Marxism and Socialist Feminism

In chapter 3 of Tong’s book, there is a discussion about what Marxism is and how it regards to feminism.  Marxism regards classism rather than sexism as a fundamental cause of women’s oppression.  However, socialist feminists are not certain that classism is a women’s worst or only enemy.  Social feminists believe that patrilineal roles play a major role in women’s oppression and without it; women would be able to experience themselves as a whole.  Marxism has a belief that “Men and women, through production collectively, create a society that, in turn, shapes them.”  I agree with this statement because men and women make a name for themselves in society without the help of anyone else.  However, I disagree because from the beginning women have been given an unfair advantage in regards to shaping themselves because they are constantly being defined by something else.  Both Marxism and Socialist Feminism claim that social existence determines consciousness.  This means that women are constantly being reminded of what they should be and how they should be.  This creates a negative self-conscious of themselves.  I agree that women should be viewed as a collective whole rather than fragmented beings.  This is difficult to instill in a women because we are constantly being pounded down by society.  This creates a feeling of alienation within a woman that makes them feel unaccepted and unappreciated.  The gender gap in the United States is terrible and hits close to home with me.   My mother pounds the pavement with her career and will stop to no end to get what she wants.  My mother now holds the position as the first female to ever be Frederick County manager of finance.  This is an amazing promotion for my mother because she makes twice as much as her male colleagues do.  I love the fact that I know a woman who has embraced the gender gap and didn’t let it defeat her.  

Third Wave Feminism- Inclusion or Confusion?

Chapter 8 in Tong’s book on postmodern feminism was very interesting.  The book said that postmodern feminists reject phallocentric thought and it also rejects any mode of feminist thought that aims to provide a single explanation for why women are oppressed or all the steps women must take to achieve liberation.  I thought the section on symbolic order was very interesting because it gives women an avenue to change language and develop feminine writing to change the way Western society speaks and thinks about women.  This will allow for women to have a voice and to speak out against issues that they feel strongly about.  Cosmetic surgery was brought up in the context of begin obedient to certain discourses that women are placed upon.  Cosmetic surgery is definitely a patriarchal construct because it is an institution that forces women into unnecessary extreme beauty practices.  I agree with this statement because there is not one logical reason for women to have these surgeries because it leaves them vulnerable to outside approval.  This is unnecessary approval because as long as a woman is comfortable with herself, then no one else’s opinion should matter.  But the problem is that, that kind of approval is what makes women have many surgeries to the point where they do not even look like the same person!

Third wave feminism is eager to state that gender shouldn’t and doesn’t matter.  Women should be allow to do what they want to do because it makes them happy, not because society tells them they should or shouldn’t.  The thing I agree with about third wave feminism is that you should not have to wake up every morning and constantly be reminded about your gender.  There are more important things to worry about.  However, third wave feminism is so accepting that I have to disagree with it at some points.  There was an example of a “feminist porn queen” and how third wave feminists agree that this is possible.  I disagree with this statement because no matter how happy a woman is stripping, she is still being sexually exploited by men and the respect factor of that kind of work is still degrading for women.

Gender is Invisible… to Men

After reading the article “Men as ‘Gendered’ Beings,” I did not realize the comparison of gender identity as it applies to men and women.  For women, we are reminded of our gender everyday because there is some stigma out there that says look at men I am a woman.  In the article, it says that men often think of themselves as genderless.  To them is like gender does not exist or matter in our everyday life.  This article made me step back and think about the ways in which gender is portrayed in our everyday life.  The reason why gender is so invisible to men is because we do not treat them any differently no matter the given situation.  Men are always treated as “strong” and “masculine” beings; however, women can be portrayed and convinced they have different qualities every day.  It is like women cannot figure out who they are because we are constantly being told you have to this at this time, but be a lady another.  it is so frustrating because women live with the idea of gender every day.  This can be compared to the example he uses with the black women who says she has to look race in the face every day.  Women are in a constant fight with their gender but men are just now observing that gender does exist for women and it sucks.

Men Should Do This.. Women Should Do That...

After reading the Gender Stereotypes and Roles article by Susan Basow, the origin of gender roles seems more apparent to me now.  In the article, the writer establishes the four different types of societies and how women and men’s ideas about gender shifted because of the work required in each changing society.   In foraging societies, which are hunting and gathering societies, women and men’s work was about equal.  Men were hunters and women were gatherers.  Women were able to contribute greatly to the food supply; however, the men in the society still had the more respected job as a hunter because it was considered more dangerous.  I disagree with this because it was just as dangerous for women to have children in order to keep the society going.  Horticultural societies appear to be somewhat male-dominated but there is some equality to the women.  The writer states that agrarian societies are very patriarchal because men tended to dominate the division of labor.  I agree with this statement because this restricted women’s behaviors and lives.  They contributed less to the food supply because they were thought to have less strength then a man.  There were no jobs created for women in agrarian societies because it was thought that men and their sons could be the only ones doing the work.  This lead to an even bigger problem with industrial societies because women are written off as just housewives and care takers.  This is the opposite in my household because my mother is dominating at work (as well is my step-dad) but my step-dad fills in the role as care taker and cook when my mother cannot do so.  There are no gender roles in my family which is why I believe that biology, in a sense, is overrated because a woman can do a men’s job and do it well.  She just has to be able to work and accept/enforce the stereotypes placed against her.

Men are loners, Women are supporters

I enjoyed reading the War and Gender article because I believe that we should support the notion that men are autonomous and women are connected.  However, most women can be independent and support themselves without the help of men.  And another way to look at it, is that men cannot take care of themselves and be happy without a women.  That doesn’t have to mean that men cannot be supportive or that women cannot be on their own.  The article pointed out that girls and boys develop different moral systems while they are growing up.  Men tend to fear connection and women tend to fear competition.  I agree with this statement because no women would admit that she is better than another women, however, she would go to great lengths to make sure that people knew her name over someone else’s.  But I disagree with the fact that men are afraid of connection because most men do want to have a connection with a women, but they are just afraid of getting hurt or hurting someone else.  But nothing ventured, nothing gained right?  Men and women are 2 broad ends of the spectrum because of the moral system we develop when we are young.  Our culture influences us more so than biology because we either become sensitized to certain situations or we have just never been exposed to them in the first place.  My father grew up with 3 sisters and he was able to gain a very good understanding of women by the time he was in his early twenties.  He was sensitized to how they act therefore, when my sister and I were born, he was able to understand the things we were going through.  This doesn’t make him any less manly he was just sensitized to how women interact with one another because of his sisters.

Sisterhood or Rivalryhood?

What is sisterhood?  According to Dictionary.com, it is “an organization of women with a common interest, as forsocial, charitable, business, or political purposes, or the state of being a sister.”  Women like to think that they are all in this together for gender justice, but in my opinion we are not.  Since a young age, most women are in competition with one another, like who had what first and who wore what.  Even to this day my mom says that when younger women go out, it is not to impress the boys (well that is a big part) but we dress up to compete with the other women that are out there.  No woman wants to be “one up-ed” by another woman…so how does sisterhood work in order to achieve the common goal of gender justice?    I believe that in order for this political movement to work, all women need to get on the same page and stop the stereotypes.  All women share a common ground that we are victimized everyday by stereotypes, and in some societies, by men.  This is a scary thought because we need to have one another’s backs in these situations instead of during the other cheek and pretending it is not there.  If a woman has feminist thoughts then she should stand proud and say she is a feminist instead of hiding from the idea.  I believe that when women unite together, we could be a force to be reckoned with and that is powerful.  Feminist politics need to have strong women that are willing to work together instead of fighting with one another over small judgments.  As women we all share one same idea, we all want to be equal to men somehow some way, but we do not really know where to start.  I believe that with feminist politics it will give women the voice they need to start their journey of ending sexism.

It's About Time

“States can never again push violence into the corner or off the table.  They are accountable, now and in the future, and must respect, protect and fulfill women’s right to life free of violence” (pg. 26).  I enjoyed reading the “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights” article because the feminist movement around the world has done a lot to ensure the rights of women.  These rights and movements have forced the government to take responsibility for what happens to women and that will force them to recognize the issues at hand.   Most women live in constant fear of men because they feel as though they have no way out and no woman should feel that way every day.  The most interesting section of this article, in my opinion, was about the rape in marriage because I believe that that is something that goes unrecognized but it is the most shameful form of rape.  Every woman deserves to know that she has a way out of any bad situation and now we have the tools and resources to make sure women are protected.  The African Union’s Protocol that they adopted makes me feel empowered because of the people out there fighting for women to make sure that women are granted the rights they deserve to have.  It is a good feeling to know that we have legislation on our side because women everywhere are undermined but now that is changing because of these organizations.  It would be amazing if one day, all around the world, that women no longer have to live in fear and in silence.