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Against the Dismantling of Feminism: a Study in the Politics of Meaning

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Against the Dismantling of Feminism: a Study in the Politics of Meaning A GAINST THE DISMANTLING OF FEMINISM / Denise Thompson / 1996 AGAINST THE DISMANTLING OF FEMINISM: A STUDY IN THE POLITICS OF MEANING Doctoral Thesis, School of Sociology and Social Anthropology, University of New South Wales, 1996 Denise Thompson ABSTRACT This thesis explores the neglected question of what feminism means in the current climate of academic feminist theorising wherein differing, even conflicting, claims are being made in the name of feminism. By clarifying what is at stake in these claims, this thesis makes an original contribution to feminist theory. It is divided into two Parts. In Part I, I begin with a discussion of some basic debates in sociology concerning ‘the individual’ and ‘society’, arguing not only that ‘the individual’ is social all the way through, but also that feminism requires an explicit account of the human individual as a moral and political agent with the potential for resisting relations of ruling. I then proceed to define feminism in terms of opposition to the meanings and values of male supremacy which structure a reality where only men are ‘human’, and also in terms of the concomitant struggle for a human status for women at no one’s expense. I argue in favour of a feminist standpoint which is not reducible to ‘women’s life activity’ alone, but which takes its meaning and value from its recognition of and struggle against the social system of male domination. In Part II, I argue for the limitations of defining feminism in terms which equivocate on the question of male domination. I investigate a number of representative academic feminist texts which account for the central problematic of feminism in terms other than male domination. I discuss some problems entailed in implicitly defining feminism in terms of ‘women’, ‘patriarchy’, ‘sexism’, the idealist constructs of ‘gender’ and ‘dichotomies’, as well as the concept of ‘difference’, both in the sense of differences between the sexes and in the sense of differences between and among women. This issue of differences between women is discussed at length in the last chapter in relation to the question of ‘race’ as it has been debated within feminism. I conclude with a discussion of what is involved in recently suggested links between masculinity and racism, arguing that no account of domination is adequate unless it acknowledges male supremacist relations of ruling. AGAINST THE DISMANTLING OF FEMINISM / Denise Thompson / 1996 Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Part I: Understanding Feminism............................................................... 10 Chapter One: Some Preliminary Theoretical Considerations......................... 11 Feminism and Sociology.................................................................................... 11 Ideology: Justifying Male Domination .............................................................. 29 Pleasure and Desire: ‘Enabling’ Male Domination............................................ 46 The Ideology of Individualism: Disguising Male Domination .......................... 56 Chapter Two: Defining Feminism ...................................................................... 71 On Definition...................................................................................................... 71 Defining Feminism............................................................................................. 74 Chapter Three: A Feminist Standpoint ............................................................. 90 Relativism........................................................................................................... 99 Truth and Domination ...................................................................................... 111 Meaning and Understanding ............................................................................ 117 Part II: Misunderstanding Feminism .................................................... 130 Chapter Four: Other Definitions...................................................................... 131 ‘Women’........................................................................................................... 140 ‘Patriarchy’....................................................................................................... 151 ‘Sexism’ ........................................................................................................... 158 Idealism ............................................................................................................ 161 ‘Gender’ ........................................................................................................... 163 ‘Dichotomies’................................................................................................... 172 ‘Difference’ ...................................................................................................... 176 Differences Between the Sexes.................................................................... 177 Feminist Object Relations Theory................................................................ 178 Chapter Five: Feminism and Racism............................................................... 191 Differences Among Women............................................................................. 191 Feminism and Racism ...................................................................................... 193 Misrepresenting Feminism: Denying Male Domination.................................. 197 Misinterpreting Feminism................................................................................ 202 What Does It Mean To Call Feminism ‘White and Middle-Class’?................ 218 ‘Race, Class and Gender’................................................................................. 232 The Radical Feminist Account......................................................................... 241 Racism, Masculinity and Dehumanisation....................................................... 244 Conclusion........................................................................................................... 259 References ........................................................................................................... 263 1 AGAINST THE DISMANTLING OF FEMINISM / Denise Thompson / 1996 Introduction This project can be read, at least in part, as a companion piece to Susan Faludi’s Backlash (Faludi, 1991). Whereas Backlash was an investigation of attacks on feminism which came from outside feminism, this present work investigates some attempts to dismantle feminism from within. At the same time, however, given that my project is a Doctoral dissertation written for assessment in the academic discipline of sociology, it also differs from Faludi’s book in that it is written in a quite different style from the popular journalistic style of Backlash. To say as much is not to depreciate Faludi’s work, which not only displays an impressive array of research skills, but which also represents an admirable example of the radical feminist tradition of exposing the workings of male supremacy. My work also differs from Faludi’s in that I not only use feminist insights to expose the vested interests of anti-feminism, I also attempt to give an account of what feminism is, as well as what it is not. Another difference between my work and Faludi’s is that I make no attempt to confine what I say to ‘Australian women’, unlike the implication of the inclusion of ‘American women’ in Faludi’s subtitle. In fact, what Faludi exposes in her book is not only relevant to US women. Although her data are confined to the US context, similar examples can be found anywhere. Indeed, given the world-wide hegemony of US cultural imperialism, they will often be the same examples. Nonetheless, despite these differences between the two works, the similarity remains. The recognition that attacks on feminism can masquerade as feminism itself is not an original insight of mine. Faludi herself recognised that anti-feminist positions could also be held by those identifying as feminists. Tania Modleski also recognised the same phenomenon: ‘what distinguishes this moment from other moments of backlash’ she said, ‘is the extent to which it has been carried out not against feminism but in its very name’ (Modleski, 1991: x—her emphasis. See also: Barry, 1995; Pateman, 1986), although I would suggest that all attempts to discredit feminism work against it, whether they are carried out in its name or not.1 The phenomenon has existed from the beginning 1. Modleski and I differ on where to draw the feminist/anti-feminist line in some cases. Most of her critiques, especially of the malestream Hollywood movies and ‘male feminism’, but also of some of the feminist examples, are unequivocal in their identification of the male supremacist interests served by those texts. But while she would include sexual libertarianism within feminism, I would not because the individualistic emphasis of sexual libertarianism excludes sex from political contestation. (For a further discussion of the individualistic tenor of Modleski’s defence of ‘sex radicals’, see chapter one, the section on ‘Individualism’). 1 AGAINST THE DISMANTLING OF FEMINISM / Denise Thompson / 1996 of this ‘second wave’ of feminism, under the guise of competing, conflicting, or more neutrally, just different, feminist frameworks. In the 1970s, those frameworks tended to be summed up under the headings ‘liberal
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