karuna_lan

Feminist Paper part 2

2008-06-09T21:19:09Z

In examining the evolution of feminism from first wave to third wave, it can be said that overall feminism has not moved significantly from the argument of “difference to “sameness”. However, the feminist movement never encompassed a significantly individual and coherent methodology of debate in “difference” or “sameness” as different groups advocated different stances. Beginning with first wave feminism in the U.S. 19^th century to the 1920’s, women were divided between maternalists and suffragists, though not exclusively. Maternalists emphasized women’s public civil duty as a tangent of their domestic duty, while Suffragists pushed for equal political rights as men. Maternalists thus argued for the distinction of different roles between men and women in the public sphere and not necessarily political equality. Elizabeth Stanton’s 1848’s drafting of the Declaration of Sentiments in the Seneca Falls Convention was the voice behind suffrage movement for women based on equality of citizenship. Even in the Declaration, there exists no advocacy for “sameness,” merely equality.

Alongside gaining suffrage for women, the fight for legalized birth control and contraceptive education, led by Margaret Sanger, was another indication of an argument of “differences”. By recognizing the female body in the function of reproduction, Sanger’s birth control movement created a barrier between the biological functions of men and women, giving women the option of protecting themselves from men in the sense of unwanted pregnancies.

Second wave feminism, 1960-1970s, also did not deviate much from the “difference” argument, focusing on limitations of education, careers, and media representations of women that still repressed them to the domestic circle. Women’s organizations focused on the woman as an individual with different sets of circumstances from men. Notable achievements in during the second wave included passage of Title IX in the Education Codes of 1972, outlawing discrimination by gender in educational environments, and passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination by gender in the workplace. Organizations such as NOW, WEAL, and PCSW fought in pushing for co-educational institutions, sexual harassment policies, childcare services, and equal educational and extracurricular funding for women, a distinct difference from “sameness” arguments in identifying the needs of women not applicable to men.

The second wave also saw a dialogue on the economics of domesticity and unpaid work that women perform. As a commentary on inequality in paid work and repression of women’s opportunities outside of domestic circle, feminist economists pushed for reform in the measurements of value in social and individual capital, rather than purely material capital, as domestic work was not counted in the GDP. This has led to a re-evaluation of the family breadwinner model and the place of women in different employment context from men. During this time, backlash to the housewife oriented lifestyle featured in many magazines also occurred. Betty Friedman’s The Feminine Mystique summed up the housewife’s identity dilemma and created a stir among women readers to free themselves from a stifling domestic life.

Subsequently, the second wave movement spurred the controversial case of Roe vs. Wade. The decision legalized abortion in all 50 states, stating that the right to decisions regarding one's reproductive system was consistent with the right to privacy under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The controversy of abortion and fetus rights still remains to this day, but the initial decision to legalize abortion bodily applies to women and not men, bringing up another issue in feminism that can only be categorized under the “difference” debate. Along with the recognition of women’s optional participation in reproduction, the second wave established domestic abuse shelters, public awareness of abuse and rape, access to contraception and reproductive health services, as well as other developments. Overall, these progressions have allowed women to explore the female identity in context of a male dominated world and obtain more rights for opportunities and protection that do not sacrifice the concept of “difference” between men and women.

Third wave feminism beginning in the early 1990s can be said to be the most progressive of the movements in the development of women’s culture and identity. During this time, the concept of “difference” is more so developed as women’s movement involved queer-theory, transgender topics, and examination of race and other components of identity that state the female identity is not restricted to merely one model. Not only in dealing with traditional feminist issues such as abortion and reproductive rights, third wave feminists have also sought to transcend these mainstream topics and discuss more marginalized issues such as racial discrimination and sexual normative. Involving grass-roots oriented approach and student activism, the third wave has become less limited to traditional ideals of feminism and invites participation from diverse communities.

In following the feminist dynamics of first wave to third wave movements, it is clear that the argument that women’s rights has evolved from a “difference” argument to a “sameness” one is not applicable. If anything, in the third wave, it can be most clearly seen that feminism has become more focused in the difference of women from men, and within female communities, but at the same time empowering women through these differences.

Feminist Paper, part 1

2008-06-09T17:53:25Z

Cynthia Daniel discusses the political implications of reproductive differences between men and women. She emphasizes that the feminist movement has brought about the paradoxical problem of bringing the private discourse of pregnancy into public – it is only when women began emphasizing their rights to optional pregnancy, issues of abortion, and motherhood, that they began losing their rights under public scrutiny and government intervention.

Daniel stresses the main issue that intervenes in women’s rights is fetal rights, which places the rights of the fetus in conflict with the rights of the woman given her potential to give birth and also potential to inflict harm to the fetus. Since the political evolution of fetus rights that began with 19^th century inheritance rights that gave an unborn child right to property, the viability of citizenship of the unborn child has been challenged. Fetal rights activists support the notion that there exists an obligation, whether by the public or the state, to protect the “pre-conceived”. One consequence is the distinguishing of women from men biologically and at the same time restricting women to the domestic circle as child birth and child rearing has been traditionally seen as a woman’s responsibility. More importantly, the more severe consequence is the “many attempts to criminalize, restrict, or regulate the behavior of fertile women…[which] tell us something important about the ways in which women’s association with reproduction continues to be used as the basis for efforts to undermine women’s status as citizens” (p.4)

Daniel discusses three dimensions of power politics that arise in fetal rights cases and that need to be redefined: power of self-sovereignty, power of political agency, and power of moral discourse. The subject of power of self-sovereignty such as the case of Angela Carder – who in her failing health was forced to have a cesarean section – questions whether women’s power of self-sovereignty should be jeopardized when it threatens the well-being of another. It is when the state places the rights of the fetus above the rights of the woman and makes the woman’s body a public interest that women lose their right of self-sovereignty. The subject of power of political agency, as seen in the Johnson’s Control case – where one company tried to exclude women from work based on fertility – shows that women had little power in politics and the workplace in relations to their domestic concerns. Women are discriminated in the workplace because of their domestic roles and they themselves have no voice in changing institutional policies. Lastly, the topic of power of moral discourse, exemplified in the Jennifer Johnson case – which involved the criminal prosecution of pregnant drug addicts – holds women morally and lawfully liable for their actions in lieu of their reproductive abilities. This translates to more resentment against women who do not follow the traditional norms of motherhood.

In the broader parallel, Daniel’s exposition of the condition of pregnancy and fetus rights is can be compared to the feminist model of bridging the public and private spheres, the public traditionally thought of as being dominated by male rationale and the private by the female domesticity. The public, since the drafting of the constitution, had been committed to the “rationale public” and homogeny of its citizens. As Marion Young explains, “Modern normative reason and its political expression in the idea of the civic public, then, has unity and coherence by its expulsion and confinement of everything that would threaten to invade the polity with differentiation: the specificity of women’s bodies and desires” (Young, p. 433). The public did not include women, as they were seen as bodies of desire and affectivity if ever treading outside the realm of domesticity. Hence from the early eras of U.S. political establishment, women were not treated as citizens as men were but as other bodies limited to the private sphere.

Since the earliest feminist movements of the 19^th century, women have been making efforts to step out of the private sphere and into the public, which can be defined by three traditions. First was the participation in social and civil services such as charities, social welfare and reform movements, which women defined their inclusion as part of their gender specific role. The second included efforts in gaining rights equivalent to men in legal, political and economic arenas. The third ideal was to free women from stereotypes and conventions traditional to laws and customs. Each tradition had its own derivative, such as Protestantism for participation in charitable activities, and Enlightenment ideals for gaining political rights. (Cott)

However the criticism with the traditional approach to bridging the private and the public occurs in that Daniel points to the public participation and discourse of women’s citizenship as a cause for more restriction on women’s citizenship definition and rights, particularly in reproductive and fetal rights. Comparing women’s role as defined by reproduction to materialism then, we can see how the idea of motherhood has empowered women in past movements as well as restricted them. Between 1880 and 1920 state welfare programs and reform in its infancy was defined by women and women’s groups. The growth of welfare beurocracies expanded care-taking professions of women, such as social work and nursing. Women also played a major part in abolitionist movement during the 1830’s, executing their moral values in changing the then existing values of the state.

Maternalists argued that society could only run smoothly with mothers who looked out for the well being of the state; women would retain their motherly roles while participating in politics to ensure social protection for the needy. This became a voice for women in promoting their private domestic virtues in the public polity. For example, Ruth Bre, a German feminist in 1904 declared that motherhood was the “fundamental, life-sustaining social labor and called for the radical restructuring of society on the basis of matriarchal family units” (Koven & Michel, 1077).

One major setback however, occurred when men who supported the idea of women’s role as mothers placed the interests of children and the nation’s interests before the rights of mothers. Groups such as the Labour party in Great Britain and the Parti Ouvrier Francais in France while supporting the raising of women’s status still expected women to submit themselves to the male dominated political sphere. It was interpreted that motherhood, though virtuous, still depended on the patriarchal structure. Thus, the materialist movement has brought up similar issues faced by women in relationship to reproductive and fetus rights. The concept of motherhood again, has been taken into custody by the states.

It is when the state retains the separation of traditional ideas of private domesticity and public politics, placing the role of women above the rights of women as mothers, the rights of the fetus above the rights of the pregnant mother, and defining women by their biological functions in contrast with men, that women are subjugated and trapped in the domestic sphere. And as the different debates about women’s rights have show, it is the paradox of public discourse of the private life that empowers yet at the same time suppresses women’s rights.

Gravity

2008-06-09T03:45:18Z

I loved the city
    one raspberry vodka
        120mph motionless down I-94,
the skyline splattered by lights
        like the fireflies
                 we used to catch in the suffocating woods
                            my New Jersey summers
                            your dragon clouds
            even in your oblivion, the mornings after we'd
                                                                                                fuck
         I believed I could use a different word
I'd love to
            rip you apart, down to the marrow of your bones
                    and hear that story
                                  again of how you got your scar
I loved the city because you were the city
                                                                                                and I was lost

Finals week sucks my limp cock.

2008-06-07T06:33:43Z

And not in the fun way.

/de-stress

My new job is fun. I basically get to do EVERYTHING. Well almost. It's an internet marketing start up business and they could use my awesomeness. The boss, Dave, is really great. A little awkward sometimes. But what can you expect from a middle age single dude living alone with his cat , Hoodler? Although I've developed a slight crush for Hoodler, he has the best personality I've ever seen in a cat.

Went to Asian Rock Night to see Zach drum. He got all sentimental on me. They played Glamorous Sky from Nana. They played this song last year as well...although back then it had a different meaning for me. Nostalgia is good.
"I didn't want to tell you we were playing it. I knew you'd come for sure if I told you, but I wanted it to be a surprise. Also I wanted to see if you'd come."
"What is this some kind of test?"
"Yes"
He's lost way too much weight in the past week.
Watching the guitarists on stage and Zach drumming makes me certain that if anything I am more interested in guys with musical talent. Geets are hot. There's too many jokes about drummers though, but Zach makes up for it with his gayness with the bassist.
I'm on 3 hours of sleep and I have to teach chinese class tomorrow.

Nobody ever picks up their phone anymore.

1.5 more weeks

2008-06-05T00:37:44Z

Need to stop procrastinating and get my shit done.
Need to take out this stifled human condition in some beautiful violence.

Missing the freedom...

Why I made a new LJ

2008-06-01T18:50:24Z

I recently was informed of what a kodona was by eternityRaS. I had never heard of the term before but apparently I fit the stereotypes. And then being the not-so-lolita person that I am, hilarity ensued.

For my Sugar Pancake Muffin Tops