DOCSLIB.ORG

FEMINISM and the CONTRADICTIONS of OPPRESSION This Page Intentionally Left Blank

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
FEMINISM and the CONTRADICTIONS of OPPRESSION This Page Intentionally Left Blank FEMINISM AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF OPPRESSION This page intentionally left blank. FEMINISM AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF OPPRESSION CAROLINE RAMAZANOGLU London and New York First published 1989 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1989 Caroline Ramazanoglu All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0-203-40428-9 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-71252-8 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-02835-3 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-02836-1 (pbk) CONTENTS Preface and acknowledgements vii Part One: Feminism as a Theory of Oppression INTRODUCTION TO PART ONE 3 1FEMINISM AS CONTRADICTION 5 2WHAT IS WRONG WITH FEMINISM?24 3MAKING FEMINISM BELIEVABLE43 4WOMEN AGAINST MEN—FEMINIST KNOWLEDGE OF WOMEN’S OPPRESSION 57 Part Two: Divisions between Women—Into the Impasse INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO93 5WOMEN AGAINST WOMEN—CLASS, WORK, POWER96 6WOMEN AGAINST WOMEN—NATIONALITY, ETHNICITY, RACE 116 7WOMEN AGAINST WOMEN—CULTURE, IDEOLOGY, SEXUALITY 138 Part Three: Divisions between Women—Out of the Impasse INTRODUCTION TO PART THREE172 vi FEMINISM AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF OPPRESSION 8FEMINISM AND LIBERATION173 NOTES 192 BIBLIOGRAPHY 197 INDEX 216 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is addressed to serious problems in the connections between feminist social theory and feminist political strategy. The enormous pop- ularity of feminism in recent years has made improvements in the rela- tions between men and women a real possibility, but has also provoked considerable opposition. Some are now arguing that feminism was an idealistic political movement born of the 1960s which has failed to mea- sure up to the harsh realities of the 1980s. Yet the potential of feminism for the transformation of society has hardly been realized. Feminism is far from dead or dying, but feminists are often divided, confused and weary. The last twenty years or so have generated a diversity of feminist activity all over the world, but this activity, which started by asserting women’s common interests as women, has drawn increasing attention to the differences between women. It is only if these differences can be iden- tified, clarified and dealt with that effective strategies for the liberation of divided women can be clearly worked out. This book is intended as a positive contribution to the process of clarification. During the 1960s and 1970s, radical feminism made the person behind the book at least partly visible. The author was no longer an impartial conveyor of general truths, but a subjective woman or man with a particular social position in a particular society. In writing on fem- inism I cannot take a universal standpoint, I can only look out from my own position and try to see beyond the boundaries that this imposes. I have written as a white, western, middle-class sociologist, now into mid- dle age, married late to a foreigner and with two young sons. I write, therefore, as a woman exhausted by combining paid work and mother- hood in a patriarchal society, but also as one of the most privileged of women attracted to feminism, and from a class and race that has received viii FEMINISM AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF OPPRESSION a great deal of criticism from less privileged women in recent years. Given this lack of objectivity, the problems of how diverse women can arrive at general feminist political strategies appropriate to the liberation of all women are considered throughout the book. In the 1960s, feminists began to write in the first person and to speak of women as ‘we’, on the grounds that we all shared common interests as women oppressed by men. This use of ‘we’ has since been criticized by women who felt that their own lives were not included in many fem- inist generalizations. Since the basis of these criticisms, and the problems for feminism which they raise, form the theme of this book, I have not used an unqualified ‘we’. I have used ‘we’ on some occasions when the points made seemed appropriate; when ‘we’ could be clearly qualified, or could be used of all women. I have used ‘they’ when writing of the feminists who have (regrettably but unavoidably) become constructed as the objects of this book. In practice it has been difficult to decide when it is appropriate to identify women as ‘us’. The often uncertain line between ‘them’ and ‘us’ has come out of women’s struggles against each other.‘I’ has been used to indicate personal positions and opinions which have shaped the particular approach to feminism taken here. I have, however, tried to evaluate feminism from the perspective of feminist politics, rather than from my personal stance. Feminist politics makes the choice of initial capitals or lower-case let- ters of some significance. I have opted in general for lower-case letters where there is debate on this issue. I have used lower case for both black women and white women. Although Black has been used in recent years to emphasize the importance of black experience and identity which had been made invisible in racist societies, the problem with using Black and white is that it renders white politically unproblematic. I think the category of white is extremely problematic and needs critical attention. However, using Black and White seems politically no improvement on black and white, so I have simply used the latter and consider that neither term should be taken for granted. On the same grounds, I have used lower case for the west, the east and the third world. While I have generally retained the convention of capitals for some categories of women such as Muslims and Asians, I have used lower case for all categories of feminism. Otherwise the convention of referring to Marxist feminism and radical feminism seems to unbalance the relative importance of these versions of feminism. I am grateful to those who have offered support and encouragement so that I could write this book. Colleagues in the department of sociol- PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix ogy at Goldsmiths’ College covered my teaching during a year’s leave of absence. Various comments on draft sections of the manuscript, on per- sonal conversations, telephone calls and cries for help were made by Priscilla Alderson, Janet Bujra, Betsy Ettorre, Janet Holland, Huseyin Ramazanoglu, Sue Scott, Vic Seidler, and Angela Stock. To all of these I am grateful for their responses, and none of them bears any responsibil- ity for what I have written. Thanks too to personal tutees, and students on the sociology of sex and gender course at Goldsmiths’ College, for making me think, and to Emre and Jem for (mostly) letting me get on with it. This page intentionally left blank. Part One FEMINISM AS A THEORY OF OPPRESSION This page intentionally left blank. INTRODUCTION TO PART ONE The outburst of feminist theory and practice, which has affected so many women’s lives since the 1960s, differed from previous forms of feminism. It started from assertions of women’s common sisterhood in oppression. Sisterhood expressed the idea that in general women have interests opposed to those of men, that men generally dominate women, and generally benefit from this domination. During the 1970s, however, feminists produced new knowledge of women’s lives. Instead of estab- lishing women’s shared oppression as women, they began to emphasize the differences between women. Once attention was given to the diver- sity of women’s experience, to the power of some women over other women, and to the political and economic interests shared by some men and some women, problems were created for feminism. Differences of interest between women challenged feminist theory of women’s shared oppression. They also undermined the basis of feminist political practice. If women do not have interests in common, then it is not clear how fem- inist politics can change all women’s lives for the better. The problems for feminist politics raised by these areas of difference constitute the main theme of the book. Part One serves to clarify preliminary problems in approaching recent feminist analyses of women’s differences. Opinions differ on how feminism may be dated, according to how it is defined. In order to avoid constant qualification, I have termed the period of feminist thought which developed from the 1960s to the time of writing, new-wave feminism, but elsewhere it may be referred to as second-wave, be divided into second-wave and third-wave or be labelled feminism and post-feminism. In Part One, new-wave feminism is presented as inherently contradictory. As it developed, theoretical accounts have been given of male dominance and female oppression 3 4 FEMINISM AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF OPPRESSION which focus on the relationships between women and men. But in order to understand women’s situations fully, it is also necessary to account for women’s relationships with other women. New-wave feminism has brought to light the many divisions between women which cut across our common experiences as women, and so has a contradiction at its heart. Women are very generally dominated by men, and live in societies in which such domination is taken to be natu- ral and desirable, but women also oppress each other, and new-wave feminism has no clear means of resolving these divisions between us.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Gender Inequality and Restrictive Gender Norms: Framing the Challenges to Health
    Series Gender Equality, Norms, and Health 1 Gender inequality and restrictive gender norms: framing the challenges to health Lori Heise*, Margaret E Greene*, Neisha Opper, Maria Stavropoulou, Caroline Harper, Marcos Nascimento, Debrework Zewdie, on behalf of the Gender Equality, Norms, and Health Steering Committee† Lancet 2019; 393: 2440–54 Gender is not accurately captured by the traditional male and female dichotomy of sex. Instead, it is a complex social Published Online system that structures the life experience of all human beings. This paper, the first in a Series of five papers, investigates May 30, 2019 the relationships between gender inequality, restrictive gender norms, and health and wellbeing. Building upon past http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ work, we offer a consolidated conceptual framework that shows how individuals born biologically male or female S0140-6736(19)30652-X develop into gendered beings, and how sexism and patriarchy intersect with other forms of discrimination, such as See Comment pages 2367, 2369, 2371, 2373, and 2374 racism, classism, and homophobia, to structure pathways to poor health. We discuss the ample evidence showing the This is the first in a Series of far-reaching consequences of these pathways, including how gender inequality and restrictive gender norms impact five papers about gender health through differential exposures, health-related behaviours and access to care, as well as how gender-biased health equality, norms, and health research and health-care systems reinforce and reproduce gender inequalities, with serious implications for health. *Joint first authors The cumulative consequences of structured disadvantage, mediated through discriminatory laws, policies, and †Members of the Steering institutions, as well as diet, stress, substance use, and environmental toxins, have triggered important discussions Committee are listed at the end about the role of social injustice in the creation and maintenance of health inequities, especially along racial and of this Series paper socioeconomic lines.
    [Show full text]
  • Intersectionality and Feminist Politics Yuval-Davis, Nira
    www.ssoar.info Intersectionality and Feminist Politics Yuval-Davis, Nira Postprint / Postprint Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Zur Verfügung gestellt in Kooperation mit / provided in cooperation with: www.peerproject.eu Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Yuval-Davis, N. (2006). Intersectionality and Feminist Politics. European Journal of Women's Studies, 13(3), 193-209. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506806065752 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter dem "PEER Licence Agreement zur This document is made available under the "PEER Licence Verfügung" gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zum PEER-Projekt finden Agreement ". For more Information regarding the PEER-project Sie hier: http://www.peerproject.eu Gewährt wird ein nicht see: http://www.peerproject.eu This document is solely intended exklusives, nicht übertragbares, persönliches und beschränktes for your personal, non-commercial use.All of the copies of Recht auf Nutzung dieses Dokuments. Dieses Dokument this documents must retain all copyright information and other ist ausschließlich für den persönlichen, nicht-kommerziellen information regarding legal protection. You are not allowed to alter Gebrauch bestimmt. Auf sämtlichen Kopien dieses Dokuments this document in any way, to copy it for public or commercial müssen alle Urheberrechtshinweise und sonstigen Hinweise purposes, to exhibit the document in public, to perform, distribute auf gesetzlichen Schutz beibehalten werden. Sie dürfen dieses or otherwise use the document in public. Dokument nicht in irgendeiner Weise abändern, noch dürfen By using this particular document, you accept the above-stated Sie dieses Dokument für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke conditions of use. vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, aufführen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Mit der Verwendung dieses Dokuments erkennen Sie die Nutzungsbedingungen an.
    [Show full text]
  • Misogyny Versus Misandry: from “Comparative Suffering” to Inter-Sexual Dialogue
    Misogyny versus Misandry: From “Comparative Suffering” to Inter-Sexual Dialogue Paul NathaNsoN aNd KatheriNe K. Y ouNg One reason for the current polarization between men and women—a situation that has become worse, not better, over the past two or three years—is the lack of any moral or philosophical paradigm for moving beyond polarization. The obstacle is a paradigm, comparative suffering, that leads inevitably toward the mobilization of resentment between various sexual, racial, ethnic, economic, religious or linguistic groups. From this deeply cynical perspective, groups compete in the public square for both moral status and political power by claiming that they alone deserve the status of collective victims and therefore that their adversaries alone deserve the stigma of collective victimizers. This presents NEW MALE STUDIES: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ~ ISSN 1839-7816 ~ VOL. 3, ISSUE 3, 2014, PP. 72-92 © 2014 AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF MALE HEALTH AND STUDIES. 73 the latter with a very difficult problem: how to establish and maintain a healthy collective identity in the face of pervasive prejudice. At the moment, men are experiencing this problem as acutely as women ever did but without the academic and political resources that feminism has generated during the past half century. One solution would be to replace inter-sexual debate with inter-sexual dialogue. Keywords: feminism; egalitarian feminism; ideological feminism; misandry; misogyny; rape culture; autonomy; victim; victimizer; comparative suffering; mobilization of resentment; identity; vulner - ability; masculine identity; fatherhood; motherhood; single parenthood; inter-sexual debate; and inter-sexual dialogue. introductory Note The following text was originally written to be read as a contribution to a meeting in Detroit, Michi - gan, on July 27-28, 2014, billed as the First International Conference on Men’s Issues, sponsored by “A Voice for Men.” It is presented here in a revised version.
    [Show full text]
  • Misogyny: the Extremist Gateway?
    UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME OSLO GOVERNANCE CENTRE MISOGYNY: THE EXTREMIST GATEWAY? JUNE 2021 Extremism InFocus, Issue Brief 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DEFINING Misogyny is often central to violent extremist indoctrination, recruitment and ideology and yet it mostly escapes scrutiny by policymakers. Closer attention to the MYSOGYNY AND relationship between misogyny and violent extremism will improve understanding of how the two relate at the level of individual radicalization, the dynamics within VIOLENT violent extremist groups and in shaping their political agendas. While the problem of misogyny is not new – as it is rooted in longstanding structural inequalities and EXTREMISM discrimination against women – its relationship with violent extremism is rapidly Misogyny is often defined as the evolving, due in part to the rise of social media and Internet-enabled globalization hatred of women, conceived as of hate. a belief held by individual men and some women. Philosopher Misogyny is linked to violent extremism in several ways. Some men have Kate Manne however defines it deliberately targeted women in attacks they justify as driven by their hatred of more broadly as: “a political women, incidents that sometimes are called terrorist attacks. Certain violent phenomenon whose purpose is extremist groups have also made practices such as rape, forced marriage and to police and enforce women’s enslavement a part of their repertoires of violence and forms of social control. subordination and to uphold Online attacks, such as doxing, disproportionately target women at a time when male dominance."[2] Men many violent extremist groups are embracing ideologies that perceive the gains demand a variety of services women have made in recent decades in terms of participation in public life, from women: love, admiration, leadership and the economy as a threat.
    [Show full text]
  • ON INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION and SEXUALIZED VIOLENCE in COLLEGE WOMEN Marina Leigh Costanzo
    University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Graduate School Professional Papers 2018 ON INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION AND SEXUALIZED VIOLENCE IN COLLEGE WOMEN Marina Leigh Costanzo Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Recommended Citation Costanzo, Marina Leigh, "ON INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION AND SEXUALIZED VIOLENCE IN COLLEGE WOMEN" (2018). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 11264. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/11264 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ON INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION AND SEXUALIZED VIOLENCE IN COLLEGE WOMEN By MARINA LEIGH COSTANZO B.A., University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2010 M.A., University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, 2013 Dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology The University of Montana Missoula, MT August 2018 Approved by: Scott Whittenburg, Dean of The Graduate School Graduate School Christine Fiore, Chair Psychology Laura Kirsch Psychology Jennifer Robohm Psychology Gyda Swaney Psychology Sara Hayden Communication Studies INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION AND SEXUALIZED VIOLENCE ii Costanzo, Marina, PhD, Summer 2018 Clinical Psychology Abstract Chairperson: Christine Fiore Sexualized violence on college campuses has recently entered the media spotlight. One in five women are sexually assaulted during college and over 90% of these women know their attackers (Black et al., 2011; Cleere & Lynn, 2013).
    [Show full text]
  • The Era Campaign and Menstrual Equity
    THE ERA CAMPAIGN AND MENSTRUAL EQUITY Jennifer Weiss-Wolf¥ A robust national campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment conceded defeat in 1982 when ratification fell short by three of the 38 states needed to prevail. But in 2017, the Nevada legislature cast its vote to ratify the ERA, followed by Illinois in 2018, marking a revival. Now national movement leaders and legislators in several states—notably, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia—are rallying to achieve the 38-state threshold.1 Over the nearly four decades in between, of course, much has changed in American life and law. The fight for gender equality under the law has made significant headway—from the evolution of Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence in sex discrimination cases, to advances in employment and economic policies, to the now vibrant and potent era of activism defined by campaigns like #MeToo and #TIMESUP. Well beyond the symbolic significance of enshrining gender equality in the Constitution, there are lingering legal and policy inequities the ERA would help rectify—among these, workplace discrimination, including on account of pregnancy; paid family leave; and increased protection from violence and harassment. Other benefits include the ability of Congress to enforce gender equality through legislation and, more generally, creation of a social framework to formally acknowledge systemic biases that permeate and often limit women’s daily experiences. There is one issue, in particular—an emerging area of U.S. policymaking— that falls squarely at the intersection of these goals and outcomes, but is largely absent from ERA discourse thus far: menstruation and the emerging movement for “menstrual equity.” This essay describes the progress of that agenda through policy advocacy, litigation, and social activism, and explains why menstrual equity belongs in discourse about—and will be an invaluable asset for—the campaign to ratify the ERA.
    [Show full text]
  • FNF Women's Forum
    KEYNOTE MESSAGE Liberal Forum on Women in Leadership Roles Cape Town, South Africa 3 April 2017 Power That Includes, Not Excludes Maria Leonor Gerona-Robredo Vice President of the Philippines Thank you very much for this opportunity to speak to individuals who respect women—those who hold up half the sky but end up carrying more of its weight. Perhaps 100 years from now, our generation will be known for the audacity of commercial flights to the moon or finding the cure for the common flu. And yet sadly, it will also be remembered for its inability to curb violence against women or misogyny at the highest levels of governments around the world. Such a forum as this saves humanity from the ignominy of widespread apathy to the issues that women face. I don’t know if anyone of you here has ever visited the Philippines. But I would like to bring you to a place you’ve probably never set foot before. In my hometown called Naga, there’s a lady who walks with an exaggerated limp, her left foot much shorter than her right, because she was afflicted by polio when she was very little. Poverty is a huge reality in our country, so it’s not uncommon to see women—even differently abled women—working to help make both ends meet. But this lady, Fe Carranza by name, is something else. Every day, she goes out to sell buns of bread at the Naga City Hall and other business establishments across the city. To deliver her products, she herself drove a tricycle, which looks like this.
    [Show full text]
  • Misogyny & Violent Extremism
    M ISOGYNY & VIOLENT EXTREMISM: IMPLICATIONS FOR PREVENTING VIOLENT EXTREMISM MELISSA JOHNSTON AND JACQUI TRUE OCTOBER 2019 There is a troubling commonality in terrorist attacks, extremist ideologies and brutal crimes: the violent misogyny of the perpetrators. Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, UN General Assembly Address, September 2019 KEY FINDINGS 1. Hostile sexist attitudes toward women and support for violence against women are the factors most strongly associated with support for violent extremism based on survey research in four countries in 2018-19. In three countries in Asia (Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines) individuals who support violence against women are three times more likely to support violent extremism. Similar results were found in Libya. More than any other factor, support for violence against women predicted support for violent extremism. 2. There was no correlation at all between common factors thought to affect support for violent extremism – such as the degree of religiosity, age, gender, level of education achieved, employment, and geographic area. 3. Quantitative and qualitative analysis reveals misogyny to be integral to the ideology, political identity, and political economy of current violent extremist groups.1 1 INTRODUCTION common—their prior perpetration of violence against women.8 Scholars and practitioners analysing violent Many analysts see terrorism and violent extremism as extremism have noticed the continuum and commonalities a part of a “man’s world”. Mostly men engage in violent of violence, fear and control present in both domestic acts; men lead groups like Islamic State or the Ku Klux violence and terrorism.9 In political terms, there is an Klan and tend to be the main protagonists of “lone overlap between misogyny and conservative politics in wolf” attacks.
    [Show full text]
  • The “Male” Privilege of White Women
    International Feminist Journal of Politics ISSN: 1461-6742 (Print) 1468-4470 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rfjp20 The “male” privilege of White women, the “White” privilege of Black women, and vulnerability to violence: an intersectional analysis of Peace Corps workers in host countries Meghan Elizabeth Kallman To cite this article: Meghan Elizabeth Kallman (2019): The “male” privilege of White women, the “White” privilege of Black women, and vulnerability to violence: an intersectional analysis of Peace Corps workers in host countries, International Feminist Journal of Politics, DOI: 10.1080/14616742.2018.1561204 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2018.1561204 Published online: 24 Apr 2019. Submit your article to this journal View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rfjp20 INTERNATIONAL FEMINIST JOURNAL OF POLITICS https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2018.1561204 The “male” privilege of White women, the “White” privilege of Black women, and vulnerability to violence: an intersectional analysis of Peace Corps workers in host countries Meghan Elizabeth Kallman School for Global Inclusion & Social Development, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, USA ABSTRACT This article is an intersectional analysis of race, gender, and nationality in development work. Using interview, document, and observational data, I situate this inquiry in the context of US women’s work in the Peace Corps, an organization within a field marked by colonialism. I find that White women and women of color have similar and yet instructively different experiences of their gendered identities in field sites, because race and gender differently affect their identities and relative privilege abroad.
    [Show full text]
  • Mixed Messages: Slut Shaming in Mean Girls and Easy A
    Mixed Messages: Slut Shaming in Mean Girls and Easy A Laurie McMillan Abstract: Problems with slut shaming have received increased attention since the late 1990s, but actually changing rhetorics associated with the word “slut” is tricky. Two teen comedies that address slut shaming, Mean Girls (2004) and Easy A (2010), show how feminist conversations can become warped when translated into a mass market genre. The movies explicitly condemn slut shaming, but changing rhetoric involves addressing not simply the term “slut” but also underlying cultur- al narratives. The movies successfully challenge heteronormative competition and sexual double standards; however, they undo their positive messages as they rely on good girl/bad girl dichotomies that perpetuate slut shaming. These movies thus illustrate the difficulty in adopting feminist messages for commercial venues that are invested in wide public appeal. Keywords: slut, slut shaming, teen movie, genre, Mean Girls, Easy A High school slut shaming as a specifically gendered form of bullying has received increased attention in the new millennium, both in academic research and in public conversations. Although many feminists argue that the solution to slut shaming is simply to stop using the term “slut,” more sophisticated analyses go beyond the rhetoric of individual words and call for the trans- formation of underlying cultural narratives that link a woman’s morality with her sexual behavior (Brontsema; Godrej 6; Mills 36). However, transforming cultural narratives is a slow process, and feminist thinking is often distorted as it enters the mainstream (McRobbie 539). While popular media can poten- tially challenge problematic social norms and offer progressive narratives that reach a large audience, popular media can also face constraints that limit and undercut an ostensibly feminist message.
    [Show full text]
  • Slut Pride: the Reappropriation Attempt by Slutwalk
    Quercus: Linfield Journal of Undergraduate Research Volume 2 Article 3 2016 Slut Pride: The Reappropriation Attempt by SlutWalk Siena C. Noe Linfield College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/quercus Recommended Citation Noe, Siena C. (2016) "Slut Pride: The Reappropriation Attempt by SlutWalk," Quercus: Linfield Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2 , Article 3. Available at: https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/quercus/vol2/iss1/3 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It is brought to you for free via open access, courtesy of DigitalCommons@Linfield, with permission from the rights-holder(s). Your use of this Article must comply with the Terms of Use for material posted in DigitalCommons@Linfield, or with other stated terms (such as a Creative Commons license) indicated in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, or if you have questions about permitted uses, please contact [email protected]. Slut Pride: The Reappropriation Attempt by SlutWalk Acknowledgements Thanks to Brenda DeVore Marshall for her perpetual patience, guidance, and enthusiasm. This article is available in Quercus: Linfield Journal of Undergraduate Research: https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/ quercus/vol2/iss1/3 Noe: Slut Pride SLUT PRIDE: THE REAPPROPRIATION ATTEMPT BY SLUTWALK A slew of scantily clad women marching through the streets shouting obscenities like “Slut, slut! Ho, ho! Yes means yes! No means no!” may seem a little unusual especially if the women are known to hold “respectable” positions and lead otherwise “respectable” lives. So what exactly is going on? The first SlutWalk took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2011, its idea conceived from feminist ideology and ignited by a comment made by Toronto Police officer, Constable Michael Sanguinetti.
    [Show full text]
  • This Is What a Feminist Tweets Like: "Women's Language" and Styling Activist Identities in a #Yesallwomen Twitter Corpus
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2019 This Is What a Feminist Tweets Like: "Women's Language" and Styling Activist Identities in a #YesAllWomen Twitter Corpus Eleanor A. Morikawa The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3379 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST TWEETS LIKE: ‘WOMEN’S LANGUAGE’ AND STYLING ACTIVIST IDENTITIES IN A #YESALLWOMEN TWITTER CORPUS BY ELEANOR A. MORIKAWA A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2019 © 2019 Eleanor Morikawa All Rights Reserved ii This is what a feminist tweets like: 'Women's language' and styling activist identities in a #YesAllWomen Twitter corpus by Eleanor A. Morikawa This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Linguistics in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Cecelia Cutler Chair of Examining Committee Date Gita Martohardjono Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Matthew Garley Jillian Cavanaugh Lauren Squires THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract This dissertation presents results of a study of linguistic practice in the context of feminist activism on Twitter. Twitter has become a primary medium for social and political activism and a rich venue for study of the relationship between digitally mediated language and identity production.
    [Show full text]