Introduction to Feminist Thought and Action

#WTF and How Did We Get Here? #WhosThatFeminist #WhatsThatFeminism

Menoukha Case, Allison Craig, Menoukha Robin Case, Allison V. Craig

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781032297828
• eBook ISBN: 9781351727204
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Feminism & Feminist Theory
• Index: Social Sciences

Introduction to Feminist Thought and Action is an accessible foundation that whets appetite for further study. It provides a non-US-centric introduction to gender studies, covering topics like 19th-century African, Chinese, and Arab movements, and foregrounds Black and Indigenous feminisms. Several case studies—the Aztecs and the Spanish, Agriculture and Gender, Beauty and Authority, Racial Stereotypes, and US Voting Rights—reveal how the interconnected architecture of privilege and oppression affects issues like globalization, media, and the environment. Feminist theories about race, sexuality, class, disabilities, and more culminate in step-by-step instructions for applying intersectionality and practicing activism. Rich with 19 diverse first-person voices, it brings feminism to life and lives to feminism.

Part One

Stakes and Stories

Introduction: Welcome! Are you a Feminist?

2017 was a big year for women in the US. From a women’s march that outnumbered attendance at the presidential inauguration to #MeToo revelations about sexual misconduct, to Black women voters ousting accused pedophile Roy Moore, movements led by women seized the spotlight after the 2016 election. In response, Merriam-Webster made “feminism” the word of the year. This is nothing short of amazing given that feminism has often been belittled as the F-word. Equally interesting is that not all the women participating in these various movements would call themselves feminists.

Figure 1.1 Word of the Year.¹

What is at stake if you say you’re a feminist or not? Whether you claim the name or not, you may be thinking or acting like a feminist if you share feminist goals and values. How can those identifying as feminists find common ground and work together with those who don’t?

1 Stakes

Inequity

Merriam-Webster defines feminism as: [1] “the theory of political, economic, and social equality of the sexes” and [2] “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”² Because inequality isn’t determined by sex alone, this popular definition is incomplete. Activists (those who organize activity) have broadened this incomplete definition, including many reasons and ways to be a feminist. If you value respect, empowerment, and freedom for everyone, you share feminist values. If you want equity regardless of race, class, gender, or sexuality, you share feminist goals.

By definition, inequity exists when something is given to someone or some group and kept from others. It can be as simple as giving someone you like a bigger slice of cake or as extreme and horrific as treating people as property. Inequity of any kind elicits protests and a fight for fairness, often called “equal rights.” When something is quantifiable like a piece of cake or pay, “equal” means “the same,” but when it comes to less measurable qualities, there’s a common misconception about what “equality between the sexes” actually means. It does not mean we should treat women as if they are exactly the same as men but instead that neither should be treated as superior or inferior. Similarly, people of different ethnicities have distinct histories and cultures but should not be treated as more-than or less-than because of these differences. Equity, therefore, accords equal respect, not identical treatment that erases our valuable differences. Feminism is part of the struggle for equity.

First, let’s look at why inequity awakens a drive for equal rights. According to recent science, the desire for fairness is biological. Primatologist Frans de Waal studied how some animals empathize with one another, cooperate to achieve goals, and value reciprocity and fairness. They even protest when witnessing inequity that doesn’t affect them directly, as did Capuchin monkeys who refused their favorite food, grapes, when their partners were given bland cucumbers.³ Evolution was once thought to be driven by competition (survival of the fittest), but scientists now understand cooperation is the key drive.⁴ Humans, like other animals, respond to caring. Our compassion-based biology floods the body with chemicals that offer a sense of well-being. It seems reasonable, then, that humans are driven more by reciprocity (fairness), empathy (compassion), and cooperation (sharing) than violence, threats, and conflict.

Any fight for equal rights usually meets resistance. People who protect, promote, and believe in inequities may be motivated less by compassion chemicals and more by chemicals released by another biological drive: fight, flight, or freeze. Research since 2008 has found correlations between political attitudes, physiological traits, and the brain. Fear-based responses can turn anyone into an enemy and anything into a competition. Habitual fear leads to desire for control and authority over others. Authority may be justified with a sense of superiority and expressed as the right to have more than others (greed). Self-esteem tied to belief in superiority can destroy the desire for mutually beneficial relationships (sharing).

Brain development is affected by culture. Neurologically, fear is designed to be a momentary response to a threat, not a way of life, but some cultures promote the latter. Compare the cooperative “We’re in this together” to the competitive “Whoever dies with the most toys wins.” Battles between fear- and compassion-based drives duke it out in cultural ideas and social practices. Fear emphasizes the slim differences between us such as race, class, and gender over our shared experiences as human beings. Collectively, this draws nations and religions into the fray. Feminisms and feminists may focus on any part of the resulting tangle of problems.

Inequity comes in many forms: economic, educational, unequal treatment under the law, and media misrepresentation or lack of representation. We know that women don’t get equal pay for equal work, but did you know this inequality is affected by ethnicity? This table, based on $56,000, the approximate US median salary in 2016, lists what people were paid for the same job.

Table 1.1 Wages for Work⁵

To earn as much as a white man, a person needs a second or third job earning minimum wage and working between 30 (white women) and 68 (Latina women) additional hours a week. Another household member could work but would have expenses too, so part of the additional wages goes toward basic needs such as housewares, food, clothing, and medical care. Two-worker families may also need to commute and juggle schedules. For the household to afford a car, earnings have to be higher. The gap is impossible to bridge if a family has children or elders to care for.

If you find it unfair that different people get different pay for performing the same job, you share some feminist values. If you find it unfair that families of color have less chance to build security for their children, you share some feminist values. If you think all people, regardless of race or gender, should get equal pay for equal work, you share some feminist goals.

Institutions like schools and churches can support a better life. Educational opportunities vary globally; within the US schools are supported by property taxes, so neighborhoods where people earn the least have poorly equipped and maintained schools, creating a cycle of low earnings that’s difficult if not impossible to escape. Also, not everyone can attend school or church safely. Girls may be threatened or even killed going to the very community venues they rely on for support and advancement.

Table 1.2 Girls Attacked in Public Venues⁶

Ruby Bridges	Ruby Bridges was the first African American child to attend an all-white public elementary school in the American South. She was met by violent mobs.
Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair	These African American girls, aged 12–14, were killed while attending Sunday School when the KKK bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.
Aisha	Aisha, a Nigerian student, was captured from her school along with many female students by Boko Haram. She was raped and impregnated.
Malala Yousufzai	At age 11, Malala, Pakistani, wrote a blog advocating for girl’s education. The Taliban attempted to have her killed. At age 15, she was shot in the head on a public bus. Malala survived and continued her activism. She was awarded the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2013 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

If you believe all girls should have equal opportunities to learn, you share some feminist values. If you want all girls to be able to safely attend public institutions regardless of their race or religion, you share some feminist goals.

Another significant feminist value is respect for one’s body. In 2017, Time magazine named the global #MeToo movement a collective “person of the year.” The fact that a “person” can be a group says a lot about feminism. The December cover pictures iconic “Silence Breakers” who ripped the lid off systemic sexual harassment and misconduct.⁷ If you’re distressed that the highest office in the US could be occupied by someone who said “grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything,” you share some feminist values.⁸ If you think men should be held accountable for abusing their authority to force sexual contact with women, you share some feminist goals.

We’ve made progress and have problems to overcome. Notably absent from Time’s “Silence Breaker” cover was Tarana Burke, a Black woman who started the Me Too movement “to [build] solidarity among . . . survivors of harassment and assault.”⁹ Although she was discussed inside the magazine, many were concerned with her absence from the cover image. If white celebrities become the face of the #MeToo movement, people may overlook the fact that women of color are disproportionate victims of sexual violence.¹⁰

If passing over Black women’s challenges and accomplishments seems wrong to you, you share some feminist values. If you find it wrong for elected officials and doctors to call Harvard Law graduate Michelle Obama, the 2008–2016 First Lady of the US, an “ape in heels” or “monkey face,” you share some feminist values.¹¹ If you think all accomplishments should be respected regardless of race, you share some feminist goals.

Does sharing feminist values and goals make you a feminist? Why is the answer important? Why do people come to call themselves feminists? Does everyone mean the same thing when they say this? If not, what kinds of feminisms are there? Throughout the book, we’ll look at why feminisms differ and how we can bridge differences to make a difference together. We’ll also learn what it means to “think as a feminist” by taking a deeper look at taken-for-granted terms such as words, beliefs, and values.

Feminist Toolbox: Begin with the Basics

In the upcoming chapters, we’ll go beyond common knowledge to examine how thought works. We’ll take the first steps by getting to the bottom of taken-for-granted concepts, such as “words,” “beliefs,” and “values,” redefining them according to specialized academic uses. The ability to examine how our thinking is actually produced is a powerful tool that can help dismantle the master’s house.

Words are the basic building blocks of thought. Yet they can mean different things according to context. Boot means one thing in a shoe store, another in a computer lab, another in the armed forces, and yet another in a membership venue, so you can buy boots, re-boot your computer, go to boot camp, or be given the boot by a club. Similarly, the terms “belief” and “value” are commonly used in various ways. For the purposes of our study, we’ll use cultural studies definitions of these words.

Belief refers to stories, called narratives, that shape the way people understand the world: they tell us “this is what is true: this is how it works.” Beliefs can be formed and shared in many different contexts, from religion to popular culture to science, and shift from one context to another.

For example, in medieval times, Europeans believed the Sun circled the Earth. They also believed that only men could be creative geniuses and that women should confine themselves to painting mundane domestic images such as flowers and food. It was believed unseemly for women to study anatomy, so the human body was an improper subject for women painters. Galileo Galilei and his friend, Artemisia Gentileschi, challenged these beliefs.

Values differentiate thoughts and behaviors that are thought to be right and good from those that are thought to be wrong and bad. Generally, judgment is based on whether thoughts and behaviors accord with beliefs.

Belief and Value Systems: Values (right/wrong, good/bad) are associated with beliefs (this is true: it works like this) and work together as cultural systems. They are in a continual state of change. By going against the grain, we can intervene and direct them.

The medieval belief that flowers were a fitting subject for women shifted when flower paintings became trendy. Men, to cash in on their popularity, stopped describing them as mundane domestic images and called them philosophical statements on the impermanency of life.

Most readers are familiar with Western ways of thinking. Even if you were raised in a non-Western culture, Western beliefs and values are known throughout the world due to conquest and media. Therefore, we’ll start with an iconic Western example, and because the roots of Western cultures are patriarchal, Galileo, the main character in our story, is male. We’ll consider him along with Artemisia Gentileschi, who, although she pre-dated the term, is now considered a feminist. Their stories demonstrate how individual beliefs and values change yet leave lingering traces behind.

The belief that the Sun circled the Earth gave way to the belief that the Earth circles the Sun. This is an example of a belief shifting from the religious to the scientific sphere. But science as we understand it today didn’t yet exist; it took Galileo’s challenge to create it. Galileo is called the father of modern science because his heretical finding initiated a new cultural context in which beliefs about the cosmos and nature could be explored with particular methods. The way he himself was valued changed as beliefs changed: He went from scholar to criminal by violating religious beliefs, and when his discoveries finally gained credence, from felon to a new category, scientist.

Artemisia’s painting, Judith Slaying Holofernes (1620), depicts the widow Judith slaying an Assyrian general who had been planning to destroy her village. Most paintings of this Biblical story show a demure Judith with a look of distaste on her face, but Gentileschi’s women are strong and determined. It was considered unseemly in her day but is now an icon of early female empowerment. Perhaps this connects to how she was blamed for being raped: If women are believed to be delicate, then strong women are not valued—they are unwomanly.

Figure 1.2 Judith Slaying Holofernes.^12,13

The pre-Galilean belief that the Earth was the center of the universe was part of a complex religious system that affected not only Galileo’s discovery but also who could be king, queen, lord, scholar, peasant, and criminal. Medieval beliefs about the nature of man and woman affected not only Artemisia’s artistic and personal life, but also what any woman could learn, master, and contribute to society. Systems are built around beliefs and values that are subject to change. Change is part of the work of feminisms.

#WTF: What’s That Feminism?

Women of all genders, ethnicities, and nations can be feminists, and so can men. Today, many people tell their stories on internet blogs. Whether you tell your story in person, in print, or on the net, it adds to our collective knowledge. In the e-zine Roots, Byron Hurt explains “Why I Am a Male Feminist.” The story is introduced with: “The word turns off a lot of men (insert snarky comment about man-hating feminazis here)—and women. But here’s why black men should be embracing the “f” word.”¹⁴ His story is retold a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface: What’s This Book?
• Acknowledgments
• Part One Stakes and Stories
• Part Two Ways of Thinking
• Part Three Times and Places
• Part Four Theory Today
• Part Five Activism Today
• Conclusion: Feminism Is
• Notes on Contributors
• Index