Introducing Feminism E-Book

Cathia Jenainati

• Herausgeber: Icon Books
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Graphic Guides
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 115

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

The term 'feminism' came into English usage around the 1890s, but women's conscious struggle to resist discrimination and sexist oppression goes much further back. This completely new and updated edition of "Introducing Feminism" surveys the major developments that have affected women's lives from the 17th century to the present day. "Introducing Feminism" is an invaluable reference book for anyone seeking the story of how feminism reconfigured the world for women and men alike.

Leseprobe

Published by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP email: [email protected]

ISBN: 978-184831-782-6

Text copyright © 2007 Cathia Jenainati Illustrations copyright © 2013 Icon Books Ltd

The author and artist have asserted their moral rights.

Originating editor: Richard Appignanesi

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

What is Feminism?

What is Patriarchy?

Biology is Destiny

Logic or Emotion?

Early Modern Feminist Activity

Reinterpreting the Bible

First Political Action

“To the Ladies”

Early Perspectives

The Age of Reason

Social Planners

Competing Perspectives

The Rise of Individualism

First Wave Feminism

Remembering the Ladies

Mary Wollstonecraft

An Unconventional Life

Against Rousseau

Sense and Sensibility

The Divine Right of Husbands

The Grimké Sisters

The “Cult of Domesticity”, 1820–80

Rules of Conduct for Men and Women

Harriet Taylor Mill

Theory and Practice

A Panoply of Servants

“Man” or “Person”?

Caroline Norton

Coverture

The Infant Custody Act

The Matrimonial Causes Act

Catherine Helen Spence

Seneca Falls Convention, New York 1848

A Declaration of Independence

The Advent of the Bloomers

The 1850s in the USA

The International Council of Women

The 1850s in Britain

Barbara Bodichon

Langham Place

Emmeline Pankhurst

The Woman’s Social and Political Union

Militant Suffragettes

Women’s Suffrage in Australia

Suffrage Gains Momentum

Against Suffrage

The First Backlash

Educated but Under-employed

The Lost Sex

Virginia Woolf

A Room of One’s Own

Guineas and Locks

“I have no country …”

Simone de Beauvoir

Existence Precedes Essence

Second Wave Feminism

The Women’s Liberation Movement

The Personal is Political

The Seven Demands of the WLM

Betty Friedan

The Feminine Mystique

Motherhood Before Career?

The Feminist Mystique

C-R and Rap

Varieties of Feminisms

Socialist Feminism

Traditional Marxist Feminism

Radical Feminism

Ecofeminism

Psychoanalytic Feminism

Postfeminism

Protest and Revolt

A Black Miss America

Germaine Greer

Shulamith Firestone

Reproduction, not Production

Consuming for Capitalism

Kate Millet

The Sex/Gender Hierarchy

Misogyny in Literature

Ann Oakley

Subject Women

Gynocriticism

Psychoanalysis and Feminist Thought

“The Reproduction of Mothering”

Mermaids and Minotaurs

Separation from the Mother

Adrienne Rich

Gyn/Ecology

The 1980s

Black Women’s Experience of Feminism

Early Expressions of Black Feminism

A’n’t I a Woman?

Frances Harper

The Combahee River Collective

Gynocentricism and Black Feminism

bell hooks

Alice Walker

Popular Fiction in the 1980s

The Power of Romance

Feminism and Pornography

Feminism and the Body

The Beauty Myth

The Grotesque

Feminism and the Question of Gender

Deconstructive Feminism

Men Back at Centre Stage?

Girl Power

Feminism and the Developing World

The Subaltern

Challenging Rituals

What is Feminism?

Further Reading

About the author and artist

Acknowledgements

Index

What is Feminism?

Any attempt to “introduce feminism” invariably faces numerous challenges. Where to start, who to include, what to leave out and when to stop are all important considerations. This book provides an overview of the development of feminist activism in the Anglo-speaking world. It specifically outlines feminist thought in Britain and the US, although it refers to international contexts where relevant.

The book acknowledges and intends to celebrate the variety of feminist perspectives which have developed throughout women’s history, taking as its premise bell hooks’ famous definition.

FEMINISM IS THE STRUGGLE TO END SEXIST OPPRESSION.

Introducing Feminism traces the historical and social development of this struggle.

What is Patriarchy?

One starting point for thinking about feminist activity is coming to a consensus about what the term “patriarchy” means. A useful definition is provided by Chris Weedon.

“PATRIARCHAL REFERS TO POWER RELATIONS IN WHICH WOMEN’S INTERESTS ARE SUBORDINATED TO THE INTERESTS OF MEN.” “THESE POWER RELATIONS TAKE ON MANY FORMS, FROM THE SEXUAL DIVISION OF LABOUR AND THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF PROCREATION TO THE INTERNALIZED NORMS OF FEMINITY BY WHICH WE LIVE.” “PATRIARCHAL POWER RESTS ON SOCIAL GIVEN TO BIOLOGICAL SEXUAL DIFFERENCE.”

The term “feminism” came into English usage around the 1890s, but women’s conscious struggle to resist discrimination and sexist oppression goes much further back.

Biology is Destiny

As early as the 4th century BC, Aristotle (384–322 BC) declared that “women were women by virtue of a certain lack of qualities”. His predecessor the Greek historian and army general Thucydides (c. 460–400 BC) had some advice for women.

IT IS A GREAT GLORY IN A WOMAN TO SHOW NO MORE WEAKNESS THAN IS NATURAL TO HER SEX, AND NOT BE TALKED OF, EITHER FOR GOOD OR EVIL BY MEN.

Early thinking about the difference between women and men was based on essentialist ideas about gender which maintained that women’s and men’s differences are a result of biology. The belief that biology is destiny suggests that, in comparable situations, men exhibit “masculine” psychological traits such as aggressiveness, rationality and assertiveness, whereas women will exhibit “feminine” traits such as gentleness, intuitiveness and sensitivity. These differences, it was believed, translated into particular patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour specific to each gender.

Logic or Emotion?

Essentialism sees men as able to think logically, abstractly and analytically, while women are mainly emotional, compassionate and nurturing creatures.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO MAINTAIN DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN THE SEXES IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THE NATURAL ORDER.

Essentialist thinking had repercussions on women’s private and public lives. In private, essentialist ideas were translated into rule sof conduct for the woman as wife, mother and daughter. In public, it was believed that women’s participation should be limited and strictly controlled by a masculine representative of authority such as husband, father, the clergy, the law.

Essentialist ideas about women permeated Western thought for centuries and proposed that there is a natural, biologically determined essence of the feminine that is universal and unchangeable.

Feminists have long fought to dispel such myths about gender.

Early Modern Feminist Activity

Early Modern (1550–1700) English society was founded on the rule of the father.

MAN IS THE HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD ... ... JUST AS THE MONARCH IS THE HEAD OF STATE AND JESUS HEAD OF THE CHURCH.

Women had no formal rights and were not represented in the law. Even if some women were able to receive a higher education, they were not allowed to receive the degree for which they studied. In marriage, the woman’s body belonged to her husband, who was also the only legal guardian of the children.

Early Modern feminist activity aimed at challenging the prevalent social view that women are weak and irrational creatures who should be controlled by men. There were a number of political events which supported such efforts, in particular Queen Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne in 1558 and her long and successful reign as a single female.

THEN THERE WAS THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR AND THE INTERREGNUM PERIOD OF 1642–60 AND THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION OF 1688... THESE EVENTS QUESTIONED THE SUPREME POWER OF THE KING AND DEMONSTRATED THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE TO CHALLENGE PATRIARCHAL RULE.

Reinterpreting the Bible

Writing on women’s issues in the late 16th century began to proliferate, with a number of essays challenging the ideal of the female as “chaste, silent and obedient”. In 1589, Jane Anger’sHer Protection for Women reinterpreted Genesis.

IF GOD CREATED MAN FROM DUST, THEN HE MADE WOMAN FROM THE MAN’S BODY ... CONSEQUENTLY WOMEN ARE PURER AND MORE EXCELLENT BEINGS THAN MEN.

Rachel Speght’sA Muzzle for Melastomus (1617) questioned the story of Adam’s fall from the Garden of Eden, taking issue with the underlying assumption that Adam had been seduced by Eve to eat the apple: “If Adam has not approved of that deed which Eve has done, and been willing to tread the steps which she had gone, he being her head would have reproved her.”

The gender of authors such as Jane Anger, Rachel Speght, Esther Sowernam and Sarah Egerton remains debatable. Some critics believe them to be pseudonyms used to engage in literary debates rather than political reform. However, there was clearly concern with, and an active desire to challenge, traditional perceptions of women.

Independent Churchwomen Lawrence Stone, writing about the political and socio-economic status of women in 17th-century England, suggests that even as far back as the Civil War of the 1640s, women played an important role in religious interpretation by participating in independent churches where they were allowed to debate, to vote and even prophesy. These women sought to re-invent their roles by claiming a prominent position in society and religion.

WE WILL NOT BE WIVES AND TIE UP OUR LIVES TO VILLAINOUS SLAVERY.

First Political Action

In 1642, impoverished women working in a variety of trades collectively rebelled and marched into London to petition the Houses of Lords and Commons. They wanted the law to take into account their status of working individuals and to improve the conditions of the working class. Upon seeing them, the Duke of Richmond allegedly ordered (sarcastically) …

AWAY WITH THESE WOMEN, WE WERE BEST HAVE A PARLIAMENT OF WOMEN.

At this point, it is believed that the mob of nearly 400 women attacked him physically and broke his staff of office.

English working women continued to protest whenever political decisions discriminated against them or their class. Although these early efforts cannot be termed “feminist” in the contemporary sense of the word, yet these women’s collective sentiment of injustice and their determination to fight unjust laws testifies to a feminine consciousness which united them.

“To the Ladies”

In 1688, the “Glorious Revolution” saw the rejection of monarchical patriarchy with the overthrow of James II, initiating a fierce wave of publications by literary women such as Aphra Behn (1640–89) and Lady Chudleigh (1656–1710), whose 1703 poem “To the Ladies” expresses the feelings of the era:

Early Perspectives

The Society of Friends In 1652, the Society of Friends was founded in England by Quakers. Quakers do not accept any form of hierarchy between people. They do not take their hat off to anyone, as was demonstrated in the meeting of the prominent Quaker William Penn and the French King Charles II.

I REFUSED TO REMOVE MY HAT AND EXPLAINED TO THE KING THAT QUAKERS UNCOVER THEMSELVES ONLY TO THE LORD.

This belief in social equality was unique for its time, and was translated into a series of original attitudes towards race and gender. Between 1755 and 1776, Quakers became active in fighting the institution of slavery by creating abolition societies to promote emancipation.

Within the family, Quakers did not differentiate between the social roles of men and women. As a result, many female Friends were highly educated and played prominent roles in politics and education. Quaker women would travel unaccompanied, contribute to Church administration and preach to mixed audiences.

Consequently it is believed that in the 19th century “Quaker women comprised 40 per cent of female abolitionists, 19 per cent of feminists born before 1830, and 15 per cent of suffragists born before 1830”. (Mary Maples)

FOR MANY YEARS, WOMEN’S STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL RIGHTS AND FOR FAIR REPRESENTATION IN SOCIETY WAS EQUATED WITH THE ABOLITIONIST CAUSE.

The Age of Reason

During the 18th and 19th centuries, many notable female figures were outspoken about the need to challenge women’s subordinate social position. Their writings express, to a great extent, the legacy of the Age of Enlightenment by insisting that we must use reason as opposed to faith to discover any truth about our existence. Finding things out individually rather than unquestioningly following tradition was the Enlightenment’s practice of free enquiry.

REASON CAN FREE US FROM SUPERSTITION. “FREE ENQUIRY” IS THE SIMPLE PATH TO TRUTH. REASON AND “FREE ENQUIRY” CAN BE CULTIVATED THROUGH EDUCATION. “REASONABLE” FREE ENQUIRY DICTATES THAT WOMEN NEED MORE OPPORTUNITIES.

Social Planners

One consequence of the Enlightenment’s emphasis on the rational is the impulse towards social planning. The social planners believed it to be their duty to plan and order the world around them. The Anglo-American social reformer Frances Wright (1795–1852) attempted to model this belief when she set up her own experimental community, Nashoba, dedicated to ensuring the emancipation of slaves.

I SET UP NASHOBA IN 1824 NEAR MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE. ITS AIM WAS TO PROVIDE EDUCATION FOR SLAVES IN ORDER TO PREPARE THEM FOR EMANCIPATION.

Wright believed that for women as for slaves, more schooling and less churchgoing would ensure independence and guarantee happiness. Several factors contributed to the failure of this ambitious experiment…

SWAMP FEVER NEGATIVE PUBLICITY ... AND ANTAGONISM FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

As a social planner, Wright stands apart from many of her contemporaries for being particularly concerned with the plight of the working class. She advocated abolition, universal education, birth control and equal rights for women.

The ideas of the Enlightenment translated into yet another perspective. Harriet Martineau and John Stuart Mill (see here and here) are two thinkers who put great emphasis on the power of thought and education to release the individual from the ghost of tradition. But they spoke mainly to an elite social audience in spite of their attempts to put their theories into action.

Competing Perspectives

In the Anglo-American tradition, early thinking about women followed broadly two strategies:

The relational perspective proposed a vision of an egalitarian society based on non-hierarchical gender difference with the male-female couple as its basic unit.

IT DEFINED WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN RELATION TO WOMEN’S UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMONWEALTH AND THEIR CHILDBEARING AND NURTURING CAPACITIES. IT EMPHASIZED THE INDIVIDUAL’S NEED FOR PERSONAL FULFILMENT AND AUTONOMY WHILE DOWNPLAYING ALL SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED NOTIONS OF GENDER IDENTITY.

The Rise of Individualism

Social activity and philosophical writing on women was founded on either of these ways of thinking, although many writers often used a combination of both. Between 1890 and 1920, both perspectives seemed complementary. But by 1920, their goals had diverged, reflecting women’s varied needs and experiences.

IN BRITAIN AND THE US, INDIVIDUALIST FEMINISM DOMINATED AS EDUCATED AND FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT SINGLE WOMEN BECAME OUTSPOKEN AND PROMOTED A NON-FAMILY-BASED EXISTENCE. AT THE SAME TIME, MARRIED WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE LABOUR FORCE BECAME A POLITICAL ISSUE, AS DID FALLING BIRTH RATES.

Individualism’s respect for human rights and its dismissive attitude towards sex-linked qualities was the representative way of thinking for the post-Second World War generation of women.