Feminist Theory: A Case Study Of Wendy's Psychodynamic Perspective

Before she begins the essay with the imagery, Allison adopts a persona of a mother who is formerly poor as a child, and now middle class with a large family. This is when she describes her past in an anecdote, and when she moves to describe cooking for her son and family. Her persona responds well to her intended audience, who may be poor families experiencing rough times, or young mothers in need of something to relate to.

In Jessica Harris’s “The Culinary Season of my Childhood” she peels away at the layers of how food and a food based atmosphere affected her life in a positive way. Food to her represented an extension of culture along with gatherings of family which built the basis for her cultural identity throughout her life. Harris shares various anecdotes that exemplify how certain memories regarding food as well as the varied characteristics of her cultures’ cuisine left a lasting imprint on how she began to view food and continued to proceeding forward. she stats “My family, like many others long separated from the south, raised me in ways that continued their eating traditions, so now I can head south and sop biscuits in gravy, suck chewy bits of fat from a pigs foot spattered with hot sauce, and yes’m and no’m with the best of ‘em,.” (Pg. 109 Para). Similarly, since I am Jamaican, food remains something that holds high importance in my life due to how my family prepared, flavored, and built a food-based atmosphere. They extended the same traditions from their country of origin within the new society they were thrusted into. The impact of food and how it has factors to comfort, heal, and bring people together holds high relevance in how my self-identity was shaped regarding food.

Women have long been fighting for their right to be seen as equal to men. Even to this day, women continue to fight for their rights, things such as the right to non-gender discriminatory wages. While there may be some arguments over the state of gender equality in the modern world, it is undeniable that there have been great strides made toward recognizing the female 's worth in the workforce and as a human being. Despite these strides, however, things are still not yet ideal for women and many of the issues females face today are the very same issues that have been plaguing them for decades. While it is unfortunate the oppression of women has been so long-lived, the length of that exposure has thankfully enabled many talented writers to both lament over the fact and emphasize the need for gender equality.

Feminist theory is compatible with anti-oppressive principles. This theory sees the foundations of group work as equity and social justice, and aligns with anti-oppressive principles of bringing about change and obtaining open and meaningful communication (Gregory &

Women have been a vital key to the shaping and progression of our society. Throughout time, women’s roles and opportunities in the family, workplace, and society have greatly evolved. They started from being housewives that don’t have many rights, even in the household, to being valued citizens in our

In this essay I will explore the different schools of feminism such as Marxist, liberal and radical feminism, who share the view that women are oppressed in a patriarchal society but differ in opinion on who benefits from the inequalities. Each school of feminism has their own understanding of family roles and relationships which I will assess through this essay.

In regards service, the feminist theory helped individual reach their full potential by providing resources to create an equal and non-discriminant environment. We also felt that the basis of the theory addressed social justice issues as it works to maintain and uphold equality, by providing opportunities for everyone to be heard, regardless of their background. We also felt that his theory held everyone is high esteem, and was careful not to dismiss any diversity. Our group also felt that the feminist theory also creates and maintains reciprocal interactions in which there is a vigilance in the regarding the fair and equal treatment of women. In addition, we also felt that this theory focused on morals and integrity, as is it promotes compliance with all local, state, and federal laws regarding equal employment opportunity. The competence level of this theory also appears to be highly effective in having the necessary and appropriate skills and abilities to maintain positive

With the revival of the feminist movement in the 1960 's many women started to renounce traditional theories of psychotherapy, arguing that these theories were sexist, oppressive, and ultimately detrimental to the psychological and emotional well-being of women. Feminist advocates highlighted the limiting nature of socialized gender roles and the damaging effects of the various levels of oppression experienced by women. In response to the recognition of these perceived injustices, feminist support groups formed and eventually a feminist approach to therapy was collaboratively developed. Feminist therapists practice with an awareness of how gender socialization and systemic

As I developed my own sense of feminism through pop culture and literature, I detached more and more from my mother’s sexism. Because she was prone to rage outbursts and volatile tempers, I learned to escape through another medium, like books or music, so a lot of what she said didn’t stick. While I was aware that her behavior was toxic, I didn’t realize how dangerous it truly was until this

In many ways, feminists feel that traditional ethics have failed in the world of women’s equality; however, feminist ethicists as a whole share the same target, as cited by Tong, R. & Williams, N. (2009), “the creation of a gendered ethics that aims to eliminate or at least ameliorate the oppression of any group of people, but most particularly women.” Many organizations have been created whose mission is to protect the rights of women such as women’s coalition in various states, Equality4Women, National Organization for Women (N.O.W.), and the Ford Foundation to name a few. These organizations collaborate to restructure culture so women can triumph in other humanitarian areas like economic, political, and social equality. What is known as the “glass ceiling” is considered a possible contributor to the wage gap and inequality in the workplace. “Similarly, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 prohibit discriminatory practices in the workplace that have traditionally impeded women's ability to achieve occupational parity with their male coworkers” (Housh, 2011, p.118). More often than not, even a woman’s health, both mentally and physically, comes into question. “This can be explained by women’s and men’s different positions in the gender order, meaning that in gender unequal situations at work it is often women that are disadvantaged whereas men have

The sense of patriarchy is universal and takes a close recognition of the cultural, social, and political diversity. However, in these particular stories the feeling of patriarchy takes form as a force dominating women who have psychological problems. In such a way, patriarchy comes to accelerate their mental disorders. A significant source of the feminist theory covers social, political, physical, and sexual forms of harassment. However, very little literature covers the essence of psychological oppression as directed towards

Feminist Therapy is a type of therapy that integrates a psychotherapy approach. Feminist Therapy focuses on empowering women and helping them break stereotypes that may otherwise hold them back from growth and development (Feminist Therapy, n.d.). An example of a stereotype that suppresses women’s growth is the stereotype that women are meant to stay home and raise the children as well as cook and clean for her husband who goes to work to provide for the family. This stereotype can lead women to believe that they shouldn’t go to college to continue their education so they can have a career, because they are supposed to be stay at home moms and house wives.

In Robbins, Chatterjee and Canda (2012) Feminist theory is a mode of analysis that involves specific ways of thinking and acting, that are formed to achieve women’s liberation and by the oppression of women from our society. NASW (2008) code 6.04 Social and Political Action (d). Social Workers should act to prevent and eliminate domination of, exploitation of, and discrimination against any person, group, of class on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status or mental or physical disability. Savali (2015) explains that Natasha McKenna had a diagnosis of Schizophrenia from the age of twelve. Mentally disturbed individuals frequently experience social difficulties that may manifest as acute crisis. In understanding Natasha McKenna’s case we must analyze gender, sex and sex roles. Robbins et al., (2012) many themes and concerns that are central to all feminist thought, despite the multiple feminisms. These include the centrality of gender, gender schemas, and developing critical gender awareness; the personal is political, dismantling patriarchy, and confronting oppression; separating gender and sex; and addressing intersectionality.

Feminist perspective developed with the ideology that women face large amounts of inequalities in a patriarchal society. They aimed to address and rid the social world of this oppression of women by men. According to Bishop, (2015) “oppression occurs when one group of people use different forms of power to keep another group down in order to exploit them. The oppressor uses the power; the oppressed are exploited” (p. 133-134). Oppression must be by individual experience and not grouped into being the same for all. This includes understanding the original ideology of feminist theory being critiqued as only considering the experiences of middle class, white women. That black women, of lower class experienced oppression much different from the other women. Women are oppressed, thus has to be understood in a different construct that women are similar in some sources, experience of oppression but also experience oppression very differently from one individual to another. Feminist theories have further been expanded do its continuation throughout society and decades to encompass many more issues and arenas than just men and women relationships. Now it seeks to understand and address oppression based on culture, race, class, etc and not only for women but for all. Therefore, Bishop (2014) outlines five components that seem common to all forms of oppression and serve to maintain its presence in society.

Social and institutional contexts for sex discrimination in American life have included the workplace, occupations, wages, income, housing, banking, health care, toys, school, education, employment, consumer marketplace, military, media, religious organizations, and home. Despite a century of social change stimulated by the feminist movement, gender inequality persists.