Introduction to Feminism with Selected Readings



When Ciera and I get a fem motion, we immediately jump at the opportunity to discuss issues we LOVE to talk about--women's issues. Often times not discussed regularly, feminist theory and thought (thankfully) enters a lot of debates. In order to 1. improve your understanding on such an important area of thought / theory, and 2. be prepared to hit these issues respectfully and in an informed way in debate, please read the primer below w/ extra resources and some potential topics / motions!

 Background: 

  • Feminism originally meant "qualities of females" and the meaning shifting in 1892 to mean equal rights for women based on the notion of equality of the sexes 
  • Feminism encompasses two primary claims: a normative and a descriptive. The normative claim concerns how women ought be perceived and treated based on standards in society. The descriptive claim argues that women are not treated to the same standard outlined in the normative claim. 
  • an example: 
    • normative -- men and women are entitled to equal rights in the Constitution 
    • descriptive -- they do not have equal rights 
Intersectionality and Feminism: 

  • Many feminist scholars argue that many other issues impact women, such as homophobia, racism, ageism ableism, classism also impact women. Some scholars argue that feminism should end all oppression that impacts women. 
  • Others argue that while intersectionality between movements is important, feminism should also advocate for its own, more narrow set of views. 
  • Bell Hooks outlines what defining characteristics of feminism that distinguishes this movement from other liberation struggles
"Unlike many feminist comrades, I believe women and men must share a common understanding--a basic knowledge of what feminism is--if it is ever to be a powerful mass-based political movement. In Feminist Theory: from margin to center, I suggest that defining feminism broadly as "a movement to end sexism and sexist oppression" would enable us to have a common political goal…Sharing a common goal does not imply that women and men will not have radically divergent perspectives on how that goal might be reached. (hooks 1989, 23)"

  • Hooks argues that sexism is different from racism and homophobia even though they are currently interlocked. Feminism's objective is to end sexism, though because of the intersectionality between movements, feminism now has to target other aspects of movements to achieve its aims. 

Feminism as a topic is incredibly large, and I still read numerous books on the subject and am in no way a preeminent scholar. Other topics of particular feminist interest include: 

environmental policy 
international feminine theory 
abortion rights 
state control 

And other subjects. The best trick I learned to begin learning about feminism was to read Bell Hooks. Her accessible language and phenomenal style opened by eyes to feminist theory. I aimed to read a feminist article every week; and after a few months, I was able to comfortably debate this topic!

WUDC 2016 Room 8 Motion: This house believes that the creation of feminist icons and their cults of personality are good for the feminist movement. Click Here
Potential Debate Motions:

This house would apply a lower rate of income tax to women.
This house would establish brothels on military bases.
This house believes that feminism should not campaign against polygamy in poor countries.
In countries with few female politicians, this house believes it is good to have a politically active "first lady."
This house believes that the feminist movement should renounce the title of "Feminism."
This house believes that feminism has run its course.

 Additional Resources:

Teaching to Transgress by Bell Hooks
Feminism is for everybody by Bell Hooks
Miss Representation -- a documentary referenced in the "recommended documentaries page"
http://www.myacpa.org/sites/default/files/Feminist_Theoretical_Perspectives_pasque_wimmer_REV.pdf
Epstein, Barbra, from “The Successes and Failures of Feminism,” Journal of Women’s History (Summer 2002)
Social Media and Feminism
Feminism and Abortion
What no one else will say about feminism 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why American Education Fails?

Despite previous initiatives to improve the American educational system, including No Child Left behind, Race to the Top, and Every Student Succeeds Act, the American education system is broken. Forbes proposes that the main reason for this degradation of the U.S. education system is because teachers are not treated like professionals. Background:  Many individuals would argue that there are certain characteristics that make good teachers --> a passion for their subject, deep knowledge on that subject, a willingness to listen to their students' needs, and a vision of what a properly education class will look like at the end of the academic year.  The largest problem with the American educational system is that it prioritizes standardized test scores above anything else. Test performance is tied to state funding and the evaluation of teachers and students.  While there is no empirical evidence to assert that standardized testing is the best indicator of knowledg...
Read more

The Basics of Queer Theory

What does it mean to be Queer? How should the LGBTQ community define themselves? All these questions answered and more! Queer theory’s origin is hard to clearly define, since it came from multiple critical and cultural contexts, including feminism, post-structuralist theory, radical movements of people of color, the gay and lesbian movements, AIDS activism, many sexual subcultural practices such as sadomasochism, and postcolonialism. Although queer theory had its beginnings in the educational sphere, the cultural events surrounding its origin also had a huge impact. Activist groups pushed back in the 1980's against the lack of government intervention after the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic. Gay activist groups like ACT-UP and Queer Nation took the lead to force attention to both the AIDS epidemic and the gay and lesbian community as a whole. These groups helped define the field with the work they did by highlighting a non-normative option to the more traditional identity politi...
Read more

Learning Speaker Positions with Ciera

Deputy Leader of Government in Opening Government: I think that hardest position to learn is Opening Government. The Deputy Leader plays an important role in the round. Your job is to help your partner prep the model and prep their points. You should prep PM's speech before you start preparing your own.  The DPM has four obligations in the round. First, defend and rebuild the case started by the PM.  Second, destroy the opposition case. Third, add new arguments to the round. Fourth, respond to the back half team.  First, the Deputy Prime Minister defends the case presented by the Prime Minister by engaging any refutation presented against the case by the Leader of the Opposition. The Deputy should take up the Prime Minister’s argument one by one and defend each argument against any refutation by the Leader of the Opposition. Thus, at the end of this section of the Deputy’s speech, the audience should see that the case originally presented by the Prime Minister still...
Read more