The Redstockings Manifesto: Anti-Feminist Analysis

The most prevalent and popular stereotype of the post World war II era in America is one filled with women abandoning their wartimes jobs and retreating into the home to fulfill their womanly duties. In Joanne Meyerowitz’s Beyond the Feminine Mystique: A reassessment of Postwar Mass Culture, she shows how far women departed from this one dimensional image. While Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is reflexive and focused on the mainstream, Meyerowitz’s analysis is a broader and more inclusive exploration of media, as she draws upon multiple sources. Although Friedan effectively unveiled the thought process and reasoning behind society's belief that the message of media was to make women think that their place was to be the happy housewife, Meyerowitz expanded her media archives and found a differing message in analyzing both female responses to media and exploring their stories.

Feminist theory is the advocacy of gender equality in terms of respect, opportunities and social rights. The Crucible by Arthur Miller represents the conventional feminist gender struggle, through the medium of an androcentric patriarchal society built on the ideals of religion. In Salem, woman are portrayed as the lower class of society, patronised by men such as Proctor “I am looking for you more often than my cows!" comparing Mary to a farm animal is indicative of their perceived place. Furthermore, the violent way the men within Salem converse with woman “You will confess yourself or I will whip you to death, Tituba! demonstrates the lack of impartiality and feelings that theyhave on a woman’s fundamental rights. Miller’s use of

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.

Radical feminism, starting around the 1960s, sought to eradicate male supremacy. This wave of feminists believe that men are the main source of oppression and if you eliminate patriarchy, then everyone will

The current counterculture and social upheavals of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war caused this new feminism to emerge, signaling the beginning of a transforming era in women’s history (TWE, 607). Women were tired of living in a man’s world where they

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.

In the story of The Chaser by John Collier you might be able to analyze the story with a feminist analysis, which mean with the eyes of a female. Using my eyes and knowledge of feminist, women want to be created equally no more, no less, but sometimes men don’t understand this knowledge of the feminist culture. Although many may like the story of The Chaser, many may not like it due to their perspective on their initial perspective. The Chaser is basically about a man trying to find something to make a women fall in love with him, now if you can’t see that making a women fall in love with a man is wrong then stop reading now, but if you agree with this perspective carry on.

While reading one can study the societal and feminist aspects of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and how they have helped change our society in ways like informing people about post-partum depression and its serious outcomes if not treated properly. While reading another thing to aspect to understand is what was happening in the world at the time Charlotte Perkins Gilman published this story that made it so well known.

The second article that I have chosen was written in July 1969. It discusses excerpts from The Redstockings Manifesto and the feminist movements that arose in the late 1960s. The manifesto illustrates how feminism had evolved from demands for equal treatment for women. (984) Women

During these last thirteen weeks, I have discovered a lot about myself, not only as a student, but as a feminist. Before taking this class, I knew that I wanted to be a feminist. I believed that women should stand up and exercise their rights to be equal to men on every level. Be that as it may, I lacked the education required to develop my own sense of feminism--my feminist manifesto, if you will. When approaching the topic of feminism, every person needs to ask themselves a list of questions: Who am I? Who do I want to be? What has influenced me as a person? How can I help? These are the beckoning questions we, as developing and purposeful human beings, ask ourselves every day, and these are the questions that will lead each and every person

Radical feminists- the aim was to challenge normal values of society and at the end this resulted in the rights been divided between the two genders. According to radicalists they believe that based on whether you are male or female will state how powerful you are in society.

“First wave” of feminism in 1920 advocated women’s suffrage, whereas the “Second wave” targets the societal issues that women in the 21st century are facing. Betty Friedan wrote The Feminists Mystique after World War II exposing female repression and later founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) which ignited the second wave of the feminist movement. Consequently, it became noticeable that women were in multiple wars, as a result branches of feminists were formed (i.e. Liberalist, Marxist, and Socialist). Misogyny’s evolution has its own significant role in the feminist movement, stirring conversations today that affect feminist ideologies. However, in order to fully comprehend what affects second wave feminism along with the tactics utilized by feminists, one must first become acquainted with the many forms.

Feminist Movements started long before 1960, with the advancement of women earning the right to vote. However, it did not stop with that change. There were many other items that the women in history hoped to change, not only to better their own lives, but also the women of the future. With the use of many documents, such as flyers, letters, and boycotts, women of the past changed many different aspects of life for women in the world today. Boycotting the Miss America Pageant in 1968 and 1969, circulating flyers around America, was just the beginning of this second movement. They also used to write to convey their thoughts. One of which was titled “The Bitch Manifesto” and was written in 1968 by Joreen Freeman. The second was a spin- off from a children’s book entitled “There was a Young Women Who Swallowed a lie” which was written in 1970 by Meredith Tax.

Feminism by definition means the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social and economic equality to men. But many a time’s people restrict the boundary of these forgetting the very important element of diversity of women living in different places and in varied situations.

Feminism as a concept dates back to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when the battle for women’s suffrage began, this is known as the “first wave” for feminism. The 60’s and 70’s brought in the “second wave” of women