POLB80H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 0: Feminist Theory, Essentialism, Masculinity
12 Dec 2017
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The key concern for feminist theory is to explain women"s subordination or the unjustified asymmetry between women and men"s social and economic position and to seek prescriptions for ending it. Feminists have offered an alternative picture of globali- zation which they describe as. Global restruc- turing, a process that is (partially) breaking down an old order and attempting to con- struct a new one. Feminists define gender as a set of variable but socially and culturally con- structed characteristics; those such as power, autonomy, rationality, activity, and public are stereotypically associated with masculinities. Their opposites weakness, dependency/ connection, emotionality, passivity, and private are associated with femininities. Despite the widespread myth that wars are fought, mostly by men, to protect vulnerable people, a category to which women and children are generally assigned, women and children constitute a significant proportion of casualties in recent wars.
