Feminisms, Bodies, Power Midterm Examination/Essay 1: Decolonizing Feminism/Essay 2: Radical Feminist and Marxist-Socialist Second Wave Feminist Statements

Complete both essays, following the prompts closely. Yes, this is a formal assignment so
your essays should have an introduction with a THESIS STATEMENT, develop main ideas with
supporting quotations, and have a strong conclusion.

Essay 1: Decolonizing Feminism 

From its earliest founding, one of the primary tensions in the feminist movement is
between rights/equality versus justice, with rights being focused on the level of the
individual and justice being focused on the level of social systems (consider the
blueberry pie example).

We began with “Decolonizing Feminism” by Maile Arvin, Eve Tuck, and Angie Morrill to
really ground in what the authors pinpoint as the erasure of setter colonialism as a
structure (and not an event), Indigenous peoples and land from feminist theory and the
feminist movement. We also discussed how settler colonialism correlates with the U.S.
developing as a capitalist society and entrenching a heteropatriachal,
heteropaternalistic society, as the authors describe.

To Do:

1. ReviewtheFeministWavesslide.Iwanttoreemphasizeapoint:considerthe
   

   fluidity of water. As you see, the feminist approaches (liberal, radical etc.)
   developed with the movement and are present in each wave. Note that
   “Decolonizing Feminism” was written in 2013, well over a century after the
   Declaration of Sentiments in 1848.
   

2. ReviewtheSociologyLive!MarxandAlienationvideoandyourclassnotesfora
   very brief refresher on capitalism 101.
   

3. Rereadpp.8-13and21-22(the“land”section)of“DecolonizingFeminism.”
   Focus on the key terms: settler colonialism, whitestream feminism,
   heteropatriarchy, heteropaternalism, land
   

4. Reviewyour“DeclarationofSentiments”templateandclassnotes,paying
   attention to how the sentiments reflect liberal feminisms (rights, equality), how
   the grievances were categorized, which people are determined to be suitable to
   have the right to vote (remember there were two intersecting issues: abolition
   and suffrage!)
   

5. Writeanessaythatdoesthefollowing:(a)discusseswhysettlercolonialismasa
   structure and not an event and how early feminist theory and movement
   developed into what the authors describe as “whitestream feminism”; (b)
   discusses how the Declaration of Sentiments reflect the capitalistic,
   heteropatriachal, heteropaternalistic, Indigenous-erasure that the authors of
   “Decolonizing Feminism” describe (you’re really connecting the dots here!); and,
   what we can learn about rights versus justice by putting “Decolonizing Feminism”
   and “Declaration of Sentiments” in conversation. 

6. Essay 2: Radical Feminist and Marxist-Socialist Second Wave Feminist
   Statements 

7. Reviewing the Feminist Waves slide again, you’ll see radical and Marxist-Socialist
   feminist approaches developing in the second wave. Radical feminisms, broadly, focus
   on abolishing patriarchy as a structure and system of oppression. Marxist-Socialist
   feminist approaches are staunchly anti-capitalist and really center capitalism, and the
   dismantling of it, as essential to liberalism. Remember, capitalism is very much focused
   at the level of individual and socialism is very much focused at the level of the social
   and communal. Here were the big themes you all identified in the “feminist platform
   must be….” assignment:
   

   • anti-capitalist
     

   • intersectional (resist “whitestream feminism”, anti-racist, classist, ableist etc.)
     

   • decolonize (setter colonialism, land)
     

   • agentic (freedom to make decisions, including about body)
     

   • prioritize feminist ways of knowing (epistemology)
     

   • not essentialize/romanticize all women as “good” and solution to structural
     

     problems
     

   • not place gender on a binary (man/woman) and understand gender as expansive
     

     These are great, and broadly reflect an ideal feminist platform. 

   • 1. TheUnhappyMarriageofMarxismandFeminism:TowardsaMore
        

        Progressive Union, Heidi I. Hartmann (1979) (focus on the “Marxism and
        

        the Woman Question,” “Towards a More Progressive Union” sections) 

        1. They each decidedly classic second-wave feminist texts that reflect radical
           and Marxist-Socialist ideas, with Hartmann being most explicit.
           

        2. Readyourselectedreading,usingtheguidedreadingnotesbelow.
           

        3. Writeanessaythatdoesthefollowing:(a)identifiesthreemainideasand
           

           supports them with textual evidence; (b) describes what feminism is, based on
           the reading; and, (c) considers how it’s similar or different from what you as a
           class already identified.

        4. 1. The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union,
              Heidi I. Hartmann
              

           • Key elements of Marxist thought: bourgeoise, proletariat, alienation
             

           • Why study of capitalism and patriarchy must intersect
             

           • How Marxist feminists felt alienated within the feminist movement
             

           • What is feminism?