Feminist Theories Goldner, V. (1993). Feminist theories. In P.G. Boss, W. J. Doherty, R. LaRossa, W. R., Schumm, & S. K. Steinmetz (Eds.). Sourcebook of family theories and methods: A contextual approach (pp ). New York: Plenum Press.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Introduction  Provide an overview of the range of feminist perspectives and of recurring themes.  Review the historical origins of feminism and review feminist critiques of other family theories.  Discuss feminist frameworks for thinking about the family.  Working Definition of Feminism:  Emphasize the experience of women.  Recognize that women, under current conditions, are subordinated or oppressed.  Work toward ending the subordination of women.  Gender and gender relations are fundamental to all social life, including the lives of men and women.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Themes in Feminist Scholarship  Assume the centrality, normality, and value of women’s (and girls’) experiences.  Gender is a basic organizing concept.  Gender relations are best understood in sociocultural and historical context.  Emphasize family diversity and challenge any unitary notion of “the family.”  Emphasize social change and utilize methodologies that are value-committed.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Feminist Schools  Liberal Feminism  Historically emphasized that women and men are equal so gender should not be used as a barrier to rights and opportunities.  Commitment to social and legal reforms which will create equal opportunities for women.  Radical feminism (two major branches):  Sexual and reproductive oppression: demonstrate and change men’s control of women’s sexuality.  Cultural feminism: è Celebrates women’s cultural, spiritual, and sexual experiences. è Goal: fundamentally reorganize society around values of community and nurturance, sometimes called “womanculture,” rather than encourage women to achieve at the same level as men.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Feminist Schools (cont.)  Socialist feminism  Suggest that oppression of women is due to both patriarchy and capitalism (e.g., social class is a fundamental source of oppression).  Women’s work is often ignored or undervalued.  Equal opportunity is impossible in a class-based society.  Interpretative approaches  Focus: nature of personal experience, patterns of consciousness, and everyday life.  Modified conceptual frameworks in order to examine the social construction of gender in everyday life.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Feminist Schools (cont.)  Feminist psychoanalytic theories:  Criticisms of Freud: è sexist concepts (e.g., penis envy) è belief that biology is destiny è views of sexual abuse.  Useful tools: è emphasized gender as a central category of analysis è examined conflict and power è promoted areas of experience often associated with women. è recognized the value of personal experience as a valid way of knowing.  Feminism and postmodernism: criticize theories which claim universality by examining their assumptions.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Origins and Initial Sociocultural Milieu  Pioneer feminist theorists in the late 1800s and early 1900s  The reemergence of feminism in the 1960s  Family sociology in the 1960s and 1970s

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Feminist Critiques of Other Theoretical Perspectives on Families  Role theory  There is an overemphasis on social determinism (individuals are shaped by their roles) which often blames the victim rather than social structures. Thus, it does a poor job of explaining or predicting social change.  Fundamental weakness: does not examine power, inequality, and conflict in gender relations.  The theory is flawed because of internal contradictions: it tries to combine a biological term with a social one which implies that society is pursuing natural tendencies.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Feminist Critiques of Other Theoretical Perspectives (cont.)  Exchange theory  Focuses exclusively on the interpersonal and ignores larger social forces (e.g., religious structures that legitimate male power within families).  Inappropriate assumption: people enter all relationships voluntarily. People in dominant positions may see the relationship as voluntary but subordinates may feel coerced.  Benign view of power and resource obscures the impact of social resources on access to them.  Criticisms of “family power” studies: emphasize complementarity and a top down approach (e.g., suggesting that access to resources exclusively affects access to power) instead of a bottom up approach (e.g., why don’t women have access to resources?).

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Feminist Critiques of Other Theoretical Perspectives (cont.)  General systems theory  Ignores sociocultural and historical contexts.  Ignores it’s own basic premise: limited attention to the power of larger systems.  The suggestion that all members of the system are responsible for dysfunction is a form of victim blaming.  Suggests that women and men have equal access to power.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Conceptualizing Gender  Biological sex and cultural gender  Distinction between terms “sex” and “gender” è Biological sex: refers to biological fact of being male or female. è Cultural gender: learned and cultural phenomenon associated with sex. Gender is socially constructed.  Criticism of sex versus gender dualism: biology and culture are interactive influences.  Different dimensions of gender  Individual or personal gender è Individual gender identity is socialized from birth; it shapes individual notions about acceptable behavior. è Personal gender identity influences interpersonal dynamics (e.g. expectations about child-rearing).  Structural gender: gender divisions of labor influence personal and professional settings.  Symbolic or cultural gender: specific sociocultural prescriptions about gender.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Conceptualizing Gender (cont.)  Summary of African-American feminist thought:  Promote the validity of their experience (e.g., Bell Hooks’ book From Margin to Center).  Emphasize the interlocking influence of gender, race, and class on oppression.  Emphasize connections between African-American women and men because they both experience race and class discrimination.  Promote African-American family strengths.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson The Debate Over Difference Versus Equality  Dilemma of dualistic thinking: “Do women want equality with men or do they want their differences recognized and more highly esteemed?” (p. 608).  Non-binary response: “‘equality that rests on differences... differences that confound, disrupt, and render ambiguous the meaning of any fixed binary opposition’ between women and men” (p. 608).

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Demystifying the Dichotomy Between “Public” and “Private”  Preindustrial societies and the division of labor: prior to the industrialization revolution, an economic division of labor valued the work of both women and men.  Early industrialization and separate spheres: industrialization produced different experiences for women from different classes.  Working-class experiences  Varied responses to the ideology public -- private spheres  Beyond the public -- private dualism  Work within and outside families are shaped both by patriarchal gender system and a capitalist economic system.  Reject family-linked stereotypes (e.g., men are breadwinners, women are economically nonproductive and dependent).  Women and men are influenced by both their professional and personal experiences; these forces are not separate.  Gender is distinct from any single system; it links, however, all major institutions.

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Substantive Applications: Motherhood and Sexuality  Motherhood  Motherhood as institution versus experience: è Motherhood is a social institutions; personal experience is influenced by cultural ideology. It is founded on the subordination of women. è Experience: the ways women are affected by patriarchal institutions.  Motherhood and the engendering of personality: men should be as fully involved in child care as women; this would be a crucial first step for the emancipation of women and healthier identities for both women and men.  Sexuality: heterosexuality has been assumed to be natural.  The tension between pleasure and danger in women’s experiences of sexuality: sexual violence (e.g., rape, domestic violence) against women is ignored

Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson Feminist Theorizing: Limitations and Challenges  Important paradox: families are both a site of conflict and oppression and a source of strength and solidarity.  Feminist theory is often ignored or ridiculed.  More work is needed on the interaction of gender and generation on women’s experience.