Feminist Critical Thinkings Samples For Students

The societal inequalities and discriminatory practices have haunted the women folk of the society from the ancient times of history. In the wake of globalization and blurring of geographical gulfs, the patriarchal norms and practices have taken a more complex turn and have come up to threaten the position of women more vehemently with all the discriminatory devices in its arsenal.
In the article titled, ‘Interactive and Intersectional Analytics of Globalization’ by Peterson, one comes across the discriminatory practices which are in vogue in the economic domain of the globalized world. The hegemonic transcendence of the masculine over the ...

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Examining Bell Hook’s Contribution to Debates About Gender and Race

Introduction
The dawn of the 20th century paved the way for the second wave of feminist where Bell Hooks or otherwise Gloria Jean Watkins emerged as among the most renowned thinkers that contributed to the debates about gender and race. Among the most notable contributions to gender and race debates are the theories that provided the standpoint for feminists. The myriad of claims encompassing in the debates on gender and race states that knowledge is something that is socially situated in ways that marginal members of the society particularly women can be made ...

In the book Emile, Rousseau borrowed a lot of thinkers that came before him. He had the arguments of John Locke on teaching and education. Still, he quite remarkably combined the arguments of the preceding philosophers to form a coherent and comprehensive teaching system. Using the medium of the novel, Rousseau was able to dramatize such that they reached a wide audience. Rousseau saw the system of education as married to nature that had characteristics of harmony, and concern for the learner as well as the learning process itself. The premise of this argument was the preservation of the original perfection of ...

Writing about the discrimination of women, Gearhart (1979) mentions that the act of violence in the one that rules a person and is the very fact of existence for a human. She singles out our understanding of human entities and non-human ones claiming that “we have been human chauvinists too long, calling consciousness out own, cornering the market upon it, setting ourselves above everything human because of our “higher awareness”. She believes that distinguishing between human and non-human objects changes them, and, as a result, becomes an act of violence: “The act of violence is in the intention to change another”(Gearhart, ...

Following the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines

Osonye Tess Onwueme’s “Tell It to Women” acts as a time capsule, taking the reader back in time to postcolonial Africa and a time or erratic feminist behavior. The book’s primary purpose appears to show the separation between traditionalism and modernism, as different cultures interacted and blended. However, this is not entirely clear until the end, when a concise meaning for culture is given. Tess Onwueme believed culture was derived from the passion that ignited the very culture’s desire to stay together, it appears. The familiarity of their arts, traditions, customs, and manners were all a part of the culture. ...

The three periods of feminism development

In general, the history of feminism can be described as the narrative of the ideologies and movements which are aimed at establishing, defining and defending equal economic social and political rights for women. Feminists all over the world have always differed in goals, intentions and causes depending on culture, country and time. Irrespective of these differences, most western historians of feminist’s interests have always considered all movements and acts that push for women’s rights as feminists movements. History of the modern western feminist is divided into three periods of times. These periods vary slightly in their aims ...

Introduction:

It is no main feat to discover that the institutions of the state, the corporation and the family are institutionally masculinist especially in societies where the patriarch is of a dominant nature. This is certainly the case in the film, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The main character of Lisbeth Salander finds herself consistently on the fringe of society due to her queerness and the fact that she is troubled also makes her something of a misfit. The investigation which is undertaken by Salander also exposes the hypocrisy and blatant untruths used by those companies and businessmen to achieve their ...

Rabbit Proof Fence, a film that moves the souls of human beings is a real life heartbreaking story of three little girls set in the 1930’s that shows how the aborigine children were taken against their will from Jigalong and made to work for white families as servants or maids. Rabbit-Proof Fence provides a fundamental illustration of Australian aboriginal children and women as victims, and the government viewing them as passive with no individuality or culture. The concept of empowerment in culture is well defined by Banet-Weiser (Reading Popular Culture through Feminism, May 28 2013) where they argue that the emphasis ...

Cassandra is a novel told about the survivors of the Trojan War. It is the story of a young woman named Cassandra, and her struggles during the post-war era. There are many different ways to analyze literature, but one of the leading literary analysts, Gerard Genette, has provided an extremely useful method for analyzing novels like Cassandra by Christa Wolf. Because Cassandra does not have a coherent or cohesive timeline, and rather jumps about in time with little warning, special types of literary analyses must be applied to the text to truly dig into the meaning of the multifaceted text.
Helen ...

Charlotte Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” tells the tale of a young married woman who suffers from what is presumed to be post-partum depression. Her physician husband decides to sequester her for a ‘rest cure’ in their summer home, which turns out to backfire when she starts to slowly go insane. The story takes the form of journal entries denoting her gradual slide into madness, as she hallucinates and forms paranoid thoughts about her husband and the outside world. The audience sees all of this through a first-person perspective that allows us to see inside the mind of the protagonist, ...

QUESTION # 1

Personal sexism refers to attitudes, traits, and behaviors that have been forced to be appropriate for women and men. Many lifestyles, occupations, and works are just held for men such as police officers and corporate officers that just define the characteristics women do not have. In the same way, women are seen as having certain characteristics such as being emotional, submissive, gentle etc that make her stick to the occupations such as teacher, nurse, typist etc. on the other hand, institutional sexism arises when some opportunities are only present for one sex as compare to the other one (Goss, ...

Introduction

Feminism has in the past, created different perceptions, notions and ideas. The major ideas that have been discussed in several platforms about feminism include the role of relationship between men and women, especially in terms of gender equality, where feminists seek to have equal opportunities with men (Martin, Wood and Little p,10-24). These feminists believe that both men and women have equal responsibility and, therefore, should be given equal chances, which include equal pay for the same jobs, and equal considerations in employment opportunities. Secondly, the feminists have discussed in these platforms the privileges that are being taken for ...

Introduction

Literary critical theory is a complicated process - there are many different ways from which one can look at a story. The question remains, however, whether or not these readings are valid. Is the process of literary criticism a means of mental gymnastics, where theorists can force a reading into a text like a child pushing a square peg in a round hole? Looking at the various theorists who make up the most prominently observed members of the literary critical canon, it becomes clear that the act of reading itself is an interactive one, with the reader bringing just as much into the experience of reading as ...

Reviewing "The Yellow Wallpaper" through Plato and Christine de Pisan

Charlotte Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” tells the tale of a young married woman who suffers from what is presumed to be post-partum depression. Her physician husband decides to sequester her for a ‘rest cure’ in their summer home, which turns out to backfire when she starts to slowly go insane. The story takes the form of journal entries denoting her gradual slide into madness, as she hallucinates and forms paranoid thoughts about her husband and the outside world. The audience sees all of this through a first-person perspective that allows us to see inside the mind of the protagonist, ...

Maria Del Carmen Feijoo and Monica Gogna

The feminist movement in Argentina sought to have democracy and the rule of law instituted and implemented. This culminated after the forced disappearances of their husbands and sons and other relatives. The women not only agitated for women’s rights, but pursued to have the government respect the general human rights. In what ways were these women movements successful in their quest for justice and advocacy for human rights? What were the main factors encouraging the women to actively and courageously pursue their quest for justice and reforms despite all the terror and suppression they encountered from the government?

Women’s rights are human rights

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Section 1: Theoretical Perspectives

1) This is something a structural functionalist would say. In structural functionalism, a convoluted system is created that establishes patterns of behavior and attitudes that contribute to its continued existence. In this example, the relationship between individuals and consumption is discussed, as people consuming at the level they are entirely determines just how the system is upheld. If people want to change that system, they have to change their conceptual role in the structure, and find a way to change the structure to keep it stable. If people want to consume fewer products, they have to find a way to make sure that ...

Toni Morrison’s novel, Song of Solomon focuses on the lives of one, black family unit and in particular, the novel’s central protagonist, Macon ‘Milkman’ Dead III. The novel presents women in a number of ways: as victims, as being in adoration of men, as nurturers and as ‘Earth Mothers’ who embody the plentiful nature of the Earth. This limited view of women is presented in terms of the limited options that ex-slave, black women had. A feminist reading of this text would also need to incorporate a reading of gender relations within a black community as women, and in particular, ...

Since the beginning of time people used to have various views and standards for the way that everything around them should be. Throughout the history there existed many examples of the expression of ideas contradictory to the norm and all terrible consequences of such actions. Thomas Kuhn in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, made an attempt to describe the possible apprehension to change. It was mainly focused on the scientific world and the historic nature of the educational research. Any research was considered to be grounded upon one or more scientific achievements that had to be certainly ...

Sex and sexuality is one of the most important issues pertaining to women and gender studies. While sex refers to an individual’s gender, sexuality refers to an individual’s expression as a human being, which begins at birth and continues until death (Weeks 9). Sexuality is also defined as the relationship between an individual’s gender role and identity, body image, sexual orientation and relationships (Weeks 7). In other words, sexuality constitutes an individual’s values, attitudes, behavior and knowledge, and is mostly influenced by the family, culture and society. Some of the major sources of sexuality are ...

If one delves deep into the course of human history, it would be understandable that the forms of human communication have been developed and transformed over the ages. While verbal communication has come to become the widely accepted and used form of communication among people of the society, kinesics or body language holds a place of paramount importance when it comes to communicating as well. Often it has been seen that the nonverbal form of communication are used for subversive actions by people so as to register strong protest. Now, it needs to be noted that such body language ...

Introduction

Karen Warren coined the term “Ecofeminism” in explaining the logic of domination where the notion of people’s control over nature as a whole is wrong and for the same reason that the subordination of women to the will of men is also wrong. According to argument, feminists should object to the idea domination because subordination of women and domination over nature both represents the logic of domination. On the other hand, the asserted claim of twin domination encompasses several issues. In this discussion, Warren’s logic of domination and the concept of ecofeminism will be examined by explaining ...

Human communication in the society can take the strongest form if a person involves kinesics along with the spoken language. The physical domain of existence provides the scope to the individual to use verbal and non-verbal communication in unison to communicate some idea or matter. Now, the physical attributes that are used in such communication can very well be subversive in nature. One needs to delve into the matter in context to explore how the physical gestures work as symbols of subversion in various situations so as to accentuate the vehemence of opinion and expression by the individual engaging ...

In your view, why did Lu Hsiu-lien and many others in her generation become advocates of "Taiwan independence"?

Taiwan independence is a politically-motivated movement who primary aim is to form an independent and sovereign Republic of Taiwan from the lands that are currently governed by the Republic of China (ROC) (modern-day Taiwan) and claimed to be owned by the People’s Republic of China (PRC, China). It aims at renaming the Republic of China to the Republic of Taiwan and obtaining the status and recognition of a sovereign state internationally.

This movement is divided between two major coalition organizations: Pan-Green Coalition and Pan-Blue Coalition. While Pan-Green is in favor of the objectives of the movement, Pan-Blue seeks to oppose ...

The writer of the article (Aviva Dove-Viebahn) tries to give a review of a television series known as Mad Men. The series setting is in the last century, the 1960’s. I actually think that the title of the article should be “Feminism in a Man’s World”. This is because there was zero level of gender sensitivity at the time. Women were not held with esteem at all. We can argue that we have come a long way since then, because Americans are now more gender sensitive.
Aviva’s remarks, in “Feminism in a Mad World”, makes clear the stereotyped activities women ...

Introduction

Discussion
Atwood’s Main message
As a visionary writer, Atwood has authored many books. What is common in Atwood’s books is that she attempts to put across one message over and over again. This is the message on the woman’s voice in the society. Atwood effectively passes this message in a unique manner by reconstructing her version out of ancient myth stories. Old pieces of literature were synonymous with stories of feminist exploitation. The society of the time was characterized with giving a woman no chance whatsoever. They had no say in most society matters even by a little ...

An Analysis of Three Short Stories Using Literary Lenses

- Summaries
Cathedral is the story of a blind man named Robert, who comes to visit an old friend and her husband. Her husband is unhappy about the visit and throughout much of the story, observes him without commenting or contributing to the conversation or is simply rude to Robert. After dinner, the wife goes to bed, and the two men are alone in front of the television. The man tries to describe what he is seeing to Robert but finds himself unable to describe a Cathedral when it appears. Robert tells him to draw it while his hand is ...

This classic story which was first published in 1892 is typical of Charlotte Gilman who describes a young woman’s descent into neurosis and psychosis with alarming reality and stark detail. Principally, the story focuses on the girl’s fixation with her surroundings which intermingle with the declining effect on her health. This is all brought about by her husband’s wicked decision to confine her to a room in solitary presence where she is forbidden to undertake any sort of mental activity, this may include literary or other similar pursuits and this type of situation literally drives her mad. This ...

Introduction

This story about a woman who falls out of the usual script is a demonstration of individual autonomy and a determination to break out of the stereotypes that can imprison ones thoughts into submission. The title of this mystery thriller is a reference to the lead character; Lisbeth Salander an accomplished investigator and an intelligent computer hacker. This is despite the fact that she has been declared mentally incompetent and assigned state legal guardianship.
Her last guardian suffers stroke and the state assigns her a new guardian; Nils Bjurman who is a local lawyer, to be in charge of her financial disposition. But despite ...

Main Argument of the Readings

Silvia Federici, Chandra Mohanty and Alicia Muszynski discussed in their respective articles the sociological facet of the inferiority perceived upon women. “Insatiable sexuality”, in the case of Federici, socioeconomic differences for Mohanty and race-gender stratification noted by Muszynski all point to reasons why women, under different classifications, receive unfair treatment. The three articles stand united in explaining that women received discrimination because of their biological sex and that it is a demeaning factor when added with other condescending characteristics such as socioeconomic conditions and race.

Personal Argument on the Readings

On a personal note, I perceive the connection between the three articles as highly characteristic of ...

How this article relates to Work and Family Topic

The article on Joeys’ problems tries to relate the life of the modern professional women who is raising a family and balancing work and family. The concepts link heavily with the issues discussed in chapter 11 concerning work and family. Traditionally, it has been the role of the woman or the wife to take care of the family, but based on the article, women are demanding equality in marriage. According to Hochschild (1989), married couples see it necessary to combine their financials to be able to raise their family without problems. Nancy’s salary was a significant help to the family ...

In Virginia Woolf's literary essay "A Room of One's Own," the author explores themes of feminism through the viewpoints of a narrator who has a unique and principled view of how women are represented in the world. Throughout the text itself, Woolf denotes many things that have held women back from holding positions of power and wealth, as well as granting them agency in society. This point then extends to the limited and restricted body of work that women are allowed to have, seemingly due to the inequalities presented by a patriarchal society. This text sheds some light on feminist attitudes toward ...

Is Feminism a Right?

The issue of gender equality has always been a major subject of discussion both socially and politically. Feminism in particular encompasses the notion of gender position that has an eminent political tendencies. In the real world feminism is something that favors female in terms of social equality. However, feminism could also be viewed as a favorable recognition to females as more a more dominant unit of society. For example in politics, voters favor the female presidential candidate over males because of the maternal characteristics of female that makes them more nurturing than the opposite sex. In this case, the feminist society has ...

J. Ann Tickner: Hans Morgenthau’s principles of political realism: a feminist reformulation

J. Ann Tickner’s article provides an interesting insight into the feminist aspects of political realism. Particularly relevant are the criticisms of Morgenthau’s principles. However, despite the article containing intelligent and well thought out arguments, the formal writing style may serve to put many people off.
Referring to Morgenthau’s portrayal of the international system, Tickner claims that it is, “a partial description of international politics because it is based on assumptions about human nature that are partial and that privilege masculinity” (Tickner).
Tickner points out that masculinity and femininity are socially constructed and are not based ...

In the 2009 film adaptation of the Stiegg Larsson novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the character of Lisbeth Salander is an enigmatic, aggressive, yet troubled girl who rebels against tremendous oppression subjected to her by the government and corporations. The film is a very interesting and fascinating example of radical feminism, as evidenced through Lisbeth Salander and the things that happen to her and the other female characters in the film (Harriet, namely).

Radical feminism showcases a society in which women are oppressed primarily by men. The patriarchy is a male-dominated society that seeks to take advantage of women whenever ...

Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso can be analyzed critically using both Postcolonial and Feminist approaches. Picasso was so much interested in African art as he felt a personal attachment to this art. In his Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon (Pablo 1907), he lines up (displays) women, especially for the potential customers, who in this case, are the males. This is probably at a brothel. In this image, some women are naked while others are wearing African masks. This reflects Picasso’s interest in African art. It also depicts the Westerns’ attitudes towards the non-Westerns especially the Africans during the colonial ...

Question 1

Identify what methodology (ies) are being employed in this analysis of Leonardo da Vinci's "La Joconde," and explain why/how. What questions might other methodology (ies) ask about this particular work?

Formalism: - a formal approach has been taken towards this image. Several physical properties have been engaged so as to disclose the function and meaning of this work. Also, intrinsic beauty is the main idea behind this work. The image has a slight smile (slight lips opening at the mouth corners) which was considered as a sign of elegance. A delicate atmosphere dominates this image with perfect interaction of light and shade, ...

Bipolar depression or in other words known as maniac depression disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis which categorically describes mood disorder defined by presence of episodes of abnormality elevated energy levels , mood, and cognition with or without depression episodes. Moods which are elevated are referred to as mania from a clinical point of view and as hypomania if it is milder. Commonly individuals who go through maniac episodes experience depression episodes, or mixed episodes or symptoms, whereby features of both depressions and mania are present at the same time. Periods of ‘normal’ mood separate these episodes though in some individuals, mania and ...