Core ideas and principles Flashcards
What are the five core ideas of feminism?
Sex and gender Patriarchy The personal is political Equality feminism and difference feminism Intersectionality
What does sex refer to?
Sex refers to the biological differences between men and women: their body shape, size, and sexual and reproductive organs.
What is gender in feminism?
Socially constructed roles differing by society.
What is the feminist argument regarding gender?
There is no justification for gender roles being ascribed to people.
In society, the terms masculine and feminine are used to describe an ‘ideal’ gender type for men and women to aspire to. Why is this according to feminists?
Feminists argue that this is a key part of the way society seeks to keep women in a subordinate position.
It is no surprise that the key characteristics for women to aspire to are to be calm and passive, compassionate and thoughtful,, poised and elegant.
The term patriarchy is used by most feminists to describe what?
A society that is dominated by men and run in the interests of men.
Most feminists identify patriarchy as a systematic oppression of women by men, suggesting that patriarchy is pervasive throughout society.
What did Sylvia Walby identify the patriarchy as?
‘A system of interrelated social structures which allow men to exploit women’.
According to Walby, what are the six overlapping structures that take different forms in different cultures and different times?
State Household Violence Paid work Sexuality Culture
According to Walby, how does the structure of the state exploit women?
Throughout history, women have been denied representation as well as being underrepresented in the formal positions of power in the state.
Even when they could take up these positions, they found the working hours to be anti-family, or the culture to be so sexist that they gave up these positions ‘voluntarily’.
