Feminism Essay

Feminism According to the Collins Dictionary ’feminism’ is the advocacy of equal rights for women. The word feminist means relating to or advocating equal rights for women. The feminist movement is also known as the women’s liberation movement and aimed at procuring equal rights for women. Feminism is the theory that men and women should be equal politically, economically and socially. This forms the core of all feminist theories but it does not subscribe to gender differences or similarities .If you believe that women and men should be politically, economically and socially equal for your own reasons and hold your own ideas about how you can make that happen then you can generally consider yourself to be a feminist i.e. one who believes in the theory of feminism. (http://www.amazoncastle.com/feminism/ecocult.shtml, 02 December 2003) Some categories of feminism are: Amazon Feminism, which focuses on physical equality rather than gender role stereotypes. Amazon feminists tend to view all men and women as equally physically capable. Cultural feminism supports the idea that there are biological differences between men and women such as women are kinder and gentler. They celebrate women’s special qualities believing their ways are ‘better’. Eco-feminism rests on the premise that matriarchal society is a better and more natural option than a patriarchal one. Gender feminism gives special privileges to women with the intent of making them equal to men. Pop-feminism is the extreme form of negative man hating ideology. It degrades all men and glorifies women. Radical feminism views women’s oppression as the most fundamental form of oppression and was the cutting edge of feminist theory from 1967-1975. It is no longer as universally accept...

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...ber 2003) "I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat."Rebecca West, 1913 (quoted in Faludi, Backlash) This movement was also called the Women’s Liberation in 1970, and Germaine Greer a visionary feminist felt that women should be free to define their own values, order their own priorities and decide their own fate. (http://www.thefword.org.uk/soundbites/feminism.live/ 03 December 2003) References http://www.amazoncastle.com/feminism/ecocult.shtml, 02 December 2003 http://www.ou.edu/womensoc/feminismwomanism.htm/, 03 December 2003 http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/1feminism.html/ 03 Dec 2003 http://www.backlash.com/master/def.html/ 03 December 2003 http://www.thefword.org.uk/soundbites/feminism.live/ 03 December 2003