Benhabib brings up a point that struck me about the feminist movement that I had never noticed before. There was always some sort of paradigm clash going on between women...in the movement! The dictionary, based on dictionary.com, defines paradigm as 'a framework containing the basic assumptions, ways of thinking, and methodology that are commonly accepted by the members of a scientific community.' In this case, we'll say political community. It infuriates me yet also makes me curious when I think about women fighting passionately for their rights while fighting with each other about the knit-picky details. Thankfully, Benhabib agrees with me...
"I do not celebrate this mood of reveling in difference and basking in fragmentation; nor am I
nostalgic for a sense of lost unity in the women’s movement which itself rarely existed. A
healthy plurality of visions and strategies about the meaning of women’s emancipation has
always been an aspect of the various women’s movements," (Benhabib 2).
Key word there: healthy. So many times, with so many clashes, did women seem to make their path to equality more difficult for themselves. Someone always forgot someone else, or one woman's version of femininity was different than another's and neither would back down and compromise. Postmodern feminism derived from their not being any recognition of the minority female groups in standpoint feminism (lesbians, black women, women of poorer class). Another fight among women. The clashes go on and on. So which one was right? Which paradigm truly embodied the feminist movement?
I enjoyed reading Benhabib because she answers the question above by pretty much saying there is no right answer. There is no one historical moment in which the feminist movement was created from. From there we get our struggle of identity. Which, I believe, is all the feminist movement was: a search for the female identity.
"The view that not only gender but also sexuality is socially constructed allows one to enter the
terrain of political contestation around issues like sexuality and sexual identity which were
hitherto considered to lie outside politics," (Benhabib 5).
Women were looking for a way to define themselves, based on and rejecting the standards they were held to by men. They gave agency to society and said it was ALL who came up with this idea of a 'female' and what her duties, morals, and standards should be according to the social sphere. My ideas and thoughts are still very broad and spaced out when it comes to the feminist movement, as I have not studied much on the subject but, my opinions and theoretical outlooks so far seem to match with Benhabib's. She made me question the validity of the movement and search for a place where we may be able to say all of this identity crisis began.
Valerie,
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was very interesting. I agree that it is infuriating to see how women struggle to create a successful feminist movement because they waste time and energy struggling to find a common and universal female identity. It's difficult to create and advocate for change without a large group advocating for change alongside you. This struggle in feminism stems from the idea that many women don't understand that feminism is actually just the belief that both men and women deserve equal rights and opportunities, and not just advocating for women and trashing men. Many women struggle to find themselves in Feminism because historically feminists have been the liberal rebels, burning their bras and protesting for voting rights (when that wasn't the norm), and rebellion isn't necessarily what the average woman throughout history has wanted. Has the homemakers and the peacekeepers for centuries, women rarely wanted to step out and cause a rift in the patriarchal power struggle, out of fear or out of breaking tradition, I'm not sure. There are so many factors that have encouraged women to fight and dissent from a common goal. This specifically can be seen with women's reproductive rights movements which, alone, could create disagreement amongst a modern feminist movement due to the millions of women who identify as pro-life. I definitely wish there was a way to find a modern representative feminist movement, perhaps if the country were a bit smaller and less polarized?
Best,
Joelle Garcia
Valerie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your notion and findings of how women sometimes make their own advancement more difficult when on their quest for equality. So many times do we see women in the public sphere contradicting themselves, when in reality they should be advocating for something else. Postmodernist feminine theory should always acknowledge the standard, or rather so-called standard view of feminism. The feminist movement involved and has involved several paradigms at a time. They exist in a symbiotic manner, where feminist theory and politics have to look at the actions and writings and work of their predecessors in order to make new decisions and enforce new ideals cohesive with contemporary society.
Similarly, I also enjoyed reading Benhabib. I found her work to be particularly enlightening, and I liked the stark contract and differentiations between the paradigms of contemporary feminism and feminist theory and the way that it has been shaped by women’s participation in history. There really is no way of pinpointing when the feminist movement began, in regards to American history in particular, because our recollection of the beginning of any sort of feminist movement within our country begins with a scattered recollection of occurrences. As far as questioning the validity of the movement is concerned, I would leave that up to you to form your own opinion from your findings. What one woman considers feminism, another may consider an act against all womankind. What I would suggest is to possibly question the ethical validity concerning neo-feminist theories and politics of today.
-Valeria Vargas Caro
I like how you approached the topic of how we are able to define feminism if we experience many different identity clashes. I, as well, have not studied feminism in depth previous to reading this assigned reading. I definitely feel that woman have been able to create many different biases collectively. We, women, would like to believe that we view everyone equal. But just as it was mentioned, there is has still been distinct separation based on race, class, and social issues that have affected how we view each other. Although, we would generally like to view our fellow women the same, we tend to associate women of lower standings with certain issues than those that our better off. Yes, society contributes to this idea. Yes, men within society contribute to this as well. However, if we became the collective that we are viewed as, would we have the power to join together to defend our identity? Is our identity beyond our control, regardless?
ReplyDelete