1.
Chapter Title Theoretical Perspectives on Sex and Gender
2. Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to have:
assessed the various strands of feminism; and
explained the relevance of feminist perspectives on gender and society.
3. Pre-assessment Activity
Structured Learning Activity
Pre-test
Readings
4. Content
4.1 Sexism and Patriarchy
4.2 Black Feminism
4.3 Radical Feminism
4.4 Liberal Feminism
4.5 Marxist Feminism
4.6 Materialist Feminism
4.7 Socialist Feminism
4.8 Ecofeminism
4.9 Intersectionality
5. Post-assessment Activity
Post-test
Structured Learning Activity
4.1 Patriarchy and Sexism
According to the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, patriarchy is
about the social relations of power between men and women, women and women, and
men and men. It is a system for maintaining class, gender, racial, and heterosexual
privilege and the status quo of power – relying both on crude forms of oppression, like
violence; and subtle ones, like laws; to perpetuate inequality. Patriarchal beliefs of male,
heterosexual dominance and the devaluation of girls and women lie at the root of gender-
based violence. Patriarchy is a structural force that influences power relations, whether
they are abusive or not.
On the other hand, sexism is the prejudice or discrimination based on sex or
gender, especially against women and girls. Although its origin is unclear, the
term sexism emerged from the “second-wave” feminism of the 1960s through the ’80s
and was most likely modeled on the civil rights movement’s term racism (prejudice
or discrimination based on race). Sexism can be a belief that one sex is superior to or
more valuable than another sex. It imposes limits on what men and boys can and should
do and what women and girls can and should do. The concept of sexism was originally
formulated to raise consciousness about the oppression of girls and women, although by
the early 21st century it had sometimes been expanded to include the oppression of any
sex, including men and boys, intersexual people, and transgender people.
Sexism in a society is most commonly applied against women and girls. It functions
to maintain patriarchy, or male domination, through ideological and material practices of
individuals, collectives, and institutions that oppress women and girls on the basis of sex
or gender. Such oppression usually takes the forms of economic exploitation and social
domination. Sexist behaviors, conditions, and attitudes perpetuate stereotypes of social
(gender) roles based on one’s biological sex. A common form of socialization that is
based in sexist concepts teaches particular narratives about traditional gender roles for
males and females. According to such a view, women and men are opposite, with widely
different and complementary roles: women are the weaker sex and less capable than
men, especially in the realm of logic and rational reasoning. Women are relegated to the
domestic realm of nurturance and emotions and, therefore, according to that reasoning,
cannot be good leaders in business, politics, and academia. Although women are seen
as naturally fit for domestic work and are superb at being caretakers, their roles are
devalued or not valued at all when compared with men’s work.
The extreme form of sexist ideology is misogyny, the hatred of women. A society
in which misogyny is prevalent has high rates of brutality against women—for example,
in the forms of domestic violence, rape, and the commodification of women and their
bodies. Where they are seen as property or as second-class citizens, women are often
mistreated at the individual as well as the institutional level. For example, a woman who
is a victim of rape (the individual or personal level) might be told by a judge and jury (the
institutional level) that she was culpable because of the way she was dressed
(Masequesmay, 2009).
Activity:
Please watch “Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates” at TedxTalks on this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhjsRjC6B8U. In not more than 1 page (Arial, Font 12), briefly answer
the following questions:
1. What is the “everyday sexism project” all about?
2. How can we stop sexism as what the speaker/author suggested?
3. What is your personal reflection on the subject matter?
Feminism
Feminism may broadly be defined as a movement seeking the reorganization of
the world upon the basis of sex equality, rejecting all forms of differentiation among or
discrimination against individuals upon grounds of sex. It urges a worldview that rejects
male-created ideologies. At another level, it is also a mode of analysis and politics,
committed to freeing all women of gender-based oppressions. Literally, then, anyone who
supports such an ideology can be a feminist, regardless of gender (“Feminism Overview”,
2020).
Feminist theory develops a system of ideas about human life that features women
as objects and subjects, doers and knowers. Feminism has a history as long as women’s
subordination—and women have been subordinated almost always and everywhere.
Until the late 1700s, feminist writing survived as a thin but persistent trickle of protest;
from that time to the present, feminist writing has become a growing tide of critical work.
While the production of feminist theory has typically expanded and contracted with
societal swings between reform and retrenchment, the contemporary stage of feminist
scholarship shows a self-sustaining expansion despite new conservative societal trends.
Feminist scholars is guided by four basic questions:
• And what about the women?
• Why is women’s situation as it is?
• How can we change and improve the social world? and
• What about differences between women?
Answers to these questions produce the varieties of feminist theory. Theories of gender
difference see women’s situation as different from men’s, explaining this difference in
terms of two distinct and enduring ways of being, male and female, or institutional roles
and social interaction, or ontological constructions of woman as “other.” Theories of
gender inequality, notably by liberal feminists, emphasize women’s claim to a
fundamental right of equality and describe the unequal opportunity structures created by
sexism. Gender oppression theories includes radical feminism which explains the
oppression of women in terms of men’s ability and willingness to use violence to subjugate
women. Structural oppression theories include socialist feminism and intersectionality
theory; socialist feminism describes oppression as arising from a patriarchal and a
capitalist attempt to control social production and reproduction; intersectionality theories
trace the consequences of class, race, gender, affectional preference, and global location
for lived experience, group standpoints, and relations between women (Ritzer, 2018, p.
589).
Types of Feminism
The understanding and analysis of oppression are central to feminist theories.
Much of the work in the second wave of feminism focused on attempts to identify the
nature of women’s oppression. Theories may identify the lack of education, economic
dependence, unequal political rights, or the need for control over sexuality as related to
the nature of oppression. Theories address the causes of oppression as the cultural order,
labor and economic relations, biological differences, political institutions, and women’s
own self-understanding. Feminist theory requires us to critically analyze what is
happening in our social world from multiple contexts and provide strategies for the
amelioration of adverse conditions that affect the lives of women. Though one central
feminist theory has not evolved, basic principles are commonly given when describing
feminism, including such concepts as valuing women and their experiences, identifying
conditions that oppress women, changing society through advocacy, and recognizing that
many factors, not just gender, impact a woman’s actions and views. The progress in
feminism has been more focused on different types of feminism.
Feminism has evolved in different arenas rather than as one unified concept. The
labels that define those arenas have varied. The most commonly used are the following
feminist theories: black feminism, radical feminism, liberal feminism, Marxist feminism,
materialist feminism, socialist feminism, ecofeminism, and intersectionality. Some
theories can be grouped due to similarities, but distinctions offer a broader critical lens of
a myriad of political, social, economic, ethnic, and cultural contexts (Lay & Daley, 2007,
p. 51-53).
4.2 Black feminism focuses not only on women, but specifically on the struggles of black
women (Kanneh, 1998). Collins (2000) saw the concern of black feminism as resisting
oppression through empowerment, which entails understanding the intersection of racism
and sexism. Black feminist thought insists “that both the changed consciousness of
individuals and the social transformation of political and economic institutions constitute
essential ingredients for social change”. Black women face social practices within a
historical context that represent a “unique matrix of domination characterized by
intersecting oppressions”.
Black feminist analysis insists on understanding what it means to be a black woman in a
racist patriarchy (Johnson, 1983). Differences due to race, class, gender, sexuality, and
religion are of distinct importance in many cultures and are “visible and palpable” (Collins,
1991, p. 23) for black women. Knowledge and consciousness as to how race, class, and
gender represent interlocking systems and a sociohistorical context for that analysis is
seen as absent in other feminisms (Collins, 1991).
4.3 Radical feminism attributes the oppression of women to men. Male power must be
analyzed and understood and not reduced to other explanations, such as labor relations.
Cultural feminism has been critiqued, because it provides moral grounding for men to
make claims that they cannot help being oppressive. This logic takes a further turn, in
that it is then likewise natural for women to be submissive (Ferguson, 1996).
4.4 Liberal feminism focuses on rights for women, as in access to education, the right
to vote, and economic independence, citizenship, and other issues of equality (Saulnier,
1996). Prescribed roles are challenged in that prescriptions lead to inequality. Many
women benefit from the strategies of liberal feminism and its focus on the public lives of
women; however, it has been critiqued for this very reason, in that it does not adequately
address private issues, such as child care and poverty, to name a few (Saulnier).
4.5 Marxist feminism is focused on the emancipation of women via a concern for the
production of labor in family life, as it is concerned with capitalism (Andermahr, Lovell, &
Wolkowitz, 1997). MacKinnon (1997) stated that, “Sexuality is to feminism what work is
to Marxism: that which is most one’s own, yet most take away”. Marxist theory sees work
as creating our social lives and creating what is of value: work creates who we are.
4.6 Material feminism relies on Marxist theory. The focus is on the material conditions
of women’s lives and their transformation. A central concern is for women to maintain a
socialized and professional household. This could include adequate pay for professional
labor related to childcare, cooking, cleaning, and other domestic labors that are often
relegated to women (Donovan, 1993).
4.7 Socialist feminism is closely related to Marxist feminism, radical feminism, and
materialist feminism (Andermahr, Lovell, & Wolkowitz, 1997). Perhaps a distinguishing
point is that socialism distinguishes between groups with regard to oppression and
acknowledges that it takes different forms, depending on the context and particulars.
Socialist feminism in the extreme demands the end of capitalism, property ownership, the
emancipation of workers, and the ending of all forms of oppression (Evans, 1995).
4.8 According to Miles (2007), Ecofeminism, also called ecological feminism, branch
of feminism that examines the connections between women and nature. Its name was
coined by French feminist Françoise d’Eaubonne in 1974. Ecofeminism uses the basic
feminist tenets of equality between genders, a revaluing of non-patriarchal or nonlinear
structures, and a view of the world that respects organic processes, holistic connections,
and the merits of intuition and collaboration. To these notions ecofeminism adds both a
commitment to the environment and an awareness of the associations made between
women and nature. Specifically, this philosophy emphasizes the ways both nature and
women are treated by patriarchal (or male-centred) society. Ecofeminists examine the
effect of gender categories in order to demonstrate the ways in which social norms exert
unjust dominance over women and nature. The philosophy also contends that those
norms lead to an incomplete view of the world, and its practitioners advocate
an alternative worldview that values the earth as sacred, recognizes humanity’s
dependency on the natural world, and embraces all life as valuable.
4.9 Intersectionality Theory
The central issue for intersectionality theory is the understanding that women experience
oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity. The explanation
for that variation is that while all women potentially experience oppression on the basis of
gender, women are, nevertheless, differentially oppressed by the varied intersections of
other arrangements of social inequality. These vectors of oppression and privilege include
not only gender but also class, race, global location, sexual preference, and age. The
variation of these intersections qualitatively alters the experience of being a woman—and
this alteration, this diversity, must be taken into account in theorizing the experiences of
“women.” The argument in intersectionality theory is that it is intersection itself that
produces a particular experience of oppression, and one cannot arrive at an adequate
explanation by using an additive strategy of gender, plus race, plus class, plus sexuality
(Andersen, 2005). Crenshaw, for example, shows that black women frequently
experience discrimination in employment because they are black women, but courts
routinely refuse to recognize this discrimination—unless it can be shown to be a case of
what is considered general discrimination, “sex discrimination”, or “race discrimination”.
In characterizing these as vectors of oppression and privilege, we wish to suggest a
fundamental insight of intersectionality theories—that the privilege exercised by some
women and men turns on the oppression of other women and men. Theories of
intersectionality at their core understand these arrangements of inequality as hierarchical
structures based in unjust power relations. The theme of injustice signals the consistent
critical focus of this analysis (Ritzer & Stepnisky, 2018).
This discussion of feminist theories is not meant to be complete or serve as a
conclusive explanation for any of the theories represented. Instead, it is meant to
acknowledge the diversity and similarities among feminist theories.
Activity:
Read the article by Emily Dixon, 9 March 2019.
“As Barbie turns 60, how has the world’s most famous doll grown up?”
At: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/us-barbie-60th-birthday-scli-intl/index.html
In not more than 1 page (Arial, Font 12), briefly answer the following questions:
1. Who is Barbie? How has she evolved over the last 60 years?
2. Is the article relevant to the course? Why or why not?
3. What is your personal reflection on the subject matter?
As Barbie turns 60, how has the world's most famous doll grown up?
Published 9th March 2019
Written by Emily Dixon, CNN
Barbie has been a surgeon, an astronaut, a news anchor and a president. She's been the Duchess of
Cambridge, several characters in "Mad Men" and every member of Destiny's Child.
But on her debut at the New York Toy Fair on March 9, 1959, she was just a doll in a swimsuit and
ponytail, with white sunglasses in her hand.
Six decades later, every passing minute sees more than 100 dolls sold, with 58 million sold every year.
So how does Barbie remain so ubiquitous, and as the world has changed, how has she?
To Lisa McKnight, senior vice president and global general manager of the Barbie brand, the doll has
remained popular because "she's continued to reflect culture and the world girls see around them."
But if Barbie's evolution has been crucial to her success, the journey has never been simple.
A controversial icon
Barbie was created by Ruth Handler, who owned the toy company Mattel with her husband Elliot. She
was inspired by the paper dolls her daughter Barbara played with, as well as a German doll named Bild
Lilli (which was based on a risqué cartoon, and intended as an adult gift.)
"At first, Barbie was a way for young children to project themselves as grown-ups," said Aurore Bayle-
Loudet, who worked on a 2016 Barbie exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratif in Paris. Barbara saw
her paper dolls as adults, but "the baby-shaped dolls of the time did not allow those projection games
to happen."
By 1960, Barbie was gainfully employed, as either a nurse, fashion editor, flight attendant, or "Executive
Career Girl." The next year, she had a swim-shorts-clad boyfriend, Ken, and the year after that, her first
car and a "Dreamhouse." She became a CEO, a pilot and multiple presidential candidates.
But as Barbie was breaking ground as a career woman, she was drawing criticism for upholding a sl im,
white, domestic ideal.
The first black doll in the range, marketed as "Colored Francie," wasn't released until 1967, and it would
be another 13 years before the brand launched Hispanic and black versions of Barbie herself. Further
complicating matters, the non-white dolls were often, as black feminist critic Ann duCille wrote in 1994,
"dye-dipped versions of archetypal white American beauty."
Then, of course, there's Barbie's body. According to the BBC, if the original long-legged, tiny-waisted
doll was scaled up to human size, she would have a 21-inch waist and 30-inch hips. In comparison, a
2018 government report found the average waist size of American women was 39 inches.
Embracing inclusivity
In 2016, a Time cover story headlined "Now can we stop talking about my body?" heralded a change.
Mattel introduced 33 new Barbies, available for the first time in three additional body shapes: tall, petite
and curvy.
The updated range of Barbies also offered seven skin tones, 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles. The
following year saw the debut of the first hijabi Barbie, as the doll based on Olympic fencer Ibtihaj
Muhammad was added to the "Shero" collection.
In February 2019, new additions to the "Barbie Fashionistas" line included a doll using a wheelchair and
another with a prosthetic leg. In 1997, Barbie gained a friend named Becky who used a wheelchair, but
the doll was discontinued -- in part because even after redesigns, her wheelchair didn't fit in the
Dreamhouse.
"We are continuing to push ourselves and evolve, as evidence of the new additions which include a new
body, hair texture and representation of physical disabilities," Mattel's McKnight said.
For International Women's Day 2018, Mattel released a new batch of dolls based on "real-life role
models." Pioneering NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, aviator Amelia Earhart and artist Frida
Kahlo became Barbies in the "Inspiring Women" historical collection, while Olympic champion
snowboarder Chloe Kim, Juventus soccer player Sara Gama and journalist Martyna Wojciechowska
became "Global Role Models."
Not all of the 2018 additions were welcomed, however. The new Kahlo Barbie faced criticism for
"whitewashing" the Mexican artist, minimizing her unibrow, and inaccurately representing her clothes.
"You don't turn a doll into Frida Kahlo by putting flowers in its hair and giving it a colorful dress," Kahlo's
great-grandniece, Mara de Anda Romeo, told the Telegraph.
Others noted that the Barbie based on Olympic champion Nicola Adams, a British boxer, had slender
arms and legs that didn't reflect the athlete's muscular physique. When Iris Apfel, the 97-year-old style
luminary, received a one-off Barbie in her image the same year, the doll was notably missing any
wrinkles.
This year, more than 20 new "Sheroes" will be immortalized as Barbies: among them, supermodel and
activist Adwoa Aboah, gymnast Dipa Karmakar -- the first female Indian gymnast to qualify for the
Olympics -- and "Grown-ish" actress and activist Yara Shahidi.
"By introducing girls to stories of women from all walks of life, they begin to see more opportunities for
themselves," the Barbie website reads.
The range is part of the "Barbie Dream Gap" campaign, which McKnight described as "an ongoing global
initiative aimed at raising awareness around limiting factors that prevent girls from reaching their full
potential."
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/us-barbie-60th-birthday-scli-intl/index.html
References:
Masequesmay, G. (2009). Sexism. In Encyclopedia of Gender and Society. SAGE
Publications. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/sexism
Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence. Retrieved from https://www.api-
gbv.org/about-gbv/our-analysis/patriarchy-power/
Feminism: Overview. 2020. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved from
https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-
releases/feminism-overview#:~:text=Jul%2027%202020-
,Feminism%3A%20Overview,that%20rejects%20male%2Dcreated%20ideologies.
Ritzer, G. & Stepnisky, J. 2018. 10th Ed. California: SAGE Publications
Lay, K. & Daley, J. 2007. A Critique of Feminist Theory. Advances in Social Work, 8 (1),
51-53.
Miles, K. (2007). Ecofeminism. In Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice. SAGE
Publications. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/ecofeminism
