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 What is Feminism?
Feminism is a social theory, movement and way of life informed by the rights, experience and interests of women. Feminism advocates the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.
Feminism is the belief that society is disadvantageous to women, systematically depriving them of individual choice, political power, economic opportunity and intellectual recognition. (http://www.nelson.com/nelson/polisci/glossary.html)
The Feminist Movement is concerned with individual autonomy, rights, freedom, independence, tolerance, co-operation, nonviolence and diversity. Some themes explored and campaigned within Feminism include domestic violence, gender, stereotypes, sexuality, discrimination, sexism, objectification, patriarchy, abortion, reproduction, control of the female body, divorce, equal pay, maternity leave, breast feeding, prostitution and education.
The metaphysics of feminism considers what it means to be a 'woman' / 'man' based on how matter exists in space. The metaphysics of feminism understands and promotes equality at a fundamental level. Man and Woman both exist as structures of the universe / space, as does all life. How we are to live as man and woman is derived from metaphysical foundations of what actually exists (laws of nature).
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The Feminist movement is not a unique product of the modern age. Its historical precedents reach back into antiquity. In his Republic, Plato advocated the abolition of the family and social roles determined by sex; in literature, the ancient Greek classical comedy, Lysistrata by Aristophanes preached feminist ideals. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote 'A Vindication of the Rights of Women' (1792) which is one of the earliest and famous feminist works. The Victorian economist and philosopher, John Stuart Mill wrote 'The Subjection of Women' in 1869 and the German socialist, Friedrich Engels in his essay 'The Origin of the Family, Property and State' (1884), proclaimed marriage as a “dreary mutation of slavery,” urged its abolition and suggested public responsibility for the rearing of children.
In America, Feminism was the outgrowth of the movement for the abolition of slavery and the Temperance movement for the legal banning of liquor. Women who joined these organizations soon discovered that to make their cause effective, they required political power. The historical milestone of the Feminist movement was the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 which in its manifesto, demanded women's rights to her complete control over her property and the right to divorce her husband, guardianship of the children and an end to sexual discrimination in employment along with the right to receive equal pay with men for the same work, and most important, female franchise. As the campaign for women's suffrage grew, the more conservative Feminists limited their cause to the single issue of suffrage. In 1920 with the passage of the 19th amendment to the American constitution giving women the vote, the majority of women activists as well, as the public assumed that with female franchise, women's rights had been fully obtained.
On December 14, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an Executive order establishing the President's Commission on the status of women. Its mandate was “to examine and recommend remedies to combat the prejudices and obsolete customs and morals which act as obstacles to the complete realization of women's rights.” The President's Commission was the first official body ever to examine the status of in the United States.
Thus the 'silent fifties' came to an abrupt end with the beginnings of Feminist confrontation politics in the early 1960’s – marches, pickets and sit-ins. College and university girls began to participate in these political activities.
In contrast to the women who assembled at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 and merely protested against the ill-treatment and abuse of women by drunken husbands and achievement of their legitimate rights in marriage, control of property and earnings and equal pay with men for the same work, the demands of the modern successors are far more radical. In the largest most enthusiastic Feminist demonstration ever held, on August 26, 1970, hundreds of women marched down Fifth Avenue, New York City carrying placards which read:
HOUSEWIVES ARE UNPAID SLAVES! STATE PAY FOR HOUSEWORK! OPPRESSED WOMEN! DON"T COOK DINNER! STARVE YOUR HUSBAND TONIGHT! END HUMAN SACRAFICE! DON'T GET MARRIED! WASHING DIAPERS IS NOT FULFILLING! LEGALISE ABORTION! DEPENDENCY IS NOT HEALTHY STATE OF BEING!
Today feminists are implacably opposed to any social roles being determined by sex. Feminists assert the absolute and unqualified equality of men and women, not withstanding anatomical differences. They deny that there is any inherent biological distinction between men and women on the basis of sex which determines that the wife should be the housewife and mother and the husband the breadwinner and authoritarian head of the family. They believe that women should take just as active role in sexual intercourse as men and not be passive. They demand the abolition of institutional marriage, home and family, asset complete female sexual freedom and that the upbringing should be a public responsibility. They insist that all women should be given the right to complete control over their reproductive lives. They are demanding that all restrictions must be lifted from laws governing contraception so that devices can be publicly advertised and available over the druggist counter to any women regardless of her age and marital status and purchasable without a doctor's prescription. All laws restricting abortion should be removed and that women have a legal right to abortion at any stage of pregnancy. Abortions should not only be available at demand but should be supplied free by the state to any women who wants one so that the poor can take full advantage of facility.
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There are many different forms and personal definitions of Feminism, which is reflected by the diversity of women, diverse social situations and backgrounds.
Radical Feminism - Critical of patriarchy and the oppression of women (fundamental form of oppression in society, patriarchy as the root cause of all social disfunction). Seeking revolutionary social change. Some radical feminists advocate separatism of sexes. Definitions of feminism has been closely associated with radical feminism in the past, but this is no longer the case.
Anarcha / Anarchist Feminists - Critical of patriarchy, the oppression of women and the commercialisation of society driven by economic factors (profit).
Ecofeminists - Recognise patriarchy as detrimental not only to women but the whole living earth. Patriarchy as a means of controlling and dominating women and the wilderness. Ecofeminists may believe that the first civilisation was a matriarchy and that patriarchy has evolved over the past 5000 years.
Cultural Feminists - This view appreciates fundamental personality differences between male and female and seeks to celebrate the feminine. May also accept biological differences and how they inform cultural evolution.
Amazon Feminists - Tend to view man and woman as physically equal. Reject cultural sterotypes of masculine strength and passivity, weakness of woman. Amazon Feminists may find inspiration in strong female icons of Greek mythology, art, literature, sporting heroes. e.g. Zena Warrior Princess.
Spiritual Feminists - Worship the divine Goddess, feminine energy. Religion from a feminist perspective.
Sexually-liberal Feminism - A feminism that values and celebrates the sexual desire of females and feminine freedom of expression. Pornography and prostitution are accepted as long as the female participant is willing, informed, healthy, safe and treated with respect.
Evolutionary Feminists - This branch of feminism considers we have some degree of cultural choice as women (and men) but this is limited by the truth of biological evolution. Biology and culture (Nature / Nurture) are connected and inform each other. Evolutionary Feminists understand we need to realise this connection to be happy in life.
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 (Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792) I am aware of an obvious inference: from every quarter have I heard exclamations against masculine women; but where are they to be found? If by this appellation men mean to inveigh against their ardour in hunting, shooting, and gaming, I shall most cordially join in the cry; but if it be against the imitation of manly virtues, or, more properly speaking, the attainment of those talents and virtues, the exercise of which ennobles the human character, and which raise females in the scale of animal being, when they are comprehensively termed mankind; -- all those who view them with a philosophic eye must, I should think, wish with me, that they may every day grow more and more masculine.
 (Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex 1949) One is not born, but rather becomes a woman. No biological, psychological, or economic fate determines the figure that the human female presents in society; it is civilisation as a whole that produces this creature, intermediate between male and eunuch, which is described as feminine.
(Simone de Beauvoir, 1949) The male existent creates to maintain, the female existent maintains to create. .. The cares of maternity imprison woman in repetition and immanence.
(Simone de Beauvoir, 1949) This world of tools could be embraced with clear concepts: rational thought, logic and mathematics now appear. Woman was bound to the reign of agriculture, the reign of irreducible duration, of contingency, of chance, of waiting, of mystery; the reign of man is of necessary consequence, of the project, of action, of reason. Woman did not share his way of working and thinking.
(Simone de Beauvoir, 1949) The support of life became for man an activity and a project through the invention of the tool; but in maternity woman remains closely bound to her body, like an animal.
(Simone de Beauvoir, 1949) .. her role was only nourishing, never creative ... whereas man went on monopolizing the functions which threw open that society towards nature and towards the rest of humanity .. war, hunting, fishing represented an expansion of existence, its projection towards the world. The male alone remained the incarnation of transcendence. He did not as yet have the practical means for wholly dominating Woman-Earth; as yet he did not dare to stand up to her - but already desired to break away from her.
(Simone de Beauvoir, 1949) In woman are incarnated the disturbing mysteries of nature, and man escapes her hold when he frees himself from Nature.
(Simone de Beauvoir, 1949) Man's love is of man's life a thing apart, 'Tis woman's whole existence ...
(Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights)..the thing that irks me the most is this shattered prison. I'm tired, tired of being enclosed here. I'm wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there, not seeing it dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart; but really with it, and in it ..
(Plato, Republic) .. the only difference between men and women is one of physical function- one begets, the other bears children. Apart from that, they both can and should perform the same functions .. and should receive the same education to enable them to do so; for in this way society will get the best value from both.
(Erwin Schrodinger) The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one. The barrier between them cannot be said to have broken down as a result of recent experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier does not exist.
(Edward O. Wilson, Consilience) Today [the voice of women] is being heard loud and clear. But I do not read the welcome triumph of feminism, social, economic, and creative, as a brief for postmodernism. The advance, while opening new avenues of expression and liberating deep pools of talent, has not exploded human nature into little pieces. Instead, it has set the stage for a fuller exploration of the universal traits that unite humanity.
(Jennifer Roback Morse, Love and Economics: Why the Laissez-Faire Family Doesn't Work) We can construct, deconstruct and reconstruct our sexuality any way we want: it is our privilege as thinking creatures. However, human sexuality has a specific nature, regardless of what we believe or say about it. We are more likely to be satisfied with the outcome, if we work with our biology rather than against it. We will be happier if we face reality on its own terms.
(Peter Vardy, The Puzzle of Sex, 1997) All human beings are sexual creatures and there are few, if any, for whom the whole area of sexuality and relationships is not of interest and concern.
(Sigmund Freud)The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is 'What does a woman want?
(Alan Watts, Nature, Man, and Woman) Role playing is so automatic that we seldom notice how deeply it pervades our lives, and readily confuse its attitudes with our own natural and genuine inclinations.
(Alan Watts, Nature, Man, and Woman) Sexual love is a troubled and problematic relationship in cultures where there is a strong sense of man's separation from nature, especially when the realm of nature is felt to be inferior or contaminated with evil.
(Friedrich Nietzsche) Where neither love nor hate is in the game a woman is a mediocre player. .. The sexes deceive themselves about one another: the reason being that fundamentally they love and honour only themselves (or their own ideal, to express it more pleasantly). Thus man wants woman to be peaceful - but woman is essentially unpeaceful, like the cat, however well she may have trained herself to present an appearance of peace.
(Lyndall MacCowan) What is oppressive in our society is the linking of biological sex (female or male) to gender identity (woman or man), gender or sex role (feminine or masculine), sexual object choice (opposite), and sexual identity (heterosexual). The problem is the correlations, not the specific components ..
(Roszak, quoted in Towards a Theology of Gay Liberation) The woman most desperately in need of liberation is the 'woman' every man has locked up in the dungeons of his psyche. That is the basic act of oppression that still waits to be undone, though the undoing might well produce the most cataclysmic reinterpretation of the sexual roles and of 'sexual normalcy' in all human history.
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