8.++Feminist+Theories

=**Feminist Theory:**= According to Merriam Webster, Feminist Theory is "the theory of political, social, and economic equality of the sexes; and an organized activity on the behalf of women's rights and interests'. This section contains a variety of thoughts, perspectives, and applications on feminism."



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[|Feminism Quotes] [|Feminism Authors]

**Intersectional Feminism**
Intersectional Feminism was coined by Kimberle Crenshaw. According to her 1993 article "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color," intersectionality looks at "the various ways in which race and gender intersect in shaping structural, political, and representational aspects of violence against women of color" (1244). Crenshaw explores how Women of Color often have their struggles ignored by traditional feminist movements (who refuse to see the racism in their communities) and antiracist movements (who refuse to acknowledge the sexism in their communities). Crenshaw's article focuses specifically on how ignoring the intersections of gender and race harm women who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and the availability of help offered to these women.

In an article she wrote for the Washington Post in 2015 entitled "Why Intersectionality Can't Wait" Crenshaw mentioned that " Intersectional erasures are not exclusive to black women. People of color within LGBTQ movements; girls of color in the fight against the school-to-prison pipeline; women within immigration movements; trans women within feminist movements; and people with disabilities fighting police abuse — all face vulnerabilities that reflect the intersections of racism, sexism, class oppression, transphobia, able-ism and more. Intersectionality has given many advocates a way to frame their circumstances and to fight for their visibility and inclusion."

[|Intersectional Feminism Storify] [|How do Intersectional Feminism and Terrorism relate?]

Gender Performativity
Gender performativity states that gender is not a fixed identity but rather one that exists through the repetition of acts through time. In other words, gender is performed. It is not an intrinsic aspect of identity. Gender is historical, not natural. “Gender is a kind of imitation for which there is no original” (Butler, 2008, p.172). Gender is memetic.

Judith Butler, a scholar on gender performativity, suggests that gender is transformed through breaking the cycle of acts that constitute a gender, and that this new performance of gender can either be sanctioned by society or can be an act of taboo. She gives the example of a transvestite. On stage, a transvestite may receive applause and approbation, but on the bus seat next to someone that same transvestite may be received with fear, rage, or even violence. That transvestite’s gender, however “is as fully real as anyone whose performance complies with social expectations” (Butler, 1998, p. 7)

Judith Butler’s essay //Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory// seeks to portray gender not as a static identity that one is born with, but rather “gender identity is a performative accomplishment compelled by social sanction and taboo.” Butler engages theatrical, anthropological and philosophical discourses in making this argument, but states that she is firmly rooted in the phenomenological tradition.

By moving gender from model of identity to a performance, Butler also proposes that this view of gender offers the “possibility of contesting its reified status. She begins by pointing out that philosophers don’t really think about acting in a theatrical sense, but she acknowledges that philosophers do engage a discourse of “acts.” She points to John Searle’s “speech acts,” “action theory,” (a branch of moral philosophy), and the phenomenological theory of “acts” that tries to explicate how people constitute their social realities through symbolic sign.

The first section of the essay delves into feminist and phenomenological views:
 * Basically, this is where they distinguish sex from gender and reject the notion that women’s physiological or biological selves determine their social experiences.
 * She draws from scholars who have argued that being a woman or gender period is a “historical fact” rather than a biological or natural fact.
 * Butler goes on to talk about “doing” one’s gender or reproducing one’s gender. This involves a set of strategies
 * Sartre would have called it a “style”
 * Foucault would have called it “a stylistics of existence”
 * Butler calls it a “corporeal style” an act which is both intentional and performative
 * So, in other words, according to Judith Butler, becoming a woman is to compel the body to act in accordance with the historical idea of what a woman is or to induce the body to become a cultural sign and to basically do it over and over again. She calls is a sustained and repeated corporeal project.
 * Performing one’s gender correctly is a what Butler calls a “strategy of survival.” It has consequences and performing one’s gender incorrectly or rejecting what has historically constituted one’s gender also have consequences.
 * Those who fail to “do” their gender are regularly punished. This is because these performative acts of gender are what humanize people in contemporary culture.
 * Butler reminds us that because gender is socially constructed and there is no factual or objective notion of gender, without these acts there would be no gender at all.

The second section of her essay: //Binary genders and the heterosexual contract//
 * Butler goes on to talk about how the idea of natural heterosexual attraction is reproduced over time in a given culture.
 * She points to Foucault and other theorists who point to this idea of heterosexual attraction as an unnatural web of cultural constructs that serve the interest of human reproduction.
 * This overwhelming cultural emphasis is what identities alternative or “unnatural” sexual attraction as taboo.
 * In other words: this compulsory heterosexuality is reproduced through bodies that look and act in heterosexual ways.

Butler goes on to talk about the punishment that people receive for not acting out heteronormative gender roles. She offers the example of a transvestite on a public bus. Because she’s been making her argument using the theatre/acting analogy, she makes a point to say that when in a theater or dramatic setting, the idea of transvestite might be embraced or applauded because there is a clear distinction between the real and the fictional or theatrical. However, when the transvestite is sitting beside you on the public bus, the line between theatrical/dramatic and reality suddenly evaporates. This is when people experience rage, fear, or violence. Butler attributes this to the fact that their gender or sexuality cannot easily assimilate with the pre-constructed gender identities embraced by society.

Punishment doesn’t have to be as extreme as violence against a transvestite on a public bus. It can be the labeling of a woman as a “bitch” or “slut” if she acts in ways that are not in accordance with popular ideas of how a woman should behave or regulate her body. A man who doesn’t regulate his own body along discrete gender lines may be referred to as a “sissy” or “girly man.”

In her closing, Butler makes a point to say that her theory of gender performativity should not be viewed as an all-encompassing theory about what gender is; rather she sees it as being used within various political strategies because, in feminism, the personal is political. She goes on to say that she isn’t trying to re-describe the world from a woman’s point of view because she doesn’t know what that view is and she isn’t in a position to espouse that view.

An issue with this conception of gender arises with feminisms because it suggests that gender cannot be essentialized. Gender, under the a priori assumption that it is primarily a political tool, would similarly regard feminism as a political tool so as to benefit from subverting hegemonic structures throughout society. If women (or, specifically, feminists) suggested that they do not exist – that is, that their identity is performed socially – then they would have difficulty in achieving the societal transformations they seek. For political purposes, gender is constituted as a quasi-fixed identity.

Her ultimate goal with the theory of gender performativity is that sexual differences become a gendered reification, which preserves a binary restriction on gender identity and an implicitly heterosexual framework for the description of gender, gender identity, and sexuality.

Gender is performed in several - if not all - aspects of society. One area that is particularly interesting is the gendered expression of identity through the creative media of music and art. These performances continue to fall into the binary categories of being either socially sanctioned or taboo acts.

Here is a playlist of music that incorporates this idea of gendered performitivity: [|Spotify Playlist]



**Examples of "Performing Gender"**
[|Holiday Card #1] Holiday Card #2 Notice in this performance that the "men" are still wearing male underwear. Men dressing up as women and women dressing up as men have completely different experiences. In this graphic, it is still important to show that these are men performing a female identity rather than becoming acting as a female identity for the sake of humor. In the second video, the men do not have to perform a gender or contest one.

And this one is a gift just for Dr. Scott.... Holiday Card #3

**Is Gender Performitivity Really So Wrong?**
As a man I have heard it all before when I was a kid. Boys don't play with dolls it isn't what men //do.// But I am here now to ask... Is it so wrong for a child to be curious about something that he has been deemed to not be able to play with? It is just like any other thing in this world that we are denied access to. We want that thing so much more just because we know that we aren't allowed to have it. Now why are we telling our children that they aren't allowed to have a doll? Is it going to contaminant them in any way? No. We are just conditioned as a society that that is not what men do. Men don't play with things that are supposed to be for men. I am here to say that I don't care what kind of toy my son or daughter for that matter plays with. If my child is happy and healthy then that is what I should be most considered with.

Feminist Anthem Hitlist
In the spirit of performance...

Picture this; it's 8:00 on a Saturday night and you and your girls are taking part in the exhaustive ritual titled "getting ready". This involves primping, prepping, confining the body to the smallest excuse for a dress paired with the most uncomfortable shoes your closet can offer. The next thing you know it is photo shoot time posing in the most slimming angles. Then, it is 9:00 and half of the group is starting to slow down chugging black coffee and taking Excedrin for migrain...eating is not an option given the lack of wiggle room in your outfit. So what do you do?

Get your dance on and BLAST this Feminist Anthem Hitlist for the Millennial Generation:

1.Fiona Apple- //"Fast as you can"// (1999) Feature Lyric: My pretty mouth will frame the phrases that will disprove your faith in man.

2. Miranda Lambert- "//Gun Powder and Lead"// (2007) Feature Lyric: I'm going home, gonna load my shotgun and light a cigarette... 3.No Doubt- "//Just a Girl"// (1995) Feature Lyric: Take a good look at me, just your typical prototype.

4. Marina and the Diamonds- //"I am not a ROBOT"// (2010) Feature Lyric: Can you turn my power on.

5.Sleeper Agent- //"Get it Daddy"// (2011) Feature Lyric: " pluck my brows just to look the part.

6. TLC- //"No Scrubs"// (1992) Feature Lyric: If you live at home with your mama...I'm talkin' to you! 7. Destiny's Child- //"Independent Women Part I"// (2001) Feature Lyric: Call you on my cell when I'm lonely...when it's over please get up and leave.

8. Xtina - " //Fighter"// (2002) Feature Lyric: " Thanks for making me a fighter"

9. Alanis Morissette- " You ought know" (1995) Feature Lyric: ..and are you thinking of me when you XXXX her?

10. Regina Spektor- "//Rowboats"// (2012) Feature Lyric: In class coffins, they keep coughing, and they forget how to sing.

Gaga- //" Born this Way"// (2011) Feature Lyric: Hold your head up girl and you'll go far.

Bonus Tracks (because who said having a vagina is a requirement to be a feminist) Webbie- //"I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T"// (2008) Feature Lyric: Two jobs, work hard, you a BAD bra

And for the all of us Cyborgs ... Nicki Minaj Ft. Slim Shady- "//Roman's Revenge"// Feature Lyric: I'm starting to feel like a dungeon dragon RAH RAAHHHHHH [|Listen!]

Two songs for discussion
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Feminism in Disney
media type="youtube" key="S5pM1fW6hNs" height="315" width="560"media type="youtube" key="Fk8qYEsRG-0" height="315" width="560" This is more sexism but I thought it was a good video of the things women are fighting against. As a feminist this is not the representation we want little girls to see. Many children start to form their concepts of gender through movies in their early years.

**Gender Roles in 'My Sassy Girl'**
My Sassy Girl is South Korean movie in 2001 which tells a love story about how a man accidentally helped a drunk girl and later fell in love with her. The movie was so popular when it first came out and later became a blockbuster in the entire Asian area. Because it was so successful, a remake by American was released in 2008. The movie was so popular among young people in China when it first came out, almost all my friends watched it. The girl in the film was very pretty, but she loved to "torture" her boyfriend. She always acting very violent and aggressive in the relationship. It seems like nowadays, relationship becomes different: men are soft and fragile, while women are powerful and aggressive. It is worth to rethink how relationships work out right now? Is violence in relationship a new trend, and does it make girls even more desirable? So, what do you guys think about it? Does feminism means that girls should hate boys? Here are two version of My Sassy Girl:

**Comparison of Masculine-Feminine Dualities of Heroines in Popular Teen Series**
This article in //The Atlantic// looks at the two heroines of Bella and Katniss in the Twilight and Hunger Games sagas respectively. Bella as the anti-feminist who is passive, and is completely reliant upon her boyfriend(s) for her well-being and self-esteem is considered a step backwards in for second-wave feminists. On the other hand, Katniss is hailed as "the ideal second-wave feminist daughter; smart, fierce, independent, and sexually restrained". Katniss is independent, able to provide for her family before the games, does not obsess over boys and survives the games without Peeta's help, even helping him to survive herself.

Despite this supposed feminist critique, the author perpetuates the masculine-feminine dualism, implying the more masculine heroine to be superior. Whereas Bella is the embodiment of the feminine as passive, helpless, and defines herself by the romance she enters into, Katniss is the embodiment of the masculine as self-sufficient, athletic and focused. Katniss by all accounts is deemed the "better" heroine, mainly on the grounds of her "masculine" traits. Rather than breaking this dualism, the author instead maintains hegemony by asserting masculinity as superior.

The end of the article poses an interesting analysis of the final fate of the characters. In the end of both series there appears to be a role reversal between the two heroines. Bella, upon becoming a vampire becomes empowered, self-sufficient and gains the agency to save others. On the contrary, Katniss retires to become a mother and a wife in the pastoral countryside, losing her edginess and focus on survival in a trade for the role of traditional homemaker. The "ideal second-wave daughter" herself eventually folds to cultural standards and expectations.

So, it appears that neither of the heroines are exactly a purely feminist role-model, but Katniss is an improvement from Bella in the right direction. Until then, we just have to hope the next addictive teen series will break the mold, but we shouldn't hold our breath.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/11/twilight-vs-hunger-games-why-do-so-many-grown-ups-hate-bella/248439/

**A lot of "firsts" in the Military**
Many of you know that my research includes looking closely at the military culture so I wanted to see the role women play as active duty members in the military. I made a timeline that highlights the history of women in the military. It is interesting to see how the roles have changed throughout the years. What originally spawned this idea to make a timeline came from the following article titled, [|Pentagon Allows Women Closer to Combat, but Not Close Enough for Some]. This article, recently published, discusses the role of women in combat. And as you look at the timeline, dating back to 1775, women have come such a long way towards equality. Fast-forwarding from 1775 to something fairly recent back in my 'hometown', Beavercreek Ohio, one of our own, Air Force Lt. Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger was promoted to four-star general on March 26th, making her the[| First Female Four-star general in Air Force history].

[|History of Woman in the Military] This timeline gives a visual of where women started in the military and where they have come today. As I was doing the research behind some of these dates I found it interesting that the dates between the 1950s and 1960s incorporated the introduction of Men as nurses. Inequality was not only found among women but men too.


 * Special Note: As of February 2012 Women are excluded from more than 200,000 positions within the U.S. military, but the Defense Department is now easing some of its policies. The following are some of the positions restricted//:// Army: Infantry, armor, special forces, combat engineer companies, ground surveillance radar platoons, and air defense artillery batteries. Air Force: Pararescue, combat controllers and those units and positions that routinely collocate with direct ground combat units. Navy: Submarines, coastal patrol boats, mine warfare ships, SEAL (special forces) units, joint communications units that collocate with SEALs, and support positions (such as medical, chaplain, etc.) collocated with Marine Corps units that are closed to women. Marine Corps: Infantry regiments and below, artillery battalions and below, all armored units, combat engineer battalions, reconnaissance units, riverine assault craft units, low altitude air defense units, and fleet anti-terrorism security teams. Coast Guard: None.

Colbert's take on Contraception, Rush Limbaugh, and Prostitutes
media type="custom" key="14478694" Recent debates over free insurance coverage of contraceptives have created sizable chasms between right and left-leaning political pundits over the past several weeks. Most notably, Rush Limbaugh recently attacked a Georgetown law student (Sandra Fluke) for testifying before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee advocating affordable contraception for all women. Limbaugh went so far as to call Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" among other slurs. Comedian Stephen Colbert took exception to Limbaugh's comments (and the debate in general).

I was particularly interested in this example because of the restrictive political, bureaucratic, and cultural rhetoric around this debate. Specifically, it was shocking to see how much //men// participated in - at times even dominated - the conversation. The panel that presented before Ms. Fluke consisted of five men. Limbaugh demonized Fluke for being a slut for taking women's reproductive health seriously. From a feminist standpoint, the implications of this debate are obviously huge. Are women oppressed such to the extent that they are now unqualified to advocate for their own bodies? Men in political office are now more equipped to decide the reproductive rights of women? To me, this debate is a regression to 1950s-esque masculine hegemony: sex was taboo for women then, and now. How, then, is femininity manifested in this scenario?