Confusion
abound. What is feminism? Why do we celebrate a women’s day? Are there any
limits to who may claim to be a feminist? The ‘regular Swede in the street’
seems basically to have a very limited idea of what feminism and feminist are. Maybe
that’s not so strange though. Most political ideas are not well known or
understood generally. How many know anything really about the differences
between social liberalism and neo-liberalism? What separates Social Democticism
from Socialism, or from National Socialism? How many know that there exists no
such thing as a matriarchal society anywhere, that we know of, neither
historically nor contemporarily, and that those societies, which are pointed out
as matriarchal are actually matrilineal patriarchal societies? How many among
those with tertiary education know that feminism is nothing new, or that it is
not really one –ism but several?
I have just
watched the Swedish Television series of 3 episodes called Fittstim—Min kamp (in translation Pussy Shoal—My Struggle) by a so-called media-feminist of some
status in the Stockholm based cultural elite. Then I watched the debate, which
was televised directly after the first episode. Now, I watched this on the net,
since I don’t really watch tellie as others do (not structured enough to have
week long pauses between shows!). It was weird—both the series and the debate.
It was so full of no-nothing stuff. It left me with… nothing, really, apart
from a very clear understanding that this woman really struggled to understand
feminism. Which is really a bit strange since she is a proclaimed (self- and by
others) elite feminist. It dawned on me that she doesn’t know what she’s
talking about. That’s why she needs to get on good terms with the Father figure
(Ulf Lundell) she’s stalking with no result through the three episodes. That’s
why she picks up on issues of limited importance, while surfing the central
stuff. She’s got no idea, but apparently her mother-in-law does have a very
clear idea! As has Gudrun Schyman whom she interviews in the first program, and
who seems puzzled by the questions from this younger, un-educated and confused
woman. She’s a sad figure really. She’s as un-educated when the series end and
the debate starts, as she was when she started filming it. Unfortunately, she
is not the only un-educated (self-?) proclaimed feminist, not among the general
public, nor among the relatively well-educated elite, as became very, very
clear during the debate.
Therefore, a crash course:
Therefore, a crash course:
1) The
common denominator of feminisms is the normative strive for a society in which
women and men are considered equally important, and equally respected. There it
ends.
2) Thence, fascists can also be feminists. How? Mussolini and Hitler defined women as extremely important to the creation of their envisioned new societies: as mothers and homemakers, of the same importance as breadwinning men-cum-fathers. For the very same reason also religious extremists may consider themselves feminists—as long as women are perceived as equally important as men through filling different but equally important functions in society. If you’re not very right wing this may give you an uneasy feeling of discomfort. The theoretical underpinnings come from Difference Feminism, and Gender Complementarity Theory.
3) The idea of equality between men and women, in the sense of both sexes having the same (often defined as natural) rights and access to the same resources, be it economic, political, social, cultural etc. are basically located in the Liberal Feminist Tradition. The demand for women’s human rights is a long, liberal struggle—Mary Wollstonecraft (Frakenstein’s ‘granny’) was a Liberal Feminist outraged by the decision of throwing women out of the revolutionary French Parliament—while the Suffragette’s and other women’s movements finally won the fight for women’s right to the vote, also a typically Liberal cause. Many of the ‘classical’ or ‘oldies but goodies’ feminists will locate themselves in this category, and generally as researchers they will focus on women and the study of women’s life conditions, circumstances and experiences.
4) On the other end of the left-right political scale we find those who will define women’s struggle for their rights (i.e. liberal heritage) as intertwined with class (and to some extent race) struggles, locally as well as globally. These may be clustered together under the heading Radical Feminism and Socialist Feminism (they will not agree with me in this lumping together however). To clarify a point: if you find any proclaimed feminist stating that men are ‘the enemy’ or that men are by definition to be hated, they tend to be Radical Feminists, but this does not hold for all Radicals! Not at all!
5) Then we have those who may claim to be Gender Feminists, those who are interested in both femininity, masculinity, class, race, sexuality and who will often have Intersectionality as their point of departure, those who tend to focus on the relations of power, on that, which doesn’t fit the general understanding of sameness and difference within and between gendered categories. Those are labelled post-modernist or post-structuralist feminists.
6) And to round off: there are a number of other varieties in-between these very broad categorisations. However, as stated in the first point above: a feminist is someone who strives for a society in which women and men are considered equally important, and equally respected.
2) Thence, fascists can also be feminists. How? Mussolini and Hitler defined women as extremely important to the creation of their envisioned new societies: as mothers and homemakers, of the same importance as breadwinning men-cum-fathers. For the very same reason also religious extremists may consider themselves feminists—as long as women are perceived as equally important as men through filling different but equally important functions in society. If you’re not very right wing this may give you an uneasy feeling of discomfort. The theoretical underpinnings come from Difference Feminism, and Gender Complementarity Theory.
3) The idea of equality between men and women, in the sense of both sexes having the same (often defined as natural) rights and access to the same resources, be it economic, political, social, cultural etc. are basically located in the Liberal Feminist Tradition. The demand for women’s human rights is a long, liberal struggle—Mary Wollstonecraft (Frakenstein’s ‘granny’) was a Liberal Feminist outraged by the decision of throwing women out of the revolutionary French Parliament—while the Suffragette’s and other women’s movements finally won the fight for women’s right to the vote, also a typically Liberal cause. Many of the ‘classical’ or ‘oldies but goodies’ feminists will locate themselves in this category, and generally as researchers they will focus on women and the study of women’s life conditions, circumstances and experiences.
4) On the other end of the left-right political scale we find those who will define women’s struggle for their rights (i.e. liberal heritage) as intertwined with class (and to some extent race) struggles, locally as well as globally. These may be clustered together under the heading Radical Feminism and Socialist Feminism (they will not agree with me in this lumping together however). To clarify a point: if you find any proclaimed feminist stating that men are ‘the enemy’ or that men are by definition to be hated, they tend to be Radical Feminists, but this does not hold for all Radicals! Not at all!
5) Then we have those who may claim to be Gender Feminists, those who are interested in both femininity, masculinity, class, race, sexuality and who will often have Intersectionality as their point of departure, those who tend to focus on the relations of power, on that, which doesn’t fit the general understanding of sameness and difference within and between gendered categories. Those are labelled post-modernist or post-structuralist feminists.
6) And to round off: there are a number of other varieties in-between these very broad categorisations. However, as stated in the first point above: a feminist is someone who strives for a society in which women and men are considered equally important, and equally respected.
Having said
this I might add that the Swedish party Feminist Initiative has presented an
interesting list of candidates for the EU election (and also for the
parliamentary this coming fall), and a
highly interesting political agenda! Check it out! (says a post-structural
feminist…)
