From suffragger to radfem: Key areas of feminism
Alexandra Savina
feminist ideology changed and expanded throughout its existence: within its framework, a variety of trends, both famous and little-known. The first wave of feminism came in the middle of the XIX - early XX century: it was aimed at fighting for the electoral and other rights of women, for their emancipation. In the late 1960s - 1970s, a second wave of the feminist movement emerged - the fight against gender discrimination, affecting issues of family, reproductive rights, sexual, political and economic relations. The third wave of feminism arose in the 1990s and, according to some researchers, continues to continue: in addition to issues of equality, it also raises problems related to race, class, sexual orientation and gender identity.
Often, feminist movements, such as ecofeminism, raise questions from other areas as well. We talk about the various trends and movements of feminism, as well as their goals.
Anti-racist feminism
Although the feminist movement seeks to speak for all women, it is often accused of ignoring minority issues. The anti-racist feminism movement emphasizes the idea that feminism should not be limited to the struggle for the rights of white middle-class women and should pay attention to the problem of oppression of women of different races. Anti-racist feminism includes the fight against sexism, racism and class oppression.
Writer and poet Alice Walker first used the term "womanism" - an alternative to the term "feminism", which also includes the protection of women of different races and backgrounds.
Intersectional feminism
Intersectional feminism has arisen as a result of the struggle of representatives of various minorities (LGBT community, people with disabilities and people of different races) for their rights. The name of this feminist sociological theory was given by Professor Kimberley Crenshaw in 1989, although the concept itself certainly existed before. Representatives of intersectional feminism say that there is no single and universal women's experience, and the struggle for the rights of women is inseparable from the struggle for the rights of members of the LGBT community and the fight against racism and the truth.
Cultural Feminism
Cultural feminism is a direction within radical feminism, whose supporters say that women, due to their nature or special feminine historical experience, have special feminine (feminine) qualities that, in turn, are opposite to masculine (masculine) qualities. Women's qualities are the relationship with other people (both biological - through pregnancy and moral), empathy, unity - all these qualities contribute to the formation of the idea of "sisterhood".
Theorists of cultural feminism assess differently how cohesion with other people affects the lives of women: some believe that the ability to become pregnant and childbearing caused women to be oppressed, others believe that this ability helped shape a particular female culture as rich as politics or science. But they all agree that in a world free from patriarchy, all people can freely take care of each other.
Liberal Feminism
Liberal feminism has arisen before other directions of feminism; historically it is associated with the suffragistic movement. Its goal is to provide women with equal rights and opportunities with men: to enable them to get an education, have paid work and participate in political life on an equal basis with men, to ensure that their role in society is not limited to the role of housewife and wife. Liberal feminism considers legislative reforms that prevent discrimination against women as the main means to achieve this goal.
Now the main methods of liberal feminism are lobbying the interests of women and the development of relevant laws, as well as the creation of crisis centers and support groups aimed at combating specific problems. The ideas of liberal feminism were most prevalent in modern society.
Marxist feminism
The ideology of Marxist feminism is based on the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He views the oppression of women as a particular case of capitalist and class oppression and considers men to be the dominant class that exploits women. The oppression of women, the ideology of Marxist feminism connects with the institutions of private property, and the liberation of women is considered part of the class struggle of the proletariat.
The most important mechanism of male domination is control over female sexuality (“Sexuality for feminism is the same as work for Marxism,” feminist Kathryn McKinnon believes). Russia made a major contribution to the development of the ideology of Marxist feminism, thanks in large part to the work of Alexandra Kollontai. In the 1960s and 1970s, theorists of Marxist feminism raised the important problem of free domestic female labor.
Socialist feminism is close to Marxist feminism. He puts forward the idea of double oppression of women - by the structures of patriarchy and capitalism. The very system of suppressing women in socialist feminism is called the "capitalist patriarchy."
Pop feminism
Pop feminism refers to the penetration of feminist ideas into pop culture and broadcasting them in an accessible way to a wide audience: be it Beyonce, who uses the sample from the TED lecture of Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi "We should all be feminists" in the song, who is good ambassador the will of the UN and the opening feminist book club, or Jennifer Lawrence, who wrote an essay on pay inequality between men and women. Pop feminism raises a wide range of issues and concerns, from gender discrimination to gender identity issues.
Pop feminism is often criticized by feminists, but they also see positive moments in it: it can attract an audience to whom feminist ideas were not at first close.
Postmodern feminism
Postmodern feminism criticizes the binary system "woman" / "man", deconstructs these concepts and seeks to blur the boundaries and abandon the strict gender system for a more complex and multifaceted reality.
For this trend, the work of the American philosopher Judith Butler is very important: it analyzes how gender becomes a cultural sign, ordering the body to behave according to biological sex. She says that society is heteronormative and it refuses to recognize as full-fledged any member of society that does not meet gender norms.
Postcolonial feminism
(postcolonial feminism)
Postcolonial feminism arose in opposition to mainstream western feminist ideas, which mainly protect the rights of white middle-class women. He draws attention to the problems of women living in third world countries, to the experience of women living in postcolonial cultures.
This theory draws parallels between patriarchal and colonial oppression: the experience of women in a patriarchal society is in many ways similar to the experience of people in colonial countries. Women living in colonial countries faced both gender-based oppression and colonial oppression. Postcolonial feminism draws attention to the unique experience and unique problems of women of different races and backgrounds.
Psychoanalytic Feminism
Psychoanalytic feminism argues that equality cannot be established solely through reforms, because inequality is hidden in the deep layers of the human psyche. Psychoanalytic feminism develops the theory of the unconscious and criticizes those parts of it that openly discriminate women — for example, the idea of female penis envy and that women feel inferior. The task of psychoanalytic feminism is the analysis of the patriarchal structures of the unconscious.
Psychoanalytic feminism often appeared not as an independent branch of the feminist movement, but in combination with other areas, especially with the movements of the second wave.
Radical feminism
The key concept for radical feminism is patriarchy - a system of social structures and practices that subjugates and oppresses women, permeating all spheres of human relations. Radical feminists consider patriarchal gender relations to be the cause of the oppression of women. Radical feminism fights patriarchy at various levels, including in the area of sexuality, family relations, and reproductive rights.
Radical feminists are known for their activism. They talk about the necessity of the existence of exclusively female movements and insist that all men are interested in suppressing women and reproduce the mechanisms of patriarchy. At the same time, radical feminism is often criticized for a too generalized view of women, which does not take into account racial and class differences.
Separatist feminism
Separatist feminism is a form of radical feminism that received the greatest development in the 1970s. He promotes the idea of physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual separation from men. Separatist feminists are opposed to heterosexual relations, as well as working and personal relationships with men in principle: they believe that men can not bring any benefit to the feminist movement and only contribute to the establishment of patriarchal relations.
The movement began with the organization "Cell 16", founded by Roxanne Dunbar. The organization's program included celibacy, separation, and self-defense training. Lesbian relationships were never part of the Cell 16 program, but it was she who laid the foundations for lesbian separatism. Separatist communes arise today.
Sexually positive feminism
Sex-positive feminists consider that an important part of their views is that women have the right to control their sexuality and enjoy sex as much as men. They advocate safe and consensual sex, talk about the importance of sex education, and struggle with the slatting. They also oppose stigmatization of sex work and call for sex workers to be primarily individuals whose rights need to be protected.
They are often compared with sex-negative feminists: the latter are opposed to turning sex into a commodity for consumption, they are categorically against prostitution, pornography and using sex to sell goods not related to it.
There is one thing in common between these two opposite at first glance points of view: representatives of both trends oppose sexual violence and exploitation of female sexuality, but choose different methods to solve these problems.
Sufragism
Liberal feminism originated from the ideas of the suffragist movement, which was most prevalent in Great Britain and the USA. Their goal was to achieve legal and political equality between women and men; they demanded to give women electoral rights, and also opposed discrimination against women in the economic and political spheres.
Initially, the suffragistic movement was peaceful (for example, they sent letters to members of parliament and organized committees), but after these actions did not bring the proper result, they had to resort to more brutal methods. They broke windows, threw stones, set fire to post offices and cut telephone wires, and also participated in clashes with the police and went on hunger strike. The main achievement of suffragists is universal suffrage (in the USA it was adopted in 1920, and in Great Britain in 1928).
Transfeminism
Transfeminism is a trend of feminism that fights for the rights of transgender women and raises issues of gender identity, which not all feminist movements are engaged in. Transfeminist movement fights sexism and transphobia and supports other people who do not fit into the binary gender system. Transgender women are subject to intersecting forms of discrimination - transphobia and mis-genesis; this kind of oppression is described by the generic term transmogony. Among radical feminists, the level of transphobia is quite high.
Images: WikiArt (1, 2), Wikimedia