POL 501 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Essentialism, Intersectionality, Gender Binary

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Politics and Public Administration
• Course: POL 501
• Professor: Karen Ruddy

Document Summary

Each feminist theory attempts to: describe gender oppression, explain its causes and consequences, how it reproduces itself, prescribe strategies for personal and social change. Goal: move women from the private to the public sphere. A(cid:374)d legal (cid:271)a(cid:396)(cid:396)ie(cid:396)s to (cid:449)o(cid:373)e(cid:374)"s full pa(cid:396)ti(cid:272)ipatio(cid:374) i(cid:374) pu(cid:271)li(cid:272) sphe(cid:396)e: work within the system to change it, equality involves recognizing that women are the same as men and should be treated the same. Critique: sets up masculine norm as what all people should aspire to, perpetuates that male traits are the norm, gives value to masculine traits, devalues feminine traits, someone has to do the caring work. Radical feminism: emerged in the second wave, o(cid:374)l(cid:455) theo(cid:396)(cid:455) that e(cid:373)e(cid:396)ged out of atte(cid:373)pt to e(cid:454)plai(cid:374) (cid:449)o(cid:373)e(cid:374)"s so(cid:272)ial a(cid:272)ti(cid:448)is(cid:373) The(cid:455) do(cid:374)"t speak up, thi(cid:374)ki(cid:374)g it"s their fault: e. g. Sexual beauty ideals are reproduced by women when they make billboards of sexualized females. It"s (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause (cid:449)e fe(cid:373)i(cid:374)ize (cid:449)o(cid:373)e(cid:374) that (cid:449)e (cid:272)a(cid:374) fe(cid:373)i(cid:374)ize othe(cid:396) g(cid:396)oups, a(cid:374)d justif(cid:455) (cid:396)a(cid:272)is(cid:373) o(cid:396) ho(cid:373)opho(cid:271)ia.