Waves of Feminism

Waves of Feminism
3 waves of feminism:
First Wave – In the 1830s, the main issues were abolition of slavery
and women’s rights. 1848 – Women’s Rights Convention held in
Seneca Falls, NY. 1920 – the 19th Amendment guaranteed women
the right to vote.
Second Wave – In the years, 1966-1979, there was heightened
feminist consciousness. The movement was linked to the Civil
Rights movement begun in the late ’50s. Key issues:
antidiscrimination policies and equal privileges.
Third Wave – TBA…What characterizes the third wave?!
(Inclusive, eclectic, beyond thinking in dualities).
Generations…
Baby Boomers born: 1946 – 1960
Generation Xers born: 1961 – 1975
Millennials born: 1976 – 1994
What social, political, economic events and/or trends have shaped
these generations?
How might one’s membership in a particular generational cohort
affect his/her outlook on issues related to gender?
Theoretical Perspectives
Liberal Feminism
Socialization is the origin of gender differences.
The goal: Gender Justice.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) & Harriet Taylor Mill (1807-1858)
Betty Friedan – wrote The Feminine Mystique in 1963.
Critique – some flaws that seem to come from this way of thinking:
1. The claim that women can become like men if they set their minds
to it.
2. The claim that most women want to become like men.
3. The claim that all women should want to become like men, to
aspire to masculine values.
Theoretical Perspectives
Marxist Feminism
Class accounts for women’s status and function in society.
Monogamous marriage is about private property.
The family is a microcosm of society’s larger class relations.
Socialist Feminism
Class and gender intersect.
Both patriarchy and capitalism must be analyzed.
Theoretical Perspectives
Radical Feminism
Male power and privilege are viewed as the bases of social
relations.
The goal: the abolition of male supremacy.
Focus on establishing women-centered beliefs and systems.
Multiracial Feminism
Focus on the intersections of race, class, and gender.
How does the experience of domination shape the life experiences
of people of color?
Importance of human agency – i.e. human beings as active and
creative.
Theoretical Perspectives
Postmodern Feminism
Women as “Other” – notes advantages of ‘otherness’.
“Feminist Standpoint Theory” suggests that the location of the
knower shapes what is known; not all perspectives are
equally valid or complete.
Queer Theory
Sexual identities are viewed as socially constructed.
Focus on how sexual identity is ‘performed’ and meanings
constructed.
Theoretical Perspectives
Cultural Feminism
There are fundamental differences between men and women, and
women’s differences should be celebrated.
There is an attempt to recover lost or marginalized women’s works
and traditions and create a culture that nurtures and supports
women’s experiences.
What is meant by “essentialism”? A belief in the real, true
essence of things. (Sexuality and/or gender is
determined by an individual’s biology or psychology).
Third Wave
Leslie Heywood & Jennifer Drake define “postfeminism” as a
feminism that is primarily defined against and that criticizes 2nd
Wave feminism.
These editors view their book as representing 3rd wave feminism,
characterized by contradiction (see p. 3).
Michelle Sidler – “Living in McJobdom: Third Wave Feminism and
Class Inequity”
* The choice of whether to work or not is no longer an either/or
proposition.
* The cause of oppression is worldwide economic hardship.
* Feminism needs to address academics, the media, and
technology.
Third Wave
Leslie Heywood & Jennifer Drake – “We Learn America Like A
Script”
* Today’s young women have reaped the benefits of previous
generations’ struggles. And yet, they seem to
experience a whole host of negative emotions. Why??
* It is important to work on bridging generations.
Deborah Siegel – “Reading Between the Waves”
* Why many young women today may reject the word,
“feminist.”
* Dialogue between and among people is needed to continue
moving forward.
The Sociological Imagination
The sociological imagination is a way of looking at our personal
experiences in relation to what is going on in the broader social
arena.
personal troubles ------- public issues
The intersection of personal biography and social structure.
Private experiences are rooted in social conditions. EXAMPLES?
Gender Role Socialization
Consider common agents of Gender Role Socialization (e.g., family,
schools, peers, media)
Theories:
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory – The key is the process of
identification (the process by which a person internalizes a set of
behaviors, attitudes, and characteristics exhibited by someone very
close to the individual). Children unconsciously model the behavior
of their parents.
Object Relations Theory – Humans are fundamentally relationshipseeking. We form relationships with people and with things. We
gender-identify with our same-sex parent.
Gender Role Socialization
Social Learning Theory – We imitate same-sex individuals through
observational learning. (Reinforcement is also key).
Cognitive Developmental Theory – Children are motivated to model
the behavior of members of their gender. The child is an active
participant in his own development. Gender becomes an organizing
scheme for the developing child.
Symbolic Interactionism – People act toward things based on the
meaning those things have for them. Gender is created through
social interaction. “Doing gender” refers to seeing gender as an
activity accomplished through routine social interaction.
Gender Role Socialization
A Third Gender?
The “berdache” (i.e., those who have a mix of both genders) are
commonly accepted in many Native American tribes.
Viewed as having a special status, as if blessed by the gods.
Thought to be the “middle gender,” and seen as prophets
and visionaries.
[Consider a gender continuum, separate from biological sex types]
Gender and Culture
Verbal Rituals – do we see differences in language patterns and use
by gender?
e.g.,
“report talk” vs. “rapport talk”
use of “hedges” and “tag questions”
Popular Culture – Those elements of culture that are widely
accessible.
Think about the portrayal of women and men in pop culture.
What messages are relayed?
Gender and Culture
Masculinity Under Siege?
Is there evidence of contempt for men in pop culture?
Is there a double standard? (e.g., political correctness protecting
women, but not men)
Think about the portrayals of both women and men in music,
movies, television, comic strips, greeting cards, etc.
What is the goal with regard to portrayals in pop culture? What
would we like to see? What would seem like “progress”?
Gender and Culture
Media Theories
Cultivation Theory – Television is a homogenizing agent in culture.
Because television is a shared experience of most everyone, it
causes all of us to view the world in a similar fashion.
The Reflection Hypothesis – Reality shapes what we see in the
media.
Role-Learning Theory – Viewers internalize what they see in the
media.
Organizational Theories – Women and people of color are absent
from the power positions where ideas and images are produced.
Cultural Studies – An approach that studies the meanings that
consumers actively construct from popular culture.
Gender and Culture
The Sociology of Knowledge – The social construction of ideas.
What we know is shaped by the socio-historical context in which we
live.
Feminist Role Models
Given your definition of “feminist,” are there any public figures (real
people, or characters in pop culture) who you deem to be icons, role
models?
Reactions to Chapter 6 in Third Wave –
see p. 124  Can you identify contradictions that characterize
feminism (or feminisms) and/or personal
contradictions?
see p. 128  Do you experience your self (or selves) as
fragmented? Implications of this?
see p. 130  Feminine movement and gesture as confined
and restricted. Where is this learned? Implications?
Love
Love is very much a part of our public culture.
The Romantic-Love Ideal – In the U.S., we are socialized
to accept a set of beliefs about love; these beliefs are
known collectively as the Romantic-Love Ideal:
1. True love can strike without prior interaction.
2. For each of us, there is only one other person
who will inspire true love.
3. True love can overcome any obstacle.
4. Our beloved is (nearly) perfect.
5. We should follow our feelings.
Are these beliefs prevalent in popular culture?
Love
French author Luce Irigaray researched the way women
and men speak about and experience love. An
important question to ask is: How can we have loving
relationships that are not about control, power, fear, and
domination? Irigaray attempts to answer this question;
she uses the phrase, “I love to you,” by which she
means:
“I maintain a relation of indirection to you. I do not
subjugate you or consume you. I respect you (as
irreducible). I hail in you: in you I hail. I praise you: in
you I praise. I give you thanks: to you I give thanks
for…I bless you. For…I speak to you, not just about
something; rather I speak to you.”
Love
“I am listening to you is to listen to your words as
something unique, irreducible, especially to my own, as
something new, as yet unknown. It is to understand and
hear them as the manifestation of an intention, of human
and spiritual development…I am listening to you as
someone and something I do not know yet, on the basis
of a freedom and an openness put aside for the moment.
I am listening to you: I encourage something
unexpected to emerge, some becoming, some growth,
some new dawn, perhaps” (Luce Irigaray, 1996).
Dimensions of Human Bonding
Ruthellen Josselson notes that, after the umbilical cord is cut, we
are alone, separate. Relationship becomes the only means of
overcoming the space between us. That “between” space becomes
extremely important – how do we relate to and with others?
8 Dimensions of Human Bonding:
1. Holding – The sensation of strong arms grounding, keeping one
from falling.
2. Attachment – An active process of clinging to someone (either
actually or symbolically) in order to reduce our anxiety.
3. Passionate Experience – Human connection is, at its root,
“passionate.”
4. Eye-to-Eye Validation – Refers to the recognition that we have
meaning to others.
Dimensions of Human Bonding
5. Idealization and Identification – Idealization is an internal process
that draws us toward others in an effort to possess them or
their qualities. It is a response to our own vulnerability and
lack of knowledge.
Identification is another avenue to possession of idealized
others. We can “own” our admired and valued others by
becoming like them.
“Counteridentification” is the wish not to become like someone.
6. Mutuality – Pure form of communion with another person.
Exists on a continuum from simple companionship to an
intermingling of souls.
Dimensions of Human Bonding
7. Embeddedness – This is the framework that gives shape to
selfhood, the context in which we define ourselves, the
togetherness in which we are alone. Without embeddedness,
we are socially isolated. But, too much embeddedness can
result in blind conformity.
8. Tending and Care – We tend not only by taking care of someone,
but by taking on their cares, worrying with them, intervening for
them. This requires empathy.
We can care too much or too little – there are consequences
for each extreme.
Sports
American Ideology of Sports – Belief that athletic competition
can do wonders for our health and character.
Functionalist Perspective on Sports – Sports serve at least two
major functions:
1. Integrating force for society.
2. Learn to compete.
Conflict Perspective on Sports –
* Harmful for the masses; maintains status quo.
* Sports has become big business.
* Female athletes are less celebrated than male athletes.
* Sports are seen as a masculine endeavor.
Family
Think of phrases like: “home is where the heart is,”
“home sweet home,” “a man’s home is his castle”
Such connotations of home originated in the 19th
Century
(cult of domesticity – Victorian ideal that made women
responsible for the moral and everyday affairs of the
home.)
Do these images of home prevail today? What
meaning(s) does “home” have? What meaning(s) does
“family” have?
Family
Consider the nature of child-care activities -* What is involved in caring for children? ( A LOT!)
* “helping” vs. sharing (which parent has the primary
parental responsibilities, and how are they defined?)
Effect of work on marriage and family:
the second shift
children learn less stereotypic gender expectations
Family
Family Violence
spouse abuse – cycle of violence: tension building
stage, acute battering stage, honeymoon
stage (Why might women remain in abusive
relationships?)
child abuse (e.g., sexual abuse, physical abuse,
neglect)
“Masculinity without Men: Women Reconciling Feminism and MaleIdentification,” by Anna Marie Cox, Freya Johnson, Annalee Newitz,
and Jillian Sandell
What is “male identification” and why might women pursue it?
How is the concept “doing gender” relevant in this article?
Arlie Hochschild – The Managed Heart
“feeling rules” – Prescriptions for how we ought to feel in given
situations.
“emotion work” – The attempt to change, in degree or quality,
a feeling.
In our service-based economy, many jobs require a great deal of
emotion work. Implications??
The Time Bind
Hochschild researched men and women in dual-career families
and found that life for most people centers more and more on work.
Also, workers don’t necessarily take advantage of “family-friendly”
policies.
How should “work” be defined?
That which we do for pay?
(But …what about housework, volunteering, mothering,
fathering, caring for the elderly…?)
Elder Care
Assistance to persons age 65 or older with functional
impairments, provided through informal and/or formal
arrangements by family, friends, and service providers.
(More typically, elder care refers to unpaid, informal care
performed by family members).
Elder care as women’s work?
Elder care has traditionally been viewed as a women’s issue.
72.5% of all informal caregivers are women (the average age
of caregivers is 47)
Daughters are three times more likely to share a home with
an elder parent than are sons.
Effects of providing elder care
The caregiver’s emotional, physical, and financial well-being
may be adversely affected.
Positive effects include increased feelings of self-worth and
life satisfaction.
Employed caregivers can be disadvantaged.
Costs of elder care
A 1998 study revealed that caregiver absenteeism and lost
productivity related to their absence cost employers
$33 billion a year.
Of those caregivers who quit full- and part-time jobs, the
average loss of annual income is $20,400.
The care provided by informal, unpaid caregivers in the U.S.
was worth $196 billion in 1997, based on the number of hours
worked and an average of the minimum wage and home care
wages.
Policy Recommendations?
Provide incentives for employers to provide resources to
support employees who take care of elderly relatives.
Expand the dependent care tax credit to include elder care.
Increase scholarships and training for professional caregivers
to improve the quality of care, help raise the value society
places on caregiving as a profession, and to raise wages for
elder care workers.
Other??
How does the definition
of work differ by
social class?
(Consider the nature of the work
tasks, the public perception or
prestige, the potential health
risks, etc.)
Gender and Drinking -- What role does gender play in the
drinking patterns of college men and women?
The research: among college students and young adults, males
drink more and more often.
The Andersen text states that, for men, norms of masculinity
permeate the drinking culture on campus.
Questions to consider:
*What is the relationship between drinking and masculinity? If/when
women drink, are they perceived as “masculine”?
*To what extent are women excluded from men’s drinking rituals?
*Do the traditional notions of women as guardians of morality affect
their drinking behaviors?
New Reproductive Technologies
Liberating possibilities?
Breathing new life into the eugenics movement?
(Consider moral and ethical dimensions)
Deviance – Behavior that departs from conventional
norms.
Causes of women’s crime:
1. Particular types of crime as extensions of gender roles (e.g.,
shoplifting -- females have more opportunity to shoplift because of
their role as consumers).
2. For both men and women who are under-employed,
criminal activity may become a means of supporting themselves and
their families.
3. Engagement in deviant and criminal activity may be a
strategy for coping with oppression (it may almost be felt as
normative).
4. Women may be coerced into crime by their male partners.
Women as victims of crime
Explanations/theories of rape:
1. Psychological theories
2. The social organization of rape (consider common rape
myths: rape is impossible; rape is perpetrated by a
stranger; rape is victim-precipitated).
3. Gender socialization – consider how males and females
are socialized. Rape as expressed through traditional
gender roles of male domination and female
subordination.
Exemplary responses to essays:
26. A policy that would be beneficial to employees providing elder care to their
relatives could be likened to the mandatory time off (with pay) that is given
for new parents. Implementing a certain amount of time that could be set
aside for caring for elders would make life less stressful for employees. The
employees could be given a certain number of pay days equated with elder
care that may be used at one time or maybe could be split up, for
unexpected situations. Maybe they could implement some policy like this
that ensures a better understanding and concern for home life/out-of-work
situations, therefore alleviating some of the stress that comes with elder
care. They could also try to accommodate by allowing out-of-home options
for working, if possible, for an allotted period of time.
27. One occupation where a great deal of emotion work is required is flight
attendants. One company’s catch phrase says exactly what they should act
like, ‘come fly the friendly skies.’ They are expected to be polite, friendly,
and accommodating regardless of how they really feel or what the situation
is. One implication this has is that people in these positions may not be able
to express their emotions and keep them inside, which could be destructive
for the individual. Another implication is that the individual may then release
their frustrations at home and blow up at a family member. This is important
to consider because the effects that a high amount of emotion work may
produce extends beyond the individual. As described previously, it can have
an effect on the family as well as beyond that. It may lead to burn-out and
lower employee retention rates which can have an effect on the economy. It
is also important for society to realize the effect these jobs have on people
and maybe help us all be more understanding if someone does not act
according to what we expect. As the term describes it really is work.
28. Male identification includes females identifying with males, females that
reject the feminine identity and the socially constructed feminine ‘ideals’.
Some women pursue it because they feel that men are powerful and they
want to be on the same ‘playing field’ as men so to speak. They want to be
able to play power games. A woman, in the 3rd Wave book did the ‘feminine’
thing by wearing skirts and low cut blouses but was harassed by a male
grad student and from then on wore short hair, piercings and big baggy
clothes. One woman decided to become a feminist and male-identified
because of a movie she saw in grad school that portrayed women only in
certain ways (as angels or prostitutes). She didn’t want to fit into that
stereotypical femininity role. This answers the question that yes, one can be
a feminist and male-identified. These women, by being male identified are
not fitting into typical ‘feminine’ roles. By being ‘one of the boys’ they are
rejecting the social construction of femininity and standing up for
themselves, being independent, and not letting society’s ideal of a woman
guide their lives (This is being feminist).
29. Analyzing family from a feminist perspective means to look at the concept
of family in terms of a socio-cultural perspective, not of traditional malecentered ideas. According to the old ideas of ideal family, women are a
moral representation of the family and are always connected to the inside of
the household. However, feminists address different ideas; one of them is
that ‘males and females experience the house differently.’ This idea
suggests that wives might not be satisfied with the current family situation
even if the husbands are fully satisfied, so the old idea that husband and
wife share feeling doesn’t necessarily hold true. The other idea is that ‘each
family member may or may not establish the strongest emotional
connection outside of the household.’ The old ideal perspective assumes
that a household is always the center of emotions or feelings of all family
members, but this is not necessarily true. Consequently, old perspectives
still can fit today’s families, but it doesn’t always reflect the contemporary
situations because of the widely varied family style and social context.
Religion
Describe your religious backgrounds. What did your religion teach
you about women’s roles? How have these ideas influenced the way
you think of women, yourself, religion? (Any reactions to Pastor
Linda Quanstrom’s presentation?)
Contemporary Women’s Spirituality Movements
goddess-based traditions
experience-based theology
story-telling
prayer, ritual, meditation
direct experience of the divine
Religion
The role of the Church in African American communities
The Church has performed many functions besides religious
ones:
providing leadership in the fight against racism and
discrimination
providing child daycare services, emergency food,
and emergency financial assistance
Women, Power, and Politics
The phenomenon of the public wife – i.e., the wife of a
public official
The wife has long been a crucial component of a leader’s
self-presentation:
*symbolic of family (which legitimates the husband’s
leadership)
*“Mrs. Morality” (e.g., does volunteer work, helps kids)
*loyal (gracefully accepts being part of the backdrop)
*wears the right clothes and behaves appropriately
WHAT ABOUT WOMEN WHO ARE THE PUBLIC OFFICIAL
THEMSELVES? DO HUSBANDS PLAY THIS KIND OF ROLE FOR
THEM?
Women, Power, and Politics
Why are there so few women elected officials?
*Prejudice has taught people to think that women are not well
suited to politics.
*There aren’t many role models.
*Being an incumbent is a big advantage. (Most of these
positions are held by men).
Women, Power, and Politics
Currently, of the 435 members
of the House of
Representatives, 68 are
women. And 14 senators are
female. Nine states have
female governors.
Here is Michigan’s governor,
Jennifer Granholm. [She was
asked to throw the opening
pitch for the Detroit Tigers
(April 2005), but insisted that
disability policy advisor Pat
Cannon do it, given his
dedication to the team (having
attended some 500 Tigers’
games since 1955) ].
Women, Power, and Politics
Re-Thinking the Political
The political is not only that which occurs in the formal, public
sphere. Consider, also: community activism, grassroots activism,
social justice work done through churches, etc.
Gender and Education
PERCENTAGE OF DOCTORATE DEGREES EARNED BY
WOMEN IN SELECTED DISCIPLINES
Year
Soc Econ
1970-74 23.1 6.1
Poli Sci
11.9
Psych
27.3
Physical Sciences
6.5
Biological Sci
18.5
1980-84
40.2 13.7
21.6
45.9
13.0
30.0
1990-94
49.5 21.6
28.5
60.5
20.1
39.1
2000
59.2 27.1
37.1
66.7
24.5
44.8
Source: ASA
Gender and Education
Social Cliques
What impact do social cliques have on both boys and girls
in school?
The “miseducation of boys”
What does this mean? (e.g., boys being labeled as troublemakers, boys expected to be athletes, mixed messages for
boys?)
Revisit the issue of challenges faced by boys and
men – e.g., masculinity under attack?