• Chapter 5
Middle-earth &
Feminist Theory
Traditional
International Relations
analyses are just
the tip of the iceberg
Feminist analyses
create a stronger,
more-inclusive
basis for
understanding
and explaining
order and justice
Lenses foreground
some things while
backgrounding others
Realist lenses foreground
interstate conflict
Liberal lenses foreground
interstate cooperation
Neo-Marxist lenses foreground
class inequalities
Gender-sensitive lenses
highlight a variety of
relations of domination in
world politics
“Gender” is not the same as “Sex”
Feminist IR is not
just about looking
at women, but
using insights
grounded in
women’s lives to
look at the world
Asks
“Where
are the
women?”
YouTube video of news coverage
Important Terms
Ontology
What exists
Epistemology
How we know things
Methodology
How we find out
what we want to know
Rationalist
Standpoint
PostStructuralist
Feminist IR
scholarship involves
3 major approaches
Rationalist
Sees causal connections
between gender and state
action
Starts research from
Standpoint women’s lives to create less
biased/distorted knowledge
Emphasizes that changing
Postpractices of socialization may
Structuralist
be the key to emancipation
3 “Waves” of Feminism
Anarchy
st
1
Wave
Liberal Feminism focused on
inequalities in the political and
legal system
Women can advance
through legal and
social changes
Gender roles are
equivalent to
biological sex
Women are
constrained by
masculine models
Treated as property
by Saurman who
promises her to
Wormtongue
Rejects Aragorn’s
statement that she is
merely a women and
“her part is in the house”
Anarchy
2nd Wave
The “personal” is “political”
Social institutions create
inequalities
Constructivist
Ontology
Hierarchical
gender relations
are not natural, and
are created through
social constructions
of masculinity and
femininity
Standpoint
Epistemology
Starting from the
experiences of those
at the “bottom rungs
of society” may tell
us more about the
world of International
Relations
Post-Structuralists
Addressing the
“double burden” of
reproductive and
productive labor for
women may be the
key to broader social
change
Socialist
Feminism
The “reproductive
economy” supports
and gives a free ride
to actors in the
“productive economy”
Lobelia
SackvilleBaggins
Illustrates socialist
feminism’s argument
that sexism is
inextricably linked to
problems of class
Radical
Feminism
Challenging
systems of
patriarchy and
calling for
a radical reordering
of society
Anarchy 3rd Wave
Problematizes a singular category
of “woman”
Women’s experiences are
inextricable from oppression
experienced by other kinds of
marginalized groups
Postcolonial
Feminism
Women’s
perspectives and
concerns vary –
there is no
“universal” or
exhaustive set of
experiences
Dis, the Dwarf
Princess
The experiences of
Dwarf women are
very different than
for women of other
races in Middle
Earth
Postmodern
Feminism
Gender is
constructed
through language,
and is not always
constructed in the
same way
Galadriel
Cannot advise the
Fellowship what to
do, but can clarify
their opinions to help
them make their
own decisions
Traditional IR
is just the tip of the
iceberg in explaining
and understanding
international relations
Objective
knowledge is not
possible
The privileged are licensed
to think for everyone,
so long as they do so “objectively”