Do you agree or disagree with this definition of "feminism"?

Question

And if you disagree, how would you revise or amend?

(Trying again because I presented the question poorly before)

"Feminism" names a family of ideologies (in the non-pejorative sense of systematic ways of describing the social world) united by the belief that cultural. social, political, and economic phenomena and institutions are best understood in terms of their functional role in creating, perpetuating, or sustaining social, political, and economic inequalities; that these inequalities are systematically at the expense of women; and that these institutions need to be reformed to rectify these inequalities.

Garden, I'll take literary criticism from someone who can parse a sentence well enough to know that in what I wrote, "non-pejorative" modified the sense in which "ideology" was being used. But that's for the tip.

Tera, thank you for the feedback. To clarify, my use of "functional role" is akin to that used in biology, where functional explanations need not entail, e.g. an "intelligent designer". (How and whether "functional roles" can be further analyzed is an open question, but I'd say that there is comparable disagreement among femiinists on this point.)

Talk of 'functional roles" does not require a deliberate conspiracy to craft institutions designed to keep women down. Various forms of feminism may explain the functional roles differently, e.g. with Marxist, psycho-analytic, or structuralist styles of explanation, or by positing a deliberate effort.

TERA, to further clarify, I should also make clear that many feminists would omit to craft a theory of "functional roles" (and a PostModernist feminist would deliberately avoid such theorizing) and simply intend to analyze how a particular institution DOES produce such effects, whether it was intended to do so or not.

Garden, try googling: ideology AND non-pejorative and you'll find quite a few academic and other papers using the expression precisely as I did.

Garden, apparently you discovered that my use of "non-pejorative" was not incorrect, so now you're bringing up my answers to other questions.

For the record, I was paraphrasing a feminist author, Alison Bechdel.

Garden, anticipating your next straw-man argument, I quote Bechdel who has been quoted to me by other self-described feminists. Neither in my original remark nor here have I said that this represents the views of all women or of all feminists. I said I had been told that some women prefer books and movies satisfying those criteria and I have. No further claim was made.

Garden, your condescension has become tiresome. You don't know me, my education, my aspirations, or much of anything else about me and your presumption in offering personal advice in responding to this question would be offensive if it were not also laughable.

clarification: Bechdel is the source for the remark about books and films that Garden mentioned. The attempted definition of "feminism" is my own.

Modest, your comments have been useful, particularly re: academic feminists vs. feminism in the practical arena. I have some reservations about your revised versions, but I shall definitely consider them as well as Tera's remarks

Answer 1

Simplify, simplify. A general definition is a starting point. Most of what you add isn't qualification, but elaboration. Omitting qualifications can cause misunderstandings. Omitting elaborations will merely leave a definition vague.
___"The various schools of feminisms share the belief that current social institutions function primarily to promote and maintain systematic inequalities against women, and that these social instutions need to be made more egalitarian."
___"Social" is the broadest category here, and the others are contained within it. I inserted "current", because without this qualification, your definition seems to say that phenomena and institutions intrinsically promote inequality, and then your last clause seems to contradict this.
___In general, though, I think your definition is pretty accurate for academic feminists, but perhaps less so for more practical minded businesswomen feminists who are less concerned about the systematicity of inequality than its more practical aspects.
___You address the general beliefs, but you (charitably) omit the methods employed to further feminism's agenda.

Answer 2

Well I think most feminists would tend to agree that many institutions were created to discriminate against women. But everybody else knows that not to be true as most institutions are created to enforce either a law or an idea depending on the word usage. If most feminists are right that they didn't have a voice and had to stay in the home then it would be difficult to pass a law to inhibit them those laws and therefore the institutions that support them would be discriminatory against males as males would be the ones who had to be out and about and run afoul of these institutions.

And the way to remedy feminism is to give women not only all the rights men have but also to give them the responsibilities and make the accountable equally to men. And then we would have to repeal many pro women laws.

Answer 3

The definition is sufficient only to those who understand it. Most people do not understand it, even including some self-proclaimed feminists.

For example, feminism has coined the term "herstory" as a counterpart to "history." Most people get caught up in semantics and say, "How ridiculous! The etymology of the word history has nothing to do with 'his story,' and it's pointless to rename something that was never discriminatory in the first place!" This is an error. "Herstory" is a word that is nothing more than a clever name for a perspective. The view isn't that the WORD "history" is unfair. The view is that History, as a subject, is written from a male-dominated perspective, and "herstory" encompasses historical events as females experienced them.

Feminism is much like this example. A lot of people have real problems with what they THINK feminism is. Only occasionally do they have a good point against feminism. Most of the time, however, they're mad about the details of a perspective that they don't fully understand. Feminism is not just a group of butch lesbians demanding that men and women be treated as androgynous.

So the only revision I would make to the definition is to offer a simplified, lay description so that people would begin to understand what feminism really is, and what it's not.

Answer 4

It sounds like this is saying that feminists believe that institutions are created for the purpose of furthering gender (and racial) inequality- and if that's how it's meant to be taken, then I think that's ridiculous. (That sounds like a little over the top to me). I admit I'm having trouble understanding what this paragraph means. If it means that feminists believe that it is important to understand how these institutions might be directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously promoting inequality (so we can work out solutions to these issues), then THAT is more believable and understandable, and I could agree with that.

Answer 5

it unquestionably relies upon on the soceity you progression in. between atheletes and wellness club goers the main respected is the girl with abs , biceps and a properly toned physique. between the academically vulnerable and particularly between thinkers, the physique shape doesnt awe if no longer observed by way of an the two able recommendations.yet to the guy on the bar, or the bored guy caught in a monotonous activity, the previous school prefecct curvaceous ;physique is what he properly-knownshows alluring. besides the shown fact that to all, i think of, truthfully fat bodering on weight problems isn't appealling. besides the shown fact that there seems to be a good exchange the place the very frail and skinny is slowly dropping its place of being the epitome of elegance- particularly with the present ruling banning the very skinny fashions

Answer 6

You can define feminism any way you want. The problem is that not every person that is labeled as a feminist will fit the description. I think it's a great definition, though.

Edit: I think 'Garden by M' missed the point entirely.

Answer 7

1. Feminist - (a)Member of the feminista, a hate cult (b)Name some women call themselves
2. Feminism - Movement originating with the suffragettes in Brit who were looking for the vote for men and women at a time when neither men nor women could vote unless they owned property. When it was exported to the USA it was corrupted (notably by students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted for inventing the car bomb) and turned into a hate cult.

Answer 8

I disagree:

You need to give mention that most of the 'rectifying measures' come at the expense of men, family & personal satisfaction of many invovled with feminism.

e.g. feminism has promoted divorce, through various mechanisms.

Answer 9

It's interesting that you think you can describe feminism and all that it stands for in a mumbo jumbo sentence. Do you think you look smart or just that you can type something that you have read. . .

Answer 10

I'm lost here, what are you writing? fem isn't "pejorative" and I don't think it is "united" either. It is many things to many people...i.e. for me, it's about equality in everything, for others it's only about jobs, children.....and I don't think that anyone is attempting to perpetuate inequality. We have a long history of men being providers and it's taking a long time to have them understand a role in which they are equals. ps. do an expose on brit spears....she has taken fem backwards about ten miles! so, basically I'm saying, whatever you are attempting to write sounds contrived and any teacher should recognize that and let you know.

no, sorry...didn't miss the point at all. Having a great understanding of sociology and "women's studies" and just living....I can spot bs in a heartbeat. I tried some of that in college too, when I wasn't prepared. In reality, it sounds as though you are trying to make some arrogant statement as though you are an elitist and when you do that honey, it sounds like bs. Just spit out whatever you have to say in a logical manner that is relevant and meaningful and the response will be more positive.

it sounds like you need some desperate help here.....your use of "non-pejorative" is inappropriate, so when you pen something that is so unintelligible, again, it sounds like bs. There is no "family of ideologies" and feminism does not describe only the social world. I understand you feeling defensive, but learn from it and practice writing and having it critiqued.

Below is an example of a previous answer concerning a ? on which movies are preferable for women to watch. This shows your rampant misunderstanding of the subject matter. I know of no one who picks a movie based on the number of characters and gender. What planet are you from?????? Is the gas cheaper there???????

" am told that women appreciate movies which include
1. two or more female characters
2. talking to each other
3. about something other than a man.

And that struck me as a perfectly understandable preference."


ps. I like and prefer movies with men and women in them and I consider myself a feminist in the nicest sense of the word. I consider that most people, female and male have very little to say that I find interesting and I think Rosie is a loud-mouthed slob, but then, so is Donald Trump!
Let me know about that gas, I may move!

ok, you got one more response from me and goodnight....google a dictionary and look up the "p" word.. In your struggle and aspiration to become an academician, perfect your style, lest we all turn to mush whilst reading unintelligible nonsense! Remember when your Mom said not everyone was jumping off a building???????


nope, sorry...it's still incorrect. I simply looked up an answer to see what one was like, that happened to be the only one I looked at. I like salad and garlic rolls, but I don't pretend that all people do....in that case, I would have to presume that hamburgers, based on the proliferation of those businesses, is the true favorite.
I think you are reading too much nonsense, so my advice is to lighten up. Do you know I can't even read fiction anymore because I am so busy learning all the time, and I'm an old lady...it is so silly. ps. your answer should have been that people like action movies that apparently families can all enjoy, otherwise Johnny Depp and Tobey Maguire would not be awash in adulation for their most recent cinematic appearances. see, I can write bs too :) be happy and not boxed in as a feminist , socialist or homo/heterosexual. Just enjoy being you. You don't have to pick one stance and stay glued to it. We can all incorporate many personas in our lifetimes.

well, at least I got you to laugh at yourself....touche( that's french, it sounds all educated, ....don't it ????) ps. I'm glad we don't know each other :) I will say thanks tonight.

ps. I recently read a book about music theory and I actually learned something.... other than to attempt to regurgitate someone else's nonsense. My suggestion was for you to try something more meaningful, not to sound presumptuous that I know anything about you. This person you speak of does not represent all feminists, nor are all feminists alike ,which is why your attempt at defining any such movement is futile. When I was young, kids were flocking to Woodstock in search of something. For some, it was music, for others it was drugs or the feeling of camaraderie with other youth, others were busy bucking the "establishment" and making political statements, some just wanted to be "hippies" whatever that meant to them. To study it and pretend that one understands another's motive is a senseless waste of time. I think pondering this subject is a waste of time and therefore, I too have wasted precious time and for that, I am remorseful. I consider myself a feminist, however, I just make it up as I go. I don't have to adopt my viewpoint from anyone else to feel secure about it. I just live it! Goodnight and good luck!