Liberal feminism is one of the branches of feminism, aimed at freedom of choice and individual freedom of women in general.
Liberal feminism began during the French Revolution, it was then that feminists began to speak out, when it finally became clear that only men have the right to individual freedom and the right to choose.
In 1792, an article was published in London entitled "The Advocacy of the Rights of Women," authored by Mary Wollstonecraft, who was clearly not happy with this development. Later, essays were published, which said that a woman is also a man and is quite capable of rationally reflecting and expressing her ideas, therefore women should have equal rights that any man on the planet had for a long time.
The authors, one by one, began to express their opinion that the weakness of a woman, a high degree of curiosity, irrationality and other "weak" qualities - all this is a sign that women have always been dependent on the opinion of men, as well as on the fact that they had no freedom of speech or other privileges.
Since the development of feminism was predictable, it was decided to formulate a whole list of goals and ideas that remain relevant today.
The principle of equal opportunities and equal rights is perhaps the basis of the ideology of liberal feminism. Women who adhere to the liberal direction in feminism believe that it is precisely the impossibility of giving them equal rights with men that is the center of the problem in the oppression of women.
Liberal feminism involves addressing gender equality issues in social, political, legislative and civic dimensions. A struggle began to abandon the dependence of women on men, so that every woman could freely dispose of her rights, choose and receive education, invent and enact new laws and much more. All this will help a woman to improve her status in society.
A special bias is made on education and the social sphere, since this is what helps to form a personality at an early age. Liberal feminists believe that from an early age it is possible to educate children so that discrimination is gradually eradicated.
Liberal feminism began to emerge in the 1960s, somewhere previously created organizations were used to promote it, and somewhere new ones had to be created so that its ideology would not "mix" with others.
Since the capitalist world began to develop at that time, liberal feminism went through a difficult evolution, and this evolution was similar to how liberalism developed, although it was not an exact copy of it. And the main difference was that liberalism was aimed precisely at the individualization of men.
In the 1960s, the works of many authors were published, one of whom was Betty Friedan with her book "The Mystic of Femininity", after the release of which the organization "KNIF" was created - the National Organization of Women, which united in a rather short time more than three hundred thousands of followers who declared their goal to be the struggle for equality in the self-realization of men and women.
The image of a happy housewife, which attracted a huge amount of criticism, was recognized as a myth. Gradually, the woman ceased to be a "passive being", which was perceived only thanks to the man, and ceased to compare her with a child incapable of rational thoughts and actions.
After the war, women again found themselves in the same position as before - they abandoned education, career and personal growth in the direction of creating a family, or rather, raising offspring.
Nevertheless, over time, liberal feminism regained its strength and women began to move towards their goal - independence from men. Now many of the fair sex have a high position, a stable income, participate in elections and even run for the presidency.
Therefore, it is impossible to assume that liberal feminism was useless. Perhaps it was he who was the main impetus for who women are now. But all this is thanks to those liberal feminists who were not afraid to express their opinions in those difficult times.
Do you consider yourself a liberal feminist or do you adhere to other trends? We are waiting for your comments!
02:19 am - Liberal feminismThis movement is one of the oldest feminist movements, which has not lost its significance and relevance to this day. Its theoretical foundation was formed by the ideas of liberalism and democracy, the concept of "natural contract" developed by philosophers-educators, the theory of natural rights, as well as the principles of equality, freedom and representative democracy, which are an integral part of liberal ideology.
Back in the 17th century, K. Agrippa in his "Declaration on the nobility and superiority of the female sex over the male" expressed the idea that the right to freedom given from birth is an inalienable right of both men and women _1_.
The main goal of their activities, representatives of the liberal trend in feminism have chosen to fight for the right to education and work, the right to property, as well as the right to elect and be elected to government bodies. According to the ideologists of this trend, only the establishment of formal legal equality, which, among other things, will benefit society as a whole, can change the dependent status of women in society. Being among the most vulnerable social groups of the population, women will be able to fulfill themselves only when they receive equal civil and political rights with men.
Traditionally, the history of the development of liberal feminism is divided into two stages: the so-called "first wave" of feminism, which covered the period from the middle of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century, as well as the "second wave" that began in the 60s of the last century.
Characteristic feature The first stage is that gradually, among other demands, the demand for suffrage for women begins to come to the fore, which has become the main goal of the suffrage movement that emerged in America and Great Britain. Representatives and representatives of this movement were also the main ideologues of the liberal trend in the feminist movement. In the USA they were Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815 - 1902), Susan Anthony (1820 - 1906), Lucy Stone (1818 - 1893); in England - Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon (1827 - 1891), Josephine Butler (1828 - 1906), as well as the family of the famous philosopher, liberalist theorist John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) - his wife Harriet Taylor (1806 - 1858) and stepdaughter Helen Taylor (1831 - 1907).
Elizabeth Stanton was the author of the famous "Declaration of Positions and Resolutions", adopted at the equally famous Congress on the Rights of Women, which took place in Seneca Falls (USA) in 1848. In fact, this declaration was a turning point in the development of liberal feminism. It reflects all the basic requirements that will be placed at the forefront of this feminist movement: the right to vote, the right to property, education, active participation in the socio-economic and political life of society. At the same time, in the opinion of many contemporaries of E. Stanton, the ideas contained in the resolution adopted in Seneca Falls contain certain contradictions.
First, the representatives of liberal feminism in America did not take into account the fact that the legal norms existing at that time reflected the interest of men in maintaining their dominant position in society.
Secondly, according to critics of liberal feminism, its supporters did not understand
the fact that the position of men and women in the family significantly limits the ability of women to take a more active and equal participation with men in all spheres of society. _2_ At the same time, one should not forget that for female activists movement XIX century (in particular, the American), the desire for equality was not just a desire to have equal rights with men as such, but a desire to have in their hands a real instrument with which one could improve one's position in both social and everyday life.
As for John Stuart Mill, his views on gender equality were directly derived from his political and ethical convictions. First, as the greatest ideologue of liberalism, Mill recognized the value of the human person and the primordial equality of all people, regardless of their gender. Secondly, being an adherent of Bentham's philosophy of utilitarianism, he believed that the preservation of the system of gender inequality is a serious obstacle to the path of human society to its perfection. From Mill's point of view, this is absolutely impractical and disadvantageous for everything.
humanity - to exclude half of it from the process of creating a perfect society. Addressing the problems of family, marriage and divorce, J.S.Mill, insisting that marriage for a woman is just a form of slavery, believed that the family in this case has a harmful moral effect on all its members. However, a significant drawback of Mill's work is the fact that, considering in detail the issues related to
marriage, he almost completely bypasses the attention of widows and single women.
One of the main reasons that, according to Mill, led to the fact that women found themselves in a subordinate position, is rooted in the system of women's upbringing and education. The system of women's upbringing diligently weaned women away from all those activities that were traditionally assigned to men and were considered only a male prerogative. Moreover, for most of the 19th century, until 1870, access to higher educational institutions was closed for English women. Mill explains such a depressing situation, however, not so much by the imperfection of women's education as by the political helplessness of women, and he sees the way out not in reforming the education system, but in giving women the right to vote _3_.
Thus, the liberal feminism of the "first wave" focused mainly on the struggle for formal legal equality of men and women, which to a certain extent negatively affected the subsequent history of the development of this feminist movement. Having achieved equal rights with men, liberal feminism in the period between the two world wars fell into a state of certain stagnation.
The set goals were achieved, and new ones have not yet been identified, which allowed some
talk about how feminism has exhausted itself as a movement and ideology. As a result, the "second wave" of liberal feminism, which began in the United States and France, took the form of a protest against the uncertainty of the previous stage. The main ideological developments of the new wave were contained in the works of Simone de Beauvoir "The Second Sex" (1949) and Betty Friedan "The Riddle of Femininity" (1963). De Beauvoir's "Second Sex" subsequently served as the theoretical basis for radical feminism, and B. Friedan's "The Riddle of Femininity" became the founding work of the second wave of liberal feminism. The main goal of liberal feminism at this stage is to protest against all the obstacles that society puts on the path of women to self-realization and gaining independence. The new wave of feminism was an attempt by women to escape from the narrow confines of the family, from this "cozy concentration camp" _4_.
Like S. de Beauvoir, B. Friedan, believed that the main goal is the need to show women the possibility of freedom and self-realization outside the family. Friedan considered education to be the main tool for achieving this goal. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the activity of the representatives of the liberal feminism of the "second wave" was aimed, first of all, at the right to receive an education, at social support the state in the upbringing of children, etc. In addition, one of the points of the program of action for liberal feminists of the new wave is the search for possible ways to include men in housekeeping, equal (or at least partial) distribution of household responsibilities, equal participation in the upbringing of children _5_.
The methods chosen by liberal feminism to achieve its goals were traditional for the principles of representative democracy, within which this feminist movement has always operated. These were participation in election campaigns, creation of pressure groups within various power structures, tactics of lobbying their interests, etc. At the same time, liberal feminism (both its theoretical concepts and practical activities) never questioned the concept of liberal a democracy created by men and for men, and in which the patriarchal principle of inequality between men and women was originally enshrined. At the same time, it cannot be denied that it was liberal feminism that was essentially a real factor in the growth of women's self-awareness as an independent social group, developing women's activity and cohesion, and contributed to an increase in their self-esteem.
1 - Theory and history of feminism. Course of lectures / Ed. Irina Zherebkina. KhTSGI: F-Press, 1996. p. 129.
2 - Bryson W. The Political Theory of Feminism: An Introduction. M .: Idea-Press, 2001. p. 46 - 47.
3 - Shkolnikov I. A. Theory and practice of English feminism (works by J. S. Mill, Harriet Taylor and Helen Taylor) // Women's question in the context of national culture. Materials of the international scientific conference. SPb., 2000.
4 - Friedan B. The Riddle of Femininity. M., 1994. p. 380.
5 - Bryson W. The Political Theory of Feminism: An Introduction. M .: Idea-Press, 2001. p. 166 - 171.
6 - Theory and history of feminism. Course of lectures / Ed. Irina Zherebkina. Kharkov Center for Gender Studies: F-Press, 1996. p.
Thus, the main goal of liberal feminism is the desire to obtain equal rights in different spheres of life, to gain access to the state apparatus, the desire to make a choice without obeying the will of a man.
History of origin
Liberal feminism can be divided into two waves... The first wave emerged in the middle of the 19th century and lasted until the first third of the 20th century. The main requirement of the women's movement of this wave was the possibility of obtaining higher education. The labor issue was also the main important condition.
During the second wave, liberal feminism is gaining popularity. There are more adherents of this movement than in any other feminist direction. This trend acquired its development due to the influence of the views of suffragettes fighting for equality of voting rights.
Representatives
Direction criticism
Critics of liberal feminism argue that individualistic views do not very well explain exactly which social structures and values work to the detriment of women's interests. They argue that even if a woman is not dependent on specific men in her life, she is still dependent on a patriarchal state. These critics believe that institutional change is not sufficient to liberate women.
The theory of feminism is a theory that, due to the political and social changes of the 1960s and 70s. challenged traditional concepts of femininity and gender. The theories "describe women's historical, psychological, sexual and racial experiences" not only in an academic manner, but also demonstrating that "feminism can be a source of strength."
The article briefly describes: liberal feminism, radical feminism, Marxist and socialist feminism, psychoanalytic feminism, feminist separatism, anti-racist feminism, postmodern feminism.
Liberal feminism
Early liberal feminists attempted to correct misunderstandings about women. Mary Waltoncraft (1759-1797) In Defense of Women's Rights (London, 1792) vigorously defends women's rights. Fifteen years later, Harriet Taylor Mill (1807-1858), together with her colleague John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), published a series of essays justifying women's emancipation.
In Woman's Dependency, first published in 1851, traditional conventions concerning work and family were qualified as oppressive to women and denying her freedom of choice. Both Walstonecraft and Millie noted that a woman is a human being who has access to rational thought, and that she deserves the same natural rights that are guaranteed to a man. Since a woman was perceived primarily as a sexual object, it was precisely on such qualities as gentleness, obedience, abstinence that the emphasis was made in her upbringing. Thus, the so-called "natural" weakness of a woman, her irrationality and curiosity are in reality the result of a lack of education and a lack of freedom of choice, the result of her dependence on men, as well as the result of her defective socialization.
Foreshadowing the development of feminism, these authors formulate goals that are still relevant to the feminist agenda today. Among them - the end of legal, economic and social dependence on men; ensuring freedoms and opportunities in obtaining and improving education; supporting the open competitive functioning of the economic market and protecting it from interference and intervention; acceleration of the modernization process; the introduction of laws that would lead to the improvement of the status of women.
Liberalism changed as the capitalist world developed, and the status of liberal feminism also changed. Liberalism in the classical sense, which implied the protection of civil liberties by the state, the creation of equal opportunities to operate in the market, is a thing of the past. It was replaced by egalitarian liberalism, which implied the state's protection of economic justice, the provision of social, medical and family services, etc. Liberal feminism has undergone a similar evolution, although it is not a simple copy of liberalism. Moreover, liberals extended individualism and personal freedom only to men. The development of liberal feminism took it beyond the boundaries of formal equality, raising new issues of assistance in raising children and personal freedom in the reproductive sphere.
In the 1960s, the American woman Betty Friedan was recognized as the classic of this trend, who presented her views in the book "The Mystic of Femininity" (1963). The image of a happy housewife has been criticized as a non-existent myth. Social norms hindered the personal development of a woman: she was expected to adhere to "infantile" patterns of behavior, she was perceived only through a man only as a passive being that has much in common with a child.
In the late 1950s in America, the ideal was a beautiful, educated woman, busy with her husband and children, who had a house in the suburbs, a car, etc. However, women who achieved this ideal turned out to be dissatisfied, without understanding the reasons themselves - the problem had no name. Many had feelings of frustration and discontent, and at the same time, the words "emancipation" and "career" sounded strange to them. In the post-war period, the concept of femininity was widespread, when new opportunities for personal growth opened up. It was at the very moment when new career and educational opportunities opened up that women began to leave educational institutions, preferring to fulfill only one, traditional role. The stereotypes turned out to be so strong that women even lost the idea of their capabilities. This led to a crisis of identity and personal growth - the same problem that many people have, and which was then considered masculine. The fate of a woman was considered biologically defined, and therefore it was not assumed that a woman could have problems of identity and growth.
According to B. Friedan, such notions of femininity created psychoanalysis, which interprets the neurotic envy of a woman for a man, and functionalism, which considers the status of a woman as wife and mother, and gender equality as non-functional for society. The society teaches girls, first of all, how to "fulfill the role of women". The author saw a liberal solution to the problem in the education and involvement of women in the public sphere, in ending discrimination against women in work, in combining family and work.
It was assumed that it was necessary to break the stereotypes that associate women exclusively with upbringing, care, service, and men with management (that is, those stereotypes of public consciousness, in accordance with which voters voted for men, and employers preferred to hire men).
The position of a woman is associated with traditions and laws that block the path to success. There are beliefs in society that women are naturally less developed, intellectually and physically, and these beliefs hinder the disclosure of their potential. If women receive equal rights with men, then gender equality will be established.
The liberal-classical direction of feminism, based on the fact that society as a whole favors men, focused on changing laws and policies that discriminate against women. It was assumed that as a result of the change in laws, women would be able to compete on equal terms with men.
In contrast, the feminists of egalitarian liberalism believed that women should have advantages. It is necessary to move from gender-neutral laws to gender-specific laws that allow widows, single mothers, divorced to get real chances.
This direction includes the second book by B. Friedan - "Second Stage" (1981), which came out almost twenty years after the first, when new difficulties in combining female roles were discovered. If in the 1960s. women were victims of the mysticism of feminism (the idea of femininity), but now they are victims of the mysticism of feminism (the idea of feminism). If earlier it was found that women housewives were not satisfied with their lives, then after a quarter of a century there was a disappointment among women who successfully pursue careers. The "superwoman" became dependent on both her husband and her boss.
Feminist criticism of liberalism is aimed at reassessing individual freedom, advocates gender-neutral humanism, an orientation towards universal human values that are equal to male values, as well as the desire to act within the existing system, not aiming at its radical transformation.
Radical feminism
In a sense, radical ideology is the opposite of liberalism. If liberalism in the dilemma "similarity - difference between the sexes" solves the problem through similarity, equality, and the same, then radicalism builds its theory and practice, proceeding from the difference. Women's biology is at the center of radical ideology. Feminism identifies the cause of the oppression of women through the structures of traditional heterosexual relationships and social institutions. This ideology emerged in the 60s of the XX century. Organizationally radical feminism grew out of the New Left movement and the Black American civil rights campaign in the United States. This ideology denied the idea of equality with men, proclaimed the liberation of all the oppressed. The organizational activities of the radical ideology movements have led to the creation of a feminist alternative in literature, music, the spirituality, medicine, sexuality, even in the fields of employment and technology. The new branch of the movement consisted of a network of heterogeneous organizations linked in certain "connections".
Radical feminism as a phenomenon of the 20th century is closely connected with such trends of our time as the growing attention to interpersonal relationships, feelings and sensations, and with a change in attitudes towards sexuality, contraceptives, motherhood. Radical feminism was represented by relatively small groups of mostly white women, female students, belonging to the middle class. In radical feminism, there is no single theory. As it developed, the ideology became more and more differentiated. The theoretical reflection gradually included not only the experience of educated white women (who remained the core of the movement), but also the experience of colored women from the working class.
Radical ideology agrees on the following points: women were historically the first group to be oppressed; oppression of women is the most widespread and most powerful form of oppression. Radical feminism usually calls for an end not only to capitalism, but also to change the family, at least as an economic institution and an institution for raising children. The separatist movement (lesbian feminism) proposes to add to this the denial of heterosexuality.
In general, radical feminism stands for social, economic, political, psychological experiments... Feminists wanted to create their own future, their identity and their destiny. Such ideologies and movements arose and developed in the mood of general radicalism, "leftism" and the search for a new way of life in the 1960s. They looked for new explanations, challenged the bourgeoisie, stereotypes of roles and behavior. The radical ideology of feminism gave birth to mass women's communities, influenced the liberalization of public consciousness in relation to the sexes, and created new interpretations of sexuality and corporeality.
Radical feminists analyze through which means and institutions (including medicine, religion, reproduction, racism, ecology, and political theory) male domination is carried out. The most important control is controlling female sexuality (sexual harassment, beating of women, violence, pornography, sterilization, abortion, contraceptive laws, forced heterosexuality).
One of the foundations for the development of radical feminism is Simone de Beauvoir's book Second sex.
As Fireston argued in one of the most famous works of this direction, "Dialectics of Sex" (1970), patriarchy is based on the biological separation of the sexes. The proposed concept "sex сlass" allows us to consider the division of society into two biological classes that are in struggle. The basis for exploitation lies in the ability to bear children. Having a child and raising a child makes a woman less mobile, and therefore more dependent on a man. Sex is the basis for exploitation (in this respect, the provisions of Marxism are significant, in particular Engels' provisions on the first division of labor in marriage between a man and a woman).
Another mechanism for suppressing women is love. For in the path of free love are the traditions of the "double standard", according to which a woman is less interested in sex than a man, and is more inclined to monogamy. In the context of a "double standard" love is a kind of bargain in which a woman must be recognized as a man in order to legitimize her existence. In exchange for her love, a woman receives emotional and economic security. A woman exists for love, and men - for creativity, as a result, women are excluded from art and science, they do not have the opportunity to express their own, different from the male experience.
The issue of motherhood is at the center of radical feminism. A change in the very interpretation of motherhood is proposed, in which the "biological" mother is not identical to the "social" one, although society insists that the best mother is a biological one. At the same time, a woman should not refuse to have a child, which not only brings satisfaction, but also plays an important role in her personal development. However, a woman needs to be freed from the motherhood that patriarchy imposes on her, and given the opportunity to control her body herself.
Marxist and socialist feminism
1960s movements developed in the context of general criticism of capitalism and the powerful upsurge of the leftist movements that spread from France in 1968, in a situation of widespread enthusiasm for intellectuals with Marxism, the growth of anti-bourgeois sentiments and intentions. Socialist and Marxist feminists saw themselves as participants in this struggle. And in this they differed from the radicals, who did not consider capitalism, but men, as responsible for oppression on the basis of gender. Marxist and socialist feminism was greatly influenced by close ties with the New Left. It was where there were strong leftist protests in the 60s and 70s that the women's liberation movement developed especially actively.
The main provisions of Marxist and socialist feminism are based on the relationship of gender and class inequalities with the institutions of private property. The difference in directions was that the former considered class inequality to be the main and primary form of social hierarchies in society, while the latter viewed class and gender as relatively autonomous systems, each of which creates its own hierarchy.
This trend goes back to the works of K. Marx, F. Engels (first of all - "The Origin of Private Property, Family and State"), A. Bebel, who emphasized the economic dimension of inequality, and to the works of utopian socialists (R. Owen and C. Fourier ), insisting on the moral superiority of women.
The Marxist direction of feminism emphasizes the specificity of the capitalist system, which generates class inequality as well as the economic dependence of women on men. Gender inequality can only disappear with the disappearance of capitalism and classes.
Following Marx and Engels, feminists believe that the beginning of the oppression of women was laid by the introduction of private property. The concentration of the means of production in the hands of a small number of people, mostly men, laid the foundation for the class system that shaped the causes of inequality and injustice in the world. According to Marxist feminists, women are oppressed not so much by sexism as by capitalism. Gender inequality will disappear only when capitalism is replaced by socialism. And once the economic dependence of women on men disappears, the material basis for the oppression of women will also disappear. From their point of view, capitalism strongly influences the oppression of women. First, there is a gender division of labor in capitalism. The woman who works from home tends to be responsible for the production of products and services that have little exchange value. And women's housework is not considered "real" because it does not make money. Second, the woman's association with the home gives her work a secondary status.
There is no unified system of views within the Marxist movement. The approaches differ depending on which aspects of Marxist analysis are used and for what. Ideologically and organizationally, the relationship between feminism and Marxism is quite complex, at times conflicting. Marxists criticize feminism for being bourgeois, for focusing on feelings and evaluations, feminists accuse Marxists for shifting emphasis from gender to class, for not going beyond the male vision of the world.
One of the most heated debates in the Marxist direction of feminism was the question of "wages for housewives." Domestic work of women can be interpreted as participation in production, and women as a class that produces surplus value in domestic work. The marginality of housework under capitalism gives rise to the marginality of women in society. One of the solutions is to pay for household work. Since domestic work is interpreted as the main means of repressing a woman, a woman should at least receive a salary. Then the woman will not be economically dependent on her husband, but will receive a salary from the state for housework. "Wages for housewives" as the slogan of the struggle reflected the feminist notion that the relationship between a man and a woman in the family has the same social meaning as relationships in the workplace.
The roots of the socialist trend lie in political, intellectual and socio-economic changes. which took place in the second half of the nineteenth century in Western Europe and North America. The spread of industrial capitalism, rapid industrialization, urban poverty, shifts in family structure, and a departure from standard economic roles have generated both liberal and socialist responses.
While a liberal view of the problem singles out the dogmatization of gender roles and the rejection of opportunities as the main reasons for the oppressed position of women, social feminism considers the involvement of women in the economy as the main reason for the oppression of women. Social feminists consider the individual in the context of his social being, involved in a network of specific social and economic relations. Capitalist relations actually force people to compete with each other and exploit each other in the struggle for economic survival.
Socialist pressure on capitalism reminds feminists to pay attention to the mechanisms by which the economy provides choices and opportunities. The destruction of exploiting structures mitigates (social consequences such as, for example, the feminization of the poor, inequality in wages and unpaid work. Social feminists, who made the social class the leading category of analysis, focused on the social and economic organization of labor in the capitalist system, on the relationship paid and unpaid work. All women have a common experience with motherhood and sexuality. All women do housework and have less freedom than men. Women have long working hours, receiving less material and emotional rewards than men. they are less involved in decision-making, have less sexual freedom and receive less sexual satisfaction. To liberate a woman, not only a change in economic conditions, but also a reorganization of the "reproductive" sphere is needed. In this sense, equality expands not only for women, but also for men. it This principle was later widely adopted in Scandinavia, where many men take parental leave.
In the late 60s. the Socialists were deeply impressed by the work of Fireston and Kate Millett. The suppression of women turned out to be associated not only with capitalism, but also with gender, race, etc. Power and oppression came to be seen as a consequence of the material and ideological conditions of patriarchy, racism and capitalism.
Classical Marxist feminism views the oppression of women as a direct consequence of capitalism, in which women are defined as the property of men, and also as a result of the general benefit that is contained in the exploitation of women's labor. Recent social feminists criticize traditional Marxist feminists for focusing only on the economic sources of gender inequality.
Contemporary social feminism seeks to focus its analysis on the following five issues. The first is to explore the role of the housewife. In 1969, Margaret Benston, in The Political Economy of the Liberation of Women, qualified domestic work as a critical form of female labor, since it is unpaid, low-value, and nearly invisible at the same time. All the many studies that have been brought to life by Benston's work have aimed to recognize and legitimize traditional female responsibility to the home. Domestic work research has been instrumental in shaping public opinion about women's unpaid work.
A second area of increased attention is devoted to the debate over the relationship of women as a paid worker. A number of studies have revealed that the definition of women as primarily wives and mothers has a direct impact on the formation of the secondary status of women as workers.
The third problem node is related to the relationship between women and social class. The question arises as to what social class women belong to.
The role of the family in the ideological socialization of women, men and children represents the fourth block of the problem. To a greater extent, social feminists considered family employment strategies in order to highlight traditional values and behaviors.
And, the fifth block is practice, education of consciousness and ideology are central for researchers in the field of social feminism. These questions form the basis of feminist methodology. Social feminists insist on the need to develop alternative structures (crisis centers for victims of violence, small businesses, kindergartens) that stimulate other types of thinking and behavior.
Marxist and socialist ideology became the ideology of many groups in the new women's movement in the 1960s. By the mid-70s, socialist feminists began to lose their strength, many Marxist women left socialist organizations and the women's movement in general.
Psychoanalytic feminism
Psychoanalysis in its feminist interpretation, unlike other ideologies, did not become the basis for a separate direction of feminist struggle, with the exception of France. However, in a theoretical sense, it was important for both radicals and Marxists. It served as a bridge for the transition to the new postmodern feminist ideologies of the 1980s and 1990s.
Because psychoanalysis provides access to unconscious areas human psyche, it can help women better understand both the personal and political dimensions of lives. This trend of feminism, called psychoanalytic feminism, focuses on latent psychodynamics, the nature of which leaves an imprint on the nature of personal, interpersonal and social relations, on the dynamics of the unconscious, which shapes our thinking, emotions and actions. In part, the interest in psychoanalysis on the part of feminists is justified by the analysis of gender constructs that psychoanalysis conducts. The results of this analysis can be used to understand and transform the position of women as subordinates.
In the 1960s, some leftist feminist theorists turned to psychoanalysis, finding that class analogies were insufficient to explain the hierarchy of gender relations in society, and that the deeper structures of the human psyche needed to be included in the analysis. Julia Mitchell's The Woman: The Longest Revolution (1966) and The Feminine Estate (1971) are considered classics in this direction of feminism.
The psychology of a woman, generated by a certain passage through the stages of psychosexual development, is quite stable in a patriarchal society. Therefore, liberal reforms can change the external manifestations of "femininity", but they cannot change a woman. Economic reforms will also not turn men and women into equal partners, since inequality is hidden in the deep layers of the human psyche. "For Mitchell, patriarchy is human society, to destroy patriarchy means to destroy the only human society we know. "Patriarchy and capitalism are two autonomous systems. Using Marxism, you can destroy capitalism. However, it remains unclear whether it is possible to destroy the patriarchy rooted in the psychological sphere using psychoanalysis, and whether" revolution of the unconscious is possible. ".
Turning to psychoanalysis was not easy, since feminism was initially ambivalent about it. Freud was criticized for the theses about a woman's envy of a man, about a woman's feeling of her inferiority, about biological determinism. Freud viewed women as dependent, irrational, emotional, passive, masochistic.
The most influential feminist psychoanalytic theory in the United States is the theory of the Road by Dinnerstein (1976) and Nancy Hodorov (1978). Both emerged from the psychoanalytic school called Object Relationship Theory, which was formed by Melanie Klein (1957). D.V. Winikotg (1965) and others. Object relations theorists criticize Freud's bias regarding the role of the father, on which psychoanalysis is more focused than on the early relationship between mother and child. Dinnerstein and Khodorov understand gender as an effect of the sexual division of labor that arises from the fact that a woman is the first parent of a child. According to both researchers, an imaginary fear of an omnipotent mother causes, at least for some men, their rejection by women.
Feminist theory used psychoanalysis in search of an answer to the question of the deep causes of gender inequality in society, trying to identify those layers of the unconscious, emotional, sexual, which exist in all people. Psychoanalysis was understood by feminists as a method and theory aimed at exploring how we develop and use our unconscious fantasies and how we construct and reconstruct our past experiences in the present.
Feminist separatism
Lesbian feminism and cultural feminism are two types of feminist separatism that advocate the creation of some kind of feminine world where women are "tied" to each other. "The emergence of lesbian separatism defines lesbianism not only as a personal decision of two women, but also as an external sign of internal denial of patriarchal forms of sexuality." Another popular strategy of resistance to patriarchy, as P. Elliot and N. Mendell write, is aimed at redefining social relations through the creation of such types of cultures that would put a woman in the center. Feminist art, spirituality, cuisine, ecology, reproduction, motherhood, women's cooperatives, clubs, etc. - all this is a product of the women's movement.
Anti-racist feminism
Criticism of radical feminism asked questions about who and what do radical feminists refer to when they talk about women, experience and personality politicians? Feminism leaves aside the idea of a unified feminine identity and the idea of a feminine singularity and moves on to the idea of different feminine points of view.
Women of color were among the first to conceptualize the diversity of women's experiences and criticized liberal, social and radical feminism for ignoring race as a category of oppression and analysis. Previous feminist theories were based on the premises of the so-called "white" man. The experiences of middle-class white heterosexual women are accepted as the norm in this model, while the specific experiences of blacks, indigenous people and other ethnic groups are ignored.
Feminism claims to liberate all women, but takes the experience of the white woman into account as a universal social norm. Thus, feminist theories remain incomplete without an analysis of the spheres of intersection of race, sexuality.
Postmodern feminism
Much of the debate in contemporary feminism is about whether, and if so, to what extent, feminism should merge with the theory, culture, and politics of postmodernity.
Since the mid-1980s, an increasing number of feminists exploring the implications of postmodernism for the good of feminism have discussed the problem of their common foundation and even describe their own theories as postmodern. Linda Nicholson, in her editorship of the anthology Feminism / Postmodernism, argues that feminism has generated its own critique of scientific rationality, objectivity, and autonomous personality as masculine constructs. Moreover, women of color and women from developing countries tendencies in "white" feminism that sought to generalize from a limited perspective were criticized. This criticism, also from lesbians, women with disabilities and working-class women, has led to a redefinition of core concepts of feminism, which in turn has led to work being done in a historical and cultural manner.
Many feminists are hostile to postmodernism, calling it a patriarchal means to silence women when they are better equipped to speak up than ever before.
In her criticism of postmodernity, Cristina Di Stefano cites four main claims to postmodernity on the part of feminism.First, postmodernity expresses the position and needs of the main part of voters (white, privileged men of the industrialized West), and secondly, objects different types critical effort has become the same specific group of voters. Third, in its mainstream, postmodernity turned out to be blind and insensitive to gender issues; fourth, it is impossible to imagine that a seriously perceived project of postmodernity would give shape to the politics of feminism.
The women's movement as such only emerged in the last century, although women's protests have occurred before. The protests were individual in nature: a woman behaved differently than prescribed by social convention, and this was considered a deviation (often mental): for example, lesbianism, a conscious refusal to have children, deviant behavior, etc.
I saw an article by cat_gekata, the source is also given there, but the site is strange and with auto-starting music, I recommend entering it carefully.
Liberal feminism places men and their needs at the center, leaving women in the background; it ceases to be a movement for the advancement of women, turning into a movement for the benefit of individuals.
To be honest, I can't say exactly when I started to adhere to the philosophy of liberal intersectional feminism. It was just part of mythought process and life (online and offline) in general. I subscribed to blogs and pages. She left comments and did reposts. I invited people to check their privileges, argued that men also need feminism. Liberal feminism was the only feminism I knew of. In fact, I have never called myself a liberal feminist. I called myself "Feminist", having no idea about the existence of any other types.
While the memories of this experience are fresh, I will try to describe the position of liberal feminists using my example, and then I will tell you how and why I changed my mind.
The mindset of a liberal intersectional feminist
- Choice as an empowerment
Any choice is good and correct if you make it yourself. The agency is the most important thing. We should never question another person's choice. We will defend to the last the inalienable right of everyone to their own choice and condemn anyone who tries to subject this choice to an analysis in a broader context. Every choice we make is feminist by default, because we are women and we choose. Therefore, [the choice] to wear stilettos and become a sex worker is feminist. Anyone who attempts to address the issue systematically should be silenced to protect individual choice.
And since every choice is good and feminist, I am infallible no matter what I choose. This is my right, and no one can take it away. It is an act of individual empowerment and affirmation.
- Self-identification
Everyone has the right to self-identification, and no one has the right to doubt the identity of another. Identity is internal and innate and cannot be changed. Identity is who you really are and who you have always been; it is unchanging.
Doubting the identity of another is not acceptable under any circumstances. Everyone must believe in the existence of identities and accept them. Those who categorically deny identity will be silenced.
I am who I call myself. I am who I feel. Everyone else should accept me. I feel myself gaining strength.
- Privileges and their verification
There is a huge and complex system of privileges. We are all privileged in some ways and not privileged in others. It is the task of each person to recognize their own privileges and to help identify the privileges of others. The privileged should not condemn the less privileged. For example, a white woman should not question the experience or choices of a black woman. Privilege types include (but are not limited to): male privilege, white privilege, hetero privilege, thin privilege, non-disabled privilege, economic privilege, cis privilege.
I am aware of my privileges and I recognize them. If people are not aware of their privileges, I point them out. I feel superior, I am very pleased with myself, because I protect the most vulnerable. I reckon with those who have fewer privileges than me, and do not allow anyone to criticize them or question their experience. Since I am cis, I cannot question anything that has to do with the experience of trans people. I am better than people who do not recognize their privileges.
- Feminism is for everyone
Feminism does not rule out anyone. We have a place for everyone. We believe men need feminism too. Anyone who believes in equality is a feminist, even if he does not know about it or does not call himself that. Women's issues are not central to feminism and should not be. We should all be equal.
I am a more open person than most people, and yes, I feel superior. I feel that I am helping everyone, even if they don’t know they need my help.
- Gender
A person's gender is inner and inviolable. This is the foundation of our omnipotent identity. Gender is simply innate knowledge of who you are. Gender identity is considered immutable. Gender and gender are not necessarily the same. The gender that is currently indicated by a trans person is his only gender, even if he has lived his whole life up to this point in a different gender. Trans women are women. Trans women are the most vulnerable women, and are killed and oppressed more than others. Therefore, we must first protect them, and only then other women. Cis women should under no circumstances exclude trans women and question [their existence]. This is as inconceivable as white women excluding black women.
I accept everyone. I am a good and open person. I am tolerant unlike other people.
Everything is crumbling
I supported these ideas until last spring. I felt good, I was busy counting my privileges and looking for the less privileged. I made a choice and defended the right of others to do so. But one thing haunted me. There was something that I could not understand:
"What is a woman?"
I couldn't stop thinking about it. I asked my friends in private and found that many were just as puzzled. I heard all the time that “trans women are WOMEN” and tried to understand what that means. I thought that something was wrong with me, since I cannot immediately understand. Maybe deep down I'm not tolerant? I felt like I was doing wrong, even just thinking about it, but I couldn't stop.
I asked this question with trepidation at every opportunity, but the answers I received did not satisfy me. People answered: "Well, how do YOU know that you are a woman?" Instead of helping, these answers confused me even more. I had an answer, but I was taught never to talk about it: “I know that I am a woman, thanks to my body: I have a vulva, a uterus, a breast. I know because I have my periods and I can get pregnant. " I could not find a single sign other than bodily that makes a man a woman.
A woman has the right to be who she wants, wear what she wants, and love whoever she wants. She may or may not be feminine. A pink dress does not add femininity, just as comfortable shoes do not.
At the time, I was looking at trans women on the news and I thought that if being a woman is to fit a female gender role, then maybe they are women and I am not. Laverne Cox is certainly much more in line with stereotypical femininity than I am. However, I didn't want to change my body and be considered a man. It took me years to accept and love my female body as it is. Accepting my body has become a truly liberating moment in my life, and yes, there are female parts in my body. And suddenly it turned out that out of respect for trans women, it is forbidden to say that you are a woman. And since I was a "cis", that is, an oppressor, I was forbidden to ask questions.
But I decided to figure it out anyway. I started asking questions on the intersectional feminist Facebook pages when I encountered something that I didn't understand. "If a woman can be what she wants and also have a penis, does that mean that the word itself becomes meaningless?" How does it feel to “feel like a woman inside”? “If a female person feels like a man at heart, doesn't that make the idea of pregnancy unthinkable?” I asked these and many other questions. I asked innocently, sincerely, without malice, trying to be tactful. I really wanted to understand. I wanted to realize my cis privileges.
Soon after I started asking questions, the following happened to me. They called me "TERF" (Transexclusive Radical Feminist). I didn't know anything about radical feminism then. They told me: "a woman is the one who calls herself a woman!" This only confused me more. I thought about the word "cis" and decided that this word does not apply to me, because I do not identify myself with gender. I was told that to deny the word "cis" is like "driving a cheese grater across the face of a trans woman." I was told to educate myself. "We're not going to teach you here." My comments were deleted, and my profile was blocked on many pages, some of which I have been subscribed to for years.
Despite this, I kept looking for answers to questions, but now I was looking for something new. I was looking for information on the query "radical feminism". I was looking for discussion groups. I learned about the idea of gender as a social construct, and everything fell into place. It made sense. I finally found people who answered my questions, recommended books, blogs, articles. I finally got it.
Everything was fine with me. I was no longer a liberal feminist.
Filling in the blanks
I am still in the process of making sense of all this. I am not going to present radical feminist philosophy now, because there are more knowledgeable women who are already doing this. There are books. I will say that after communicating with liberal feminists, I expected radical feminists to be angry fanatics. But this is not the case. Almost every radical feminist I have met wants to make the world a better place for everyone, but women in the first place. They don't keep women silent about their experiences.
Looking back, I understand why liberal feminism betrays women and betrayed me. Liberal feminism places men and their needs at the center, leaving women in the background; it ceases to be a movement for the advancement of women, turning into a movement for the benefit of individuals.
Liberal feminism practically does not recognize the works of its predecessors. I did not have an answer to another question that worried me: "why is everything as it is?" The answers were available all this time and were waiting to be read. So much remains after our feminist predecessors, but instead of being studied, their works are ignored and not considered. Reading "" by Gerda Lerner, I learned more than in all the time that I was a liberal feminist.
Liberal feminism generally does not recognize the existence of a system of oppression and does not view women as a class. Each person exists in his own separate, unique bubble and cannot unite with others on any group basis, cannot be considered in a historical context. The focus is always on differences, not on our common female experience in a society that considers women to be inferior to men.
Liberal feminism never talks about who benefits from the system. Male privilege is just something that men have to check; but no one says that male privilege is associated with the subordination of women. Nobody says that everyone cannot become equal to men. There cannot be a class analogous to the class of men without the labor and support of the subordinate class, which is now women.
Liberal feminism does not recognize that choices are not made in a vacuum. We must do the best we can in the world we live in today, but that does not mean that every choice is good. Women are constantly choosing the lesser of evils, and often we do not want to be proud of it. In many cases, if we had another option, we would have chosen it. Liberal feminism is unable to view our choices in a broader context, so while it is great for the individual in the short term, it cannot change the system as a whole. Liberal feminism betrays the most vulnerable, needy women for an individual agency.
And most importantly, liberal feminism betrays women because it keeps us silent. We cannot talk about our bodies and our experiences. Instead, we must reckon with others, especially men.
There was a time when I almost lost my faith in feminism. Once I said, "Enough!" - and removed all pages and blogs from bookmarks. But that was not the end. Now I am surrounded by educated women who are a source of knowledge and experience. They sometimes confuse me with the depth of their understanding. But I feel inspired. I am no longer a lonely woman in a world of meaningless rules.
I am exploring ways to experience the world that offer a broader explanation. I woke up and I have a lot to read.
My feminism will never shut up women.
Embed code for a website or blog.
