Feminism came from political left
The women's liberation movement is same thing as second wave feminism and it came from the left
It's a collective movement, not an individual viewpoint or about individual rights
Gender is distinct from sex, it's a social construct designed to impose rules of behavior or sex stereotypes
Pg. 2: "As the legal scholar and feminist Catharine McKinnon says, "The feminist theory of power is that sexuality is gendered and gender is sexualized. In other words, feminism is a theory of how the eroticized nature of dominance and submission creates gender, creates woman and man in the social form in which we know them. Thus the sex difference and the dominance-submission dynamic define each other"
It was the first political movement that critiqued heterosexuality
70's and 80's - lesbians in the anti-violence against women campaigns [sex trade] so need to dismantle patriarchy by challenging it
Protests against the new conservatism
Feminists argued in the 1980s that femininity was socially constructed to keep women subordinate to men, beauty, sex industry, motherhood, monogamy
Lived experience not gender theory is what they were basing their feminist theory on
1980s was activism, 90s it became corporatized and then liberation was replaced by goal of equality
80s - grassroots
2000s - loss of face-to-face feminism and then feminism became about everyone's interest, identity politics became of queer theory
Pg. 41: "For Sheila Jeffreys, an academic and the author of Anticlimax: A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution [1990], it was solely about men's sexual liberation. "It paved the way for the construction of the industries of pornography and prostitution that serviced men's sexual desires to use reluctant women forcefully and often furiously over recent decades,' she says. 'The porn that it unleashed promoted many abusive forms of male sexual behavior towards women and made them seem normal, such as sadomasochism, strangulation and anal sex. Rosie Boycott, who edited Britain's most famous feminist magazine SpareRib in the 1970s, is similarly scathing: 'What was insidious about [the revolution] was that it pretended to be alternative. But it wasn't providing an alternative for women. It was providing an alternative for men in that there were no problems about screwing around.' Of course, the availability of the contraceptive pill was hugely beneficial to women, as for the first time they could have heterosexual sex free of risk, but there are negative consequences too. As the journalist and feminist Beatrix Campbell says, "Before the pill, girls and women would be told, "Don't be left with a burden [baby]", and mothers everywhere were on a mission to protect their daughters from unwanted pregnancy. But what it [now] promised men was risk-free sex with all women, many women, any time. The sexual revolution, rather than being great for us, merely maximized men's access to women"
Beatrix Campbell believed that there were no viable excuse not to allow penetrative sex so put an end to pleasure from foreplay
Pg. 57: "The backlash against the feminist response to this case came largely from men but also some women - 'power feminist' - who fight more for the 'right' of women to say 'yes' to the consumption of pornography and harmful sexual practices such as BDSM than the right to say 'no' to men"
Power feminism happened in the 1990s, thanks to Naomi Wolf, Katie Ralph, and Camille Paglia
Power feminism vs victim feminism
False consciousness is what prostitutes and women who say that they like violent sex have
Ella Whelan: "What Women Want: Fun, Freedom, and An End to Feminism." She adopts a class-war stance
Sexual harassment of working class and migrant women, not all women are oppressed and middle-class is taking advantage of feminism
Pg. 79: "In the early days of the women's liberation movement, feminists strove for revolution. They did not seek the opportunity to behave like men but rather to revolutionize the relationship between men and women. Feminists aimed to do away with sex stereotypes so that eventually the concept of 'gender' [by which I mean sex stereotypes and a set of imposed rules as to how women and men are supposed to behave] would be eliminated"
Equality feminism is a form of liberal feminism issues like pay gap
They don't want to smash the talk they just want to sit at the table
Pg. 103: "In its intended form, intersectionality is a useful political tool that formalizes the inclusion of race and different in feminist theory, in the way that Marxism theorized class. But like so many other useful political concepts, it can be hijacked by those with their own political agenda....one group that has very successfully misappropriated the term ' intersectional' is men who hate any feminism accept the 'fun' kind, where they are in charge and ordering women to bake cupcakes for an English Collective of Prostitutes fundraiser. Because it would look bad if these men spent their time shouting at black women on the internet about feminism, they instead go after [actual] white feminists in an attempt to discredit political positions held by feminists of all races and ethnicities, such as a critique of the sec trade, surrogacy and religious fundamentalism"
Intersectionality has always been a part of feminism [for example in prostitution, its impossible to understand it without being attentive to influence of sex, race, and economic class [intersectional approach]
But intersectionality can be hijacked
Pg. 115: "Socialist men have grown fond of using identity politics against feminists. For example, some men find it impossible not to point out that working-class women and women of color suffer multiple oppressions without suggesting or blatantly stating that white middle-class women have lives of privilege and luxury. These same men will use 'intersectional' arguments against those of us fighting male violence in a way that is clearly motivated by misogyny as opposed to genuine concern about marginalized women"
Choice feminism began in the 1990s with girl power & the Spice Girls, alongside the time of sexist men magazines
Men like choice feminism because they like women choosing getting married, taking husband's name, surrogacy because they like to keep women in subordinate positions where they can continue to exploit them"
Pg. 126: "In the early second wave, feminists were criticized for attacking women who wanted to wear make-up, get married, or who chose to stay home and raise a family. But feminists were not and are not attacking other women for what they choose. Rather we are asking, 'What are the forces that shape choices?' And in doing so, we are considering what the rewards and punishments are for the 'choices' women make, and naming the potential impacts on girls and young women when they see women embracing 'choices' that effectively disempower them"
Why are we responsible to each other as women if each choice that we make as woman is seen as an individual life choice. We can only have feminism if we see women's oppression as affecting all women
Can't see that women are oppressed by men by them controlling women's bodies
Some women have no choice in life and so 'choice feminism' makes no sense, it has to be for all women
Pg. 132: "Should men be allowed to buy and sell women? Isn't there something wrong with men getting off on sex with women who don't desire them? This is about men's choice and men's freedom at the expense of women, and often argued for in the nature of women. Yet the tendency to focus on women's rather than men's choices asserts itself whenever there is a conversation about male violence against women. Domestic violence: Why did she stay? Rape: What was she wearing? The 'grey areas' of consensual/non-consensual sex: But did she actually say 'no'? Prostitution: But what if she wants to?"
Socialists tend not to reduce working conditions to individual choice but only with women they do
Pg. 135: "Marxists should look at prostitution in the same way that they look at sweat shops and slave labor. But when it comes to supporting 'choice feminism', they put aside any critique of capitalism and patriarchy and manage to justify their own use of pornography"
Laurie Penny believes that sex work support is a socialist position by saying that prostitution is work
Men need to challenge other men about sexist behavior and step aside from participating in activities where having a woman would be better
Now feminism is a mix of gender identity, queerness, and virtual signaling, its upper middle class
Pg. 162: "Masculinity is a significant contributor to male supremacy and consequently, female oppression. Men need to focus on this and deconstruct harmful sex stereotypes and expectations but not as a form of 'feminist' activism. Saying I'm deconstructing my masculinity therefore I am contributing to the feminist cause' is not good enough. 'The reason men don't like proper feminism is because it forces us to confront the fact that we need to give up all the things we like about being men," says Tom Farr, a feminist ally who campaigns against male violence towards women. 'Where there is male dominance, we have to examine that very closely to see whether it is in fact a toxic realization of patriarchy"
Men can benefit from feminism by viewing it as a way to challenge masculinity and try to create a world where we are all free from gender stereotypes