social roles and lived experience, and feminist politics in a variety of fields, such as anthropology and sociology, communication, psychoanalysis, economics, literary criticism, education, and philosophy. While generally providing a critique of social relations, much of feminist theory also focuses on analyzing gender inequality and the promotion of women's rights, interests, and issues. Themes explored in feminism include art history and contemporary art, aesthetics, discrimination, stereotyping, objectification (especially sexual objectification),

Towards the end of the twentieth century, feminist women in America faced an underlying conflict to find their purpose and true meaning in life. “Is this all?” was often a question whose answer was sought after by numerous women reaching deeper into their minds and souls to find what was missing from their life. The ideal second-wave feminist was defined as a women who puts all of her time into cleaning her home, loving her husband, and caring for her children, but such a belief caused these women to not only lose their identity within her family but society as well. The emotions that feminist women were feeling at this time was the internal conflict that caused for social steps to be taken in hopes of

Through countless decades women have been struggling to be equal to men, both at home, politics and the work place. Starting back from the 1800s to mid-1900s, numerous women took time out of their day to step out and fight for what they believed in and that was women’s rights.  Women were gaining incredible ground amid the 1840s and 50s. They were currently permitted to make legal agreements, own property, control legitimate profit and have joint authority of kids. New laws supported widowed, forsook, and abused ladies. Women additionally framed numerous gatherings, which were the start of womens ' rights development. Women’s occupation by the mid-1950s, surpassed the peek accomplished in War World II.  Taking after this development of women’s ' work, a capable women 's activist development ascended in the 1960s and 1970s. The contemporary women 's activist development looked for and won more noteworthy lawful insurance for equivalent pay, more prominent assurance from abusive behavior at home, and a lawful acknowledgment of the privilege to a premature birth. Sexual standards casual as sexuality was all the more transparently communicated in film and famous entertainment. Linda K. Kerber (1988) quotes, “the ideology of republican womanhood recognized that women’s choices and women’s work did serve large social and political

For our activism project, my sister, Maggie, and I went to the Ziibiwing Center in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. We live in the near-by village of Shepherd, so we decided to visit the Center while we were home for Easter break. I had been interested in visiting the Center for a number of years and saw this project as the necessary push to finally act on the desire. Mt. Pleasant is located right next to the reservation of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. At times is hard to tell where the reservation ends and the city begins. The Ziibiwing Center was opened in 2004 to help preserve the Anishinabe culture, honor their ancestors, and to educate people on the culture as well. The Anishinabe are the Ojibwe (Chippewa), the Odawa (Ottawa), and the Potawatomi.

In America, women completely rejected men, not allowing male friends or allies. Radical feminism in America had no simple set goals or aims, but rather was united over its dissatisfaction of the patriarchy. They differed from equal rights feminists by “concentrating on the traditional female concerns of love, sex, and children.” (393). In this society, the idea of breaking apart the family structure was very radical.

Throughout history, and even in literature, women have never been equal to men. For centuries, women have tried to advocate for their own rights, but have never truly gained enough momentum to achieve individuality. However, beginning around 1850, women avidly fought for political and social equality, and they even echoed these radical ideas throughout various literary works. The literary world became encapsulated in the movement as ideas echoing the approval of universal women’s suffrage swept through England and North America rapidly, and women gained more rights including those that allowed them to vote. Various female authors such as Sarah Orne Jewett, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Kate Chopin, became household names, as they were part of a new genre of literature known as feminist literature which not only emphasized the idea of women’s rights, but allowed, for the first time, for women in literature to have freedoms and individuality, which only allowed the suffrage movement to gain more momentum.

Scandinavians attach their ideals and perspectives to their fictional narratives. As literature also entails, Scandinavians value egalitarianism in their society. In order to achieve an equal society, Scandinavians attempt to first instill equality amongst genders. Through Scandinavian literature and films, it has been evident that society has made successful progress towards removing traditional views. However, instead of reaching equality for both sexes the Scandinavians have evolved more towards the other side of the spectrum – feminism. So through what mechanisms does Scandinavian fiction portray the rise of feminism as the step away from masculinity?

In today’s society if we asked people the first thing that came to their mind when they heard the word equality, my bet is that not many of them would say something along the lines of male versus female. Females before, during, and after the feminist movement have been subject to discrimination because of what doesn’t lie in between their legs. Females are often steered away from the things they enjoy doing simply because it may seem too masculine. Women in the past usually worked the positions of teachers or nurses, simply because that was seen as one of the jobs of the women. The feminist movement began because; during the time the world for women was strictly bound to the household. Taking care of children and feeding the man when he returned home for work was to be expected of these women. However, many people don’t fully understand the extent of what feminism is. Feminism involves a personal commitment that fights for the equal rights of females and males politically, socially, and economically. AND feminism fights to end discrimination in all aspects of life.

FEMINISM Introduction to Sociology  Feminism Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. The movement organized around this belief. Feminism Feminist Theory is an outgrowth of the general movement to empower women worldwide.