WS 3050   Feminist Theories  Spring 2014 MacKay

Calendar

 Links to information  Topic/s  Readings  Activities

1

  What is feminism? What is theory?
What are the categories of feminist theory and why do we use them?
  •  Tong, Introduction and Conclusion

 

 

Introductions

Discussion:

Jan 9: Tong intro and conclusion

Notes

 

 

 

 

  Liberal Feminism
  • Attempts to reform or use existing political structures to advance women's interests along a civil rights model.
  • Argues that women deserve the same privileges, protections, pay, and opportunities that men do.

Tong, Chapter 1

Mill and Mill

Discussion:

Notes

 Radical Feminism
  • Proceeds from the assumption that the first type of exploitation in human history was sexual exploitation of women
  • Women should be in the control of means of reproduction
  • Radical feminists tend to be skeptical of political action within the current system, and instead support cultural change that undermines patriarchy and associated hierarchical structures

Tong, chapter 2

Daring to be Bad, Radical Feminism in American, 1967-1975 is avaialble from Google Books

Discussion:

Notes

  Marxist/Social Feminism
  • According to Marxist theory,  people's capacities, needs and interests are seen to be determined by the mode of production that characterises the society they inhabit.
  • Marxist feminists see gender inequality as determined ultimately by the capitalist mode of production.
  • Gender oppression is class oppression and women's subordination is seen as a form of class oppression.
  

Tong, Chpt 3

 

Discussion

 

Notes

 Psychoanalytic Feminism
  • gender is not biological but is based on the psycho-sexual development of the individual.
  • gender inequality comes from early childhood experiences, which lead men to believe themselves to be masculine, and women to believe themselves feminine.
  • a social system that is dominated by males, influences the individual psycho-sexual development.
 

Discussion

  • Feb. 25 and 27: Tong ch. 4

  • Mar. 4: primary documents

  • Mar.6: presentations: no class

  • Mar. 18: Psychoanalytic feminism paper due

  • Mar. 20: no class

Notes

Existentialist feminism
  • Women have become the “other” or object of men’s subjectivity. 
  • Primarily due to one’s biology, women’s oppression consists of being denied transcendence and subjectivity.
  • Tong: chapter 5
  • Beauvoir Archive read the introduction and conclusion of Second Sex and the two interviews, 1963 and 1976.
 

Discussion

  • Mar. 18  Tong  ch.5
  • Mar. 25: primary documents
  • Mar. 27: Presentations
  • April 1: Existentialist feminism paper due


Notes		 Postmodern
  • human experience is located "inescapably within language." Power is exercised not only through direct coercion, but also through the way in which language shapes and restricts our reality.
  • because language is always open to re-interpretation, it can also be used to resist this shaping and restriction, and so is a potentially fruitful site of political struggle
  • Sex is not something natural, nor is it something completely determinate and definable.
  • sexual difference  constrains but never completely determines what one can do with it.

 

Discussion

  • April 1: Tong ch.6
  • Mar. 28 Presentations
  • April 2 Postmodern feminism paper due

 

Notes

 Multicultural/Post-colonial Feminisms
  • Multicultural feminism  focuses on the ways in which race, class, and gender intersect in women’s lives and to examine critically representations of women in  American culture .
  • Postcolonial feminism argues that oppressions relating to the colonial experience, particularly racial, class, and ethnic oppressions, have marginalized women in postcolonial societies. They challenge the assumption that gender oppression is the primary force of patriarchy.

Choose one:

 

Discussion

  • Apr. 2 Tong ch.7

  • Apr. 3: primary documents

  • April 8: no class

  • Apr. 10: Presentations

  • Apr. 15 Multicultural feminism paper due

 

Notes

 Eco-feminism

  • the oppression of women and nature as interconnected.

  • Because of the close ties of nature and spirituality, goddess worship and the divine female are often tied to ecofeminism.

  

Discussion

  • April 15: Tong ch.8

  • April 17: presentations

  • April 22: Ecofeminism paper due