Essays on Feminism

Feminism is the principle that values women’s experiences and ideas; feminism also emphasizes that women and men should be socially, economically, and legally equal. Feminism is to be a voice of advancement towards women’s rights and to also advocate for the equality of all types of people. Everyone should be advocates for equality of everyone, looking past sex, whether it be differences on legal standpoints, religion, morals, sexual orientation, etc. Women, however, tend to carry a heavier role in this advocacy because women tend to have experiences and ideas of peace and understanding in such a way that men cannot grasp. Both exemplify the advancement of women in the past and current climate as well as the fight for equality. But, to contrast, although the book's definition does not blackball other types of people, it does only state that men and women should be socially, economically, and legally equal making it vague to me.

Men can be feminists and play a role in feminism. These men that are in support of feminism are called profeminists. Profeminists support feminism and they want to eliminate destructive aspects of gender, such as gender stereotypes, gender inequalities, and gender-related violence. The pro-feminist men can also be known as allies, providing support to groups other than their own. Men are stuck between the rock and the hard place: wanting to help and be an ally for feminist, but, due to the virtue of their birth, they don’t tend to have the experience that goes with gender-based oppression which makes it hard for them to offer help, or is turned down by the women who “hate men”.

What most people don’t know, feminism has many different branches that entail many different ideas and outlooks on feminism. These are the four different theoretical approaches to feminism: liberal feminism, cultural feminism, radical feminism, and women-of-color feminism. Starting with liberal feminism, this stresses the goal of gender equality by giving the same rights and opportunities to both women and men. This group believes that there can be laws passed to equal the rights of both genders. Cultural feminism underlines the positive qualities that are stronger in women than in men, for example, nurturing and caretaking. Cultural feminism more because shines a light on positive qualities that woman possesses that man don’t. But, some of these qualities are brought upon a woman, not by choice, but because she is solely a woman. Cultural feminist considers reconstructing society to benefit both the working man and woman as well as emphasizing cooperation. Another approach to feminism is radical feminism, arguing that the basic cause of woman’s oppression lies deep in the entire sex and gender system, rather than superficial laws and policies. This as a way of saying that men are “scums”. This approach is usually portrayed in media making certain people turn down the idea of feminism. The organization known as Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity stated that “both men and women function best and have the richest relationships if they can move beyond the traditional definitions of gender roles” (SPSMM, Division 51 of the American Psychological Association, 2010). The last idea of feminism is women-of-color feminism which points out that the other types of feminism overemphasize gender, whereas woman-of-color states that feminism must pay attention to other dimensions such as ethnicity and social class.

In the Feminist Perspective Scale (Henley, Meng, O’Brien, McCarthy, & Sockloskie, 1998), statements are given and are rated based on readers' opinion. For liberal feminism, some statements include “The government is responsible for making sure that all women receive an equal chance at education and employment”, “A socialist restructuring of businesses and institutions is necessary for women and people of color to assume equal leadership with White men”, “Legislation is the best means to ensure a woman’s choice of whether or not to have an abortion”, “It is the capitalist system which forces women to be responsible for child care”. These statements blame the government for not having an active voice in feminism and gender equality. Statements such as “The availability of adequate child care is central to a woman’s right to work outside the home”, “Men should follow women’s lead in religious matters because women have a higher regard for love and peace than men”, “Women’s experience in life’s realities of cleaning, feeding people, caring for babies, etc., makes their vision of reality clearer than men’s” lean more toward cultural feminism, in my opinion, because they focus on gender differences and a woman’s qualities that makes her a woman. “Racism and sexism make double the oppression for women of color in the work environment”, ” Sex-role stereotypes are only one symptom of the larger system of patriarchal power, which is the true source of women’s subordination”, “Rape is best stopped by replacing the current male-oriented culture of violence with an alternative culture based on more gentle, womanly qualities”, “Rape is ultimately a powerful tool that keeps women in their place, subservient to and terrorized by men” indicates ideas of radical feminism because oppression lies in the sex and gender system rather than laws and policies. Lastly, woman-color feminism shows differences not only lie in gender but in ethnicity and social class: “Women of color are oppressed by White standards of beauty”, “Much of the talk about power for women overlooks the need to empower people of all races and colors first.”