“Ladies start your engines”- Holly Hughes
This quote is by Holly Hughes, one of the interviewees of the Global Feminisms Project, said in response to the unknown and fascinating world of being considered a lesbian. The Global Feminism Project discusses/analyzes/examines many issues and themes of the feminist movement, such as, women of color or from different types of feminism. In this paper, I will be analyzing two interviews, Holly Hughes and Cathy Cohen, and how they relate to Feminism.
The Global Feminism Project is a collaborative project that was started in 2002. Which was funded by a grant from Rackham Graduate School (Global Feminism: Comparative Case Studies of Women's Activism and Scholarship). The purpose of this project was to
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Holly Hughes is a white woman, who grew up in a middles class family. She alludes that her relationship with her family was not the best. She attended Kalamazoo College. Hughes considers herself as a performance artist. Which she describes as a “useful place where people who…, sort of resisting codification of art forms for various reasons could sort of gather under this leaky umbrella of performance art. It’s kind of the garage band of art forms in a sense” (Asnes, Miriam (interviewer) & Hughes, Holly (Interviewee)). Through this art form she has been allowed to explore social issues of feminism, sexuality, freedom of speech and personal identity. Through her art, she has developed her identity and continues to push boundaries to include others. Some of her works include Clit Notes: A Sapphic Sampler, and O Solo Homo: TheNew Queer Performance, she co-edited with David Roman (Asnes, Miriam (interviewer) & Hughes, Holly (Interviewee)). As of 2004, Hughes is teaching at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in the School of Art and Design, and the Department of Theater and Drama.
Cathy Cohen is an African American women from a working class family. She credits her family with her ideals and beliefs. Her family valued a “commitment to the community” (Cole, Elizabeth (interviewer) & Cohen, Cathy (Interviewee)). Cohen family are well knit and very supportive, compared to Hughes. She was
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Her definition of feminism is that “women deserve equal right with men” (Asnes, Miriam (interviewer) & Hughes, Holly (Interviewee)). Compared to Cohen, the term feminism for Hughes has become “denigrated” term (Asnes, Miriam (interviewer) & Hughes, Holly (Interviewee)). She thinks this might have to do with the stereotypes and connotation of the word feminism. Hughes points out that feminism maybe denigrating, but is changing and evolving to encompass different ideas, beliefs and problems. That is what both of these interviewees are trying to point out about feminism that it is
Feminisms Matter: Debates, Theories, Activism, is a book that analyzes gender studies and theories among the ages and relates it to towards the issues that occur in everyday life. Chapter four of the text is seen to draw heavily on the issue of intersectionality and how it creates binary categories that defy the complexities of human beings . Society integrates many identities that work to categorize people into certain groups. These certain groups is what dictate the actions and view of the people within. However, this outdated use of segregating people is the main problem in terms of in terms of intersectionality as it is a form of discrimination . Victoria L. Bromley, the author of Feminism Matter, discusses the use of intersectionality
McCann, C. R. & Kim S. (2013), Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives (3rd ed.) (pp 161-173).
Hewitt, N. (2001). Re-rooting American women’s activism: Global perspectives on 1848. In C. R. McCann & S. Kim (Eds), Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives (3rd Ed.). (p. 31-38). New York, NY: Routledge.
In this essay, Gay deconstructs the stereotypical view of a feminist, by showing that you can be a feminist, even if you’re not in the small box the rest of the world thinks you should be in, in order to qualify as a ‘feminist’. Throughout the essay, Gay uses several quotes and stories from other women who are either afraid to say that they’re feminists, or don’t quite understand you don’t have to be in the limiting ‘box’, even though in their moral beliefs and actions, these sourced women are, in fact, feminists. According to Gay, if we didn’t have this stereotype, then maybe more women with diverse lives and views would be able to ‘come out’ as
Feminism is a political movement that seeks equality between the sexes. Motivated by the search for social justice, feminist analysis provides a wide range of perspectives on social, cultural, economic, and political ideologies. Important topics for feminist politics and theory include: the body, class and work, family life, globalization, human rights, popular culture, race and racism, reproduction, sex work, human trafficking, and sexuality. From early beginnings, to its current state, feminism has been a pervasive movement that has incited social, political and economic change and advancements. Generationally speaking, over the decades feminism has taken on many different meanings. Feminism has become a spectrum; each generation, or wave,
The feminist movement in USA was one of the most remarkable movements in its history. Women raised their voice and protested to achieve their basic rights which they were deprived of. Every women worked collectively for its success. The history of feminism is primarily described in three secular “waves” - as they consider every aspect of feminism which include the success and failures, goals and accomplishments in that particular period of time.
Feminism is commonly thought of as a tool for educating society on the rights of women. It teaches that a woman is equal to a man in every civil and societal accord. Realizing this is not always the case, Charlotte Bunch, a noted lesbian feminist of the 1970s also defined feminism as "a way of looking at the world - a questioning of power [and] domination issues" (WIE). Many feminists attempt to bulrush the ideals of stereotypical women and push them away from those who believe in these standards. "Feminist scholars also seek to question and transform androcentric [sic] systems of thought which position the male as the norm," says Barbara McManus. They strive to find, examine, and eliminate biases in a world encumbered with intolerant men who see women as thoughtless objects and most certainly not equals. Other women announce their impressive intellect, economic well-being, and individual personalities to the people who oppose them. "A woman should always present herself and explain her forthcoming jaunts into Feminists, like Edna, howe...
The most related terms when women’s right is brought up are feminism and feminist. A feminist, by definition, is someone the fights for feminism. The definition of feminism, one the other hand, is very complex. Throughout history, the word has continuously had bad images and connotations thrown its wa...
A growing population of women’s activists can be attributed to the growing number of courses being offered and information available. Only a few decades ago this would not have been heard of. It is due to the increasing amount of awareness on the topic of women’s status as second class citizens that activism has increased. Through various media, we have learned of topics such as the “glass ceiling”, the working conditions of women in Third World countries, the current injustices against women being carried out in the First World, reproductive rights, as written about by Angle Davis, and other limitations imposed on women.
Gloria Anzaldúa writes in her essay ‘Speaking in Tongues: A Letter To 3rd World Women’s Writers’ that the “woman of colour is invisible both in the white male mainstream world and in the white women’s feminist word”. Anzaldúa refers to the other International feminist writers and thinkers as her “dear Hermanas”; it speaks to other International feminists thinkers as a collective branch of sisters, fighting the male patriarchy and female racism. Anzaldúa does not advocate for women of colour to stay complacent in the name of preserving the sanctity of the Feminism with a capital F. Instead her essay makes clear that “we cannot allow ourselves to be tokenized”, and as a result should use writing, in and out of academia to make ‘our’ points heard. Anzaldúa is an International Feminist, specifically as she refers to it, as a 3rd World feminist despite living and writing in the US. She is an International Feminist as she is writing in a language that is not her native Spanish. Similarly, bell hooks advocates too for what Anzaldúa is emphasising. hooks states that it is with contradiction that “white females have structured a woman’s liberation movement that is racist and excludes many non-white women” but insists that this contradiction should not “lead any woman to ignore feminist issues”. Both hooks and Anzaldúa are agreed in the continuous marginalisation of non-white female voice in Western feminism, but insist that non-white feminists must “re-appropriate the term “feminism” to focus on […] the authentic sense of the term”. What we can take from this then, is that the relationship between Western Feminism and International Feminism is virtually non-existent due to the rampant diminishing of non-white female voices and the
Feminism can simply be defined as a range of movements and ideologies in which share a common ground in terms of defining, establishing and achieving equal opportunities to that of males, in regards to economic, cultural and social rights. It is a critique of male supremacy with efforts in changing this to end the social oppression of women. (Hooks, 2000)
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...
Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives. Feminist political ideology focuses on understanding and changing political philosophies for the betterment of women.
The term “feminism” tends to have a negative connotation in today’s culture. Feminism is now focusing on female dominance and male disrespect. Women are fighting for equality, yet using personal bias to define equality, claiming identical rights for all will produce an equal culture. The mainstream feminist movement is using this corrupted view of equality to force rights of women. Contrary to popular belief, true feminism fights for true equality for women, as well as other people groups. The false view of feminism causes women to distort gender roles, dishonor themselves, and degrade men.
Global feminism movements focus on the need for women of the world to work together to solve systemic issues which result from the effects of patriarchal structures and customs on women’s health and general wellbeing and their social, economic and political rights. Whereas transnational feminism movements focus on the intersectionality of oppression, the ways in which social status and social identity, combine to impact women’s experiences. These movements view that the global media, globalisation of the world’s economy and increasing migration across borders make it impossible and undesirable to divide people into ingroups and outgroups (the notions of “us” and