Introduction to Feminist Theory
Moon Hinga 2014
So what is it?
Feminist theory is one of the major contemporary
sociological theories, which analyzes the status of
women and men in society with the purpose of using
that knowledge to better women's lives.
Basically…
 It’s kind of like Social Class Theory, but
instead of focusing on the relationships
between the classes it focuses on the
relationships between the genders.
 This theory examines the thoughts,
behaviors, values, enfranchisements
(admittance to different areas of
society), and power in interactions
between the sexes.
3 common thoughts of Feminist Theory
 Our civilization is prevalently patriarchal – or
male dominated (male president, male
business leaders, male religious heads, and
so on).
 The concepts of "gender" are largely, if not
entirely, cultural constructs, affected by the
universal patriarchal biases of our
civilization.
 This patriarchal way of thinking also
saturates books that have been considered
great literature. These books lack
independent female role models, are
addressed to male readers, and leave the
woman reader an alien outsider or else ask
her to identify with male values and ways of
perceiving, feeling, and acting.
What is Patriarchy?
 Patriarchy is a social system in which males
are the primary authority figures.
 They are central to social organization,
occupy roles of political leadership, moral
authority, and control of property.
 It implies the institutions of male rule and
privilege, and involves female
subordination.
What questions do we ask?
 How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?
 What are the power relationships between men and women?
 How are male and female roles defined?
 What constitutes masculinity and femininity?
 How do characters embody these traits?
 Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so? How does this change others’ reactions to them?
 What does the work reveal about the operations (economically, politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy?
 What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a mode of resisting patriarchy?
 What does the work say about women's creativity?
 What does the history of the work's reception by the public and by the critics tell us about the operation of patriarchy?
 What role the work play in terms of women's literary history and literary tradition? (Tyson)
 Is this good for womankind?
 How are women being portrayed?
Check out this 1930’s ad
What do you see?
What is it selling?
What is it saying?
Now ANALYZE the ad…
Use the questions in
your notes…
Here are some more… Stereotype much?
Let’s look at something more modern…
 What’s going on here?
 What do you see?
 What is the advertisement for?
Let’s analyze, shall we?
 Ok, now go to the
questions in your notes…
And finally…
What if we switched the women in ads with men?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2SrpARP_M0o