Feminist theory

Merriam-Webster dictionary as “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” In The Scarlet Letter, an American Romantic novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the comparisons of characters reveals his underlying belief that men and women are innately equal. However, he also believes that a feminist revolution is not possible because of society. Hawthorne’s ambiguous views on feminism have spurred critics to write on his views of women and feminist movements. Hawthorne…

The first well documented feminist theorist in the Anglo-American tradition is Mary Wollstonecraft who produced a social theory of the subordination of women in her tract, A Vindication of Rights of Women (1972). Wollstonecraft engendered a political activism that has remained as the core of western feminism. Wollstonecraft examined the society in which she lived, a society in which liberal Individualism was becoming the dominant ideological formation of personhood and social organization. What…

What Does the Term Empowerment Mean? ‘Empowerment’ began with the concept of ‘conscientisation’ coined in 1968, by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian academic. Defined as process to which an oppressed person perceives the structural conditions of oppression. Subsequently, through conscientisation, groups are able to take action upon oppressors. In other words, groups and people become critically aware and awareness turns into action. The term empowerment took its origins from conscientisation in the 70s,…

extensively criticised for making few references to women and to the issue of gender in his work, Foucault’s focus on the relations between power, the body and sexuality have made a significant contribution to a feminist critique of essentialism (Diamond & Quinby, 1988, p. 167). However, contemporary feminist, including Dorothy Smith, are critical of Foucault’s silence and position on women oppression, and the impact of gender relations within the theoretical community (Wijitbusaba, 2005, p.…

From, the book of John Storey, I noticed three concepts of femininity from two ideologies, patriarchal ideology and feminist ideology, that can be used to explain in Thai women’s magazines. First, aesthetic physical beauty and dressing make women believe that they must be physically appealing in order to make more attractive (Storey, 2015). Because beauty and women are…

Contemporary feminist theory has established that gender is a social construct, but Judith Butler takes this a step further and says that if gender is a social construct then sex is too. A quote that says this somewhat clearly is “Gender is the repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly rigid regulatory frame that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance, of a natural sort of being (33).” What I got from this was that famous Judith Butler idea of how…

(2011), liberal feminists believe that women and men should have the same rights. Gender inequality continues to be a problem with girls and women. Laws like the Equal Pay Act and Girls Count Act are put in place to protect and empower women, as well as the Millennium Development Goals. According to the Girls Count Report, girls do not receive a birth certificate, drop out of school, confined to their home, cannot obtain a job, marry, and have children. A liberal feminist will argue that if a…

than Holberg such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote strongly against gender equality. In fact, it is commonly assumed that his writings served to backtrack any form of progressive ideas forming around the different intellectual circles in Europe. In Feminist interpretations of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Lynda Lange argues against Rousseau’s misogynist writings, which belittle women to the point where they explicitly stated that theaters should not be built as morally weak women would go there and tempt…

in order to explore their ideas and opinions on feminism, sexism, and racism. The authors put forth several ideas that are still relevant today, over thirty years after the book was originally published. One concept, created by Cherrie Moraga, is “theory in the flesh.” Moraga wanted to look at women’s real-life experiences, bring these women together to form a powerful group, and actively confront contradictions associated with women of color feminism. Bridge uses this concept by presenting…

3. Thesis Outline Part I of this thesis evaluates Susan Moller Okin's feminist critique of multiculturalism, which provides the basis for the argumentation of this thesis. Her provocative article, “Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?”, is often seen as the starting point of academic debate about the compatibility of women's rights and minority group rights. Nevertheless, this article is reviewed and analysed in Part I along with the rest of Okin’s work concerning the relationship of feminism and…