Gendered Lives, Eighth Edition

1
Gendered Lives, Eighth Edition

• Chapter 3
• The Rhetorical Shaping of Gender Womens
  Movements in the United States

2
The Rhetorical Shaping of Gender Womens
Movements in the United States

• Rhetoric is persuasion

3
The Rhetorical Shaping of Gender Womens
Movements in the United States

• Rhetorical movements are collective efforts to
  challenge and change existing
• Attitudes
• Laws
• Policies

4
The Rhetorical Shaping of Gender Womens
Movements in the United States

• Knowledge of the range of rhetorical movements
  about gender may allow you to more clearly define
  your own ideas

5
The Three Waves of Womens Movements in the
United States

• Rhetorical womens movements have occurred in
  three waves

6
The Three Waves of Womens Movements in the
United States

• Two ideologies have informed
• Liberal feminism women and men are alike and
  equal
• Cultural feminism women and men are
  fundamentally different

7
The First Wave of Womens Movements in the United
States

• 1840-1925
• Liberal and cultural branches

8
The Womens Rights Movement

• Activism aimed at enlarging womens political
  rights
• Demand for womens voting rights
• 1918-1920 Paul and Burns spearheaded nonviolent
  protest
• Womens suffrage
• Hunger strike

9
The Womens Rights Movement

• 1840 Mott chosen as representative to World
  Anti-Slavery Convention
• Not allowed to participate
• Mott and Stanton worked to organize first womens
  rights convention
• Seneca Falls Convention - 1848

10
The Womens Rights Movement

• Declaration of Sentiments
• Modeled on Declaration of Independence
• Grievances women had suffered

11
The Womens Rights Movement

• Men and women signed petition
• Initially links with Abolitionist movement
• These ties dissolved

12
The Womens Rights Movement

• Seneca Falls Convention
• No immediate political impact
• Women considered property
• 1872 Anthony and others attempted to cast votes
• Arrested
• 48 years later right to vote

13
The Cult of Domesticity

• 1800s did not ally with womens rights movements
• True ideal of womanhood to be domestic
• Participated in efforts to
• End slavery
• Ban alcohol
• Enact child labor laws

14
The Cult of Domesticity

• Needed right to vote to have voice in public life
• Women and men not alike
• Womens virtue would reform politics

15
The Cult of Domesticity

• Securing voting rights did not immediately fuel
  further efforts
• Few women voted
• 1925 amendment to regulate child labor failed to
  be ratified

16
The Cult of Domesticity

• Movements dormant for 35 years
• Attention concentrated on world wars
• Women joined labor force to support war effort
• Womens opportunities shrank post-war
• Some women did affect change

17
The Second Wave of Womens Movements in the
United States

• 1960-1995 second wave
• Liberal and cultural ideologies coexisted
• Diverse goals and rhetorical strategies

18
Radical Feminism

• Also called womens liberation movement
• Grew out of New Left politics
• Protested Vietnam war
• Fought for civil rights
• New Left men treated women as subordinates

19
Radical Feminism

• 1964 women in SNCC challenged sexism in New Left
  male members unresponsive
• 1965 women in SDS also found no receptivity
• Many women withdrew and formed their own
  organization

20
Radical Feminism

• Basic principle oppression of women is
  fundamental form of oppression on which others
  are modeled
• Relied on rap groups
• Ensured equal participation

21
Radical Feminism

• Revolutionary politics
• Public events
• Continues in the U.S. and other countries
• Missile Chick Dicks
• Radical Cheerleaders
• Muslim feminists

22
Radical Feminism

• Identification of structural basis of oppression
• The personal is political
• Womens health movement

23
Lesbian Feminism

• Radicalesbians
• Only women who love and live with women putting
  women first
• Lives not oriented around men
• Lesbianism
• Positive, liberated identity

24
Lesbian Feminism

• Not all lesbians are feminists
• Not all lesbian feminists are Radicalesbians
• Defined as women identified
• Commitment to end discrimination
• Use voices to respond to criticism
• Adopt proactive rhetorical strategies

25
Separatism

• Communities where women live independently with
  mutual respect
• Many, but not all, are lesbians
• Believe women are different from men
• Community where feminine values can flourish

26
Separatism

• Impossible to reform patriarchal culture
• Exit mainstream society
• Exercise little political influence

27
Revalorism

• Focus on appreciating womens traditional
  activities
• Draws on standpoint theory
• Women more nurturing, cooperative, life-giving
• More complete history of America

28
Revalorism

• Million Mom March 2000
• Organized by mothers who advocate gun control
• Re-covering womens history
• Exhibits of womens traditional arts
• Lilith Fair
• Debate to secure legal rights

29
Ecofeminism

• Launched in 1974
• La Feminisme ou la Mort
• Connection between efforts to control women and
  quest to dominate nature

30
Ecofeminism

• Oppression imposed on anyone/anything that cant
  resist
• Includes animal rights, peace activists, and
  vegetarians
• Seek to bring consciousness of humans
  interdependence with other forms of life

31
Liberal Feminism

• Advocates equality in all spheres of life
• Mid-1900s white, middle-class women living
  American dream
• Not happy
• Wanted identity beyond home

32
Liberal Feminism

• Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique
• Named problem of dissatisfaction
• Defined as political issue
• Institutions kept women confined

33
Liberal Feminism

• Women and men alike
• Women entitled to equal rights
• NOW National Organization for Women 1966
• Effective in gaining passage of laws and policies
• Enlarge and protect womens opportunities

34
Liberal Feminism

• Rhetorical strategies include lobbying, public
  forums, drafting legislation, conventions
• Criticized
• Focus narrow white, middle-class
• Now more attention to diverse women

35
Liberal Feminism

• Not confined to U.S.
• Spain
• Muslim women
• Third World
• India
• Iraq
• Kuwait

36
Womanism

• Believe men and women mainly alike
• Differentiate from white feminists
• 1970s African American women
• Black Women Organized for Action
• National Black Feminist Organization

37
Womanism

• Highlight ways gender and racial oppression
  intersect
• Black women more often
• Single
• Less formal education
• Bear more children
• Paid less
• Assume financial responsibility

38
Womanism

• Address issues that affect lower-class African
  American women
• Reforming social services
• Increasing training and job opportunities
• Rhetorical strategies include consciousness
  raising and support groups

39
Womanism

• 1997 Million Woman March
• Deemphasized media hype
• Woman-to-woman sharing of experiences and support

40
Multiracial Feminism

• Emphasizes multiple systems of domination
• Insist race cannot be viewed in isolation
• Race intersects other systems of domination

41
Multiracial Feminism

• Gender does not have universal meaning
• Meaning of gender varies as a result of
• Race
• Economic class
• Sexual orientation

42
Multiracial Feminism

• Write and talk about more complex categories
• Incorporate additional underrepresented voices
• Emphasis on womens agency
• Highlight strengths of women
• Challenge idea of universal woman

43
Power Feminism

• 1993 Naomi Wolf
• Self-defeating to focus on social causes of
  inequities
• Society doesnt oppress women
• Women have power to control what happens to them

44
Power Feminism

• Stop thinking of themselves as victims
• Capitalize on power of majority status
• Linked to Shelby Steele
• Racial discrimination is paranoid psychology

45
Power Feminism

• Only thing holding women back is belief they are
  victims
• Appeals to white, successful, well-educated
• Less helpful to those without privilege
• Emphasis on empowerment influential in shaping
  third wave

46
The Third Wave of Womens Movements in the United
States

• Many second wave movements still active
• Third wave has emerged

47
The Third Wave of Womens Movements in the United
States

• Draws from multiple branches of feminism
• Less fully formed and uniform
• Not yet found single center

48
The Third Wave of Womens Movements in the United
States

• Not extension of goals of second wave
• Distinct historical location that informs
  politics and goals

49
Remaking Solidarity to Incorporate Differences
among Women

• Recognize women differ in many ways

50
Building Coalitions

• Commitment to building alliances with men
• Leads to understanding of intersections among
  forms of privilege and oppression
• Social change requires efforts from both sides

51
Integrating Theory in Everyday Practice

• Reforms won by second wave not woven into
  everyday life

52
Integrating Theory in Everyday Practice

• Goal to incorporate structural changes wrought by
  second wave into life
• Challenging racist comments
• Confronting homophobic attitudes
• Examine class privilege

53
Insisting that the Political is Personal

• Power exercised and resisted in local situations

54
Insisting that the Political is Personal

• The political is personal
• Personal acts are key to instigating change
• Politics rooted in personal resistance to
  oppression

55
Insisting that the Political is Personal

• Use mass and social media to advance ideas
• Tori Amos
• R.A.I.N.N.
• Blogs, zines, social network sites

56
Being Media Savvy

• Third-wavers media savvy
• Gain information from numerous sources
• Create media of own
• Know how to use media to galvanize political goals

57
Embracing Aesthetics and Consumerism

• Images of celebrities easy to find hard to
  avoid
• Some young women see them as role models
• Embrace traditional girl culture
• Embrace consumerism

58
Embracing Aesthetics and Consumerism

• May lead to commodification of own body
• Pornography creates pressure for women to accept
  sexual images of liberated women
• Women encouraged to explore sexuality on own terms

59
Antifeminism The Backlash

• Success of feminism led to antifeminist efforts
• Backlash surfaced in response to each wave
• Antifeminism opposes changes in womens status
  and rights

60
The First Wave The Antisuffrage Movement

• Aimed to prevent women from getting right to vote
• Allowing women to vote would contradict natural
  roles as wives and mothers

61
The First Wave The Antisuffrage Movement

• 1870s formalized
• National Association Opposed to Womens Suffrage
• Movement disbanded after women won right to vote
  in 1920

62
The Second Wave Fascinating, Total Women

• 1970s Marabel Morgan Total Women
• Helen Andelin Fascinating Womanhood
• Advocated womens return to traditional values

63
The Second Wave Fascinating, Total Women

• Total Women stressed view of women as sex objects
• Fascinating Womanhood grounded in biblical
  teachings
• Support came from women dependent on husbands

64
The Second Wave The STOP ERA Campaign

• 1970s response to 1972-73 ERA campaign
• Phyllis Shlafly feminism turning women into men

65
The Second Wave The STOP ERA Campaign

• Lobbied legislators
• ERA would undercut mens willingness to support
  children, allow women to be drafted

66
The Second Wave The STOP ERA Campaign

• Funded by corporate leaders and upper class
• ERA not consistent with economic and political
  interests

67
The Third Wave Surrendered Wives the War
against Boys Men

• 2001 women should abandon quest for equality to
  have happy marriage
• Let husbands lead family

68
The Third Wave Surrendered Wives the War
against Boys Men

• Boys now disadvantaged in school

69
The Third Wave Surrendered Wives the War
against Boys Men

• Women have gained power at the expense of men
• Contrary to Gods commandments

70
The Contradictory Claims of Antifeminism

• 1991 Faludis Backlash
• Antifeminist rhetoric defines feminism as source
  of womens problems
• Turned women into fast-track achievers

71
The Contradictory Claims of Antifeminism

• Women have never had it so good can have it all
• But do women really have full equality?