Introduction
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Feminism has challenged the images of women and of femininity. Feminists have fought against the sexual division of labour in the home and the workplace.[1] They have outdated laws and inadequate social services and have organized and delivered health care to women.[1] Feminists have fought for the rights
of women within the educational system. Feminism has put names to violence against women, sexual
harassment, incest, rape, and wife abuse. Feminists have fought against oppression
of lesbians, immigrants and women of colour. |
This is by no means a complete account of everything that
Feminists have accomplished, nor all that they stand for. There are numerous
different ways in which Feminism can be defined, and it seems to me that no one
definition satisfies everything that I think Feminism stands for.
The oxford dictionary defines Feminism as
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THE advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of sexual equality[2] |
bell hooks, a prominent black feminist,
says that Feminism
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is a commitment to eradicating
the ideology of domination that permeates Western culture on various levels- sex,
race, and class, to name a few- and a commitment to reorganizing U.S. society so
that the self-development of people can take precedence over imperialism, economic
expansion and material desires. |
There are very many
negative connotations associated with being a feminist, which is why many women
do not like to be identified as one. It is difficult to understand why people
assume that all feminists are Man Haters, Lesbians, or Bra
Burning Bitches.
There are several different types of Feminist movements that account for the different definitions of Feminism. The history of feminism is divided into the first wave and the second wave. Some even argue that we are currently in the third wave. As you have probably guessed by now, after hearing that there are many different ways of defining feminism, that there has been different types of feminism over the years as well. For example, there is Marxist Feminism, Black Feminism, Liberal Feminism and Socialist feminism. I have chosen in this assignment to look at Feminism as a survey of some of the mothers of feminist thought. Those women who, "got the ball rolling" so to speak, including Mary Wollstonecraft and Sojourner Truth.