Critical Feminist Studies Web Paper 3

In the age of what many believe to be the “third-wave” of feminism, one that challenges the notion of what it even means to be “female” or “feminist” and has expanded to include those who may not or could not have been part of the first or second waves of feminism, it becomes clear that one of the major differences between the older waves of feminism and the one we are in now (third-wave) is exemplified in the attitude towards pornography. Here, I use the term in a very broad sense since so many feminists define it differently and I mean it to include both sex/sexual work such as prostitution and stripping as well as the pornographic movie industry.

PART ONE

Herm

the mutilation of the corpus which bore me

Academic writing raises questions and answers them, with an aim to be definitive. Personal writing tells a story but raises no questions. Hermaphroditic writing raises questions … and ends paragraph with questions marks?

 When I close my eyes and think “feminism,” I don’t think as a feminist; That is to say, I don’t close my eyes and think as I did before. Instead, I see color, texture, and light. I see the physical materialization of a movement, of a driving and ever-present force. The struggle to make sense of these colors and textures is one that I feel significantly shapes my definition of the summation of values held by feminists all over the world. I find that I cannot separate thoughts of past and current female oppression from the bright flashes of red gritty paint that manifest themselves in my mind’s eye. I cannot read a text about identity and womanhood without sculpting the female identity in my thoughts.

* This draft is rather incomplete.  I'm hoping to add more as I continue working... 

Abigail Sayre

Intro to Critical Fem. Studies

Anne Dalke

Registering to vote, setting up a myspace account, and walking into almost any public bathroom all have one thing in common: they each require the individual to declare their gender and/or sex identity. For most people, this may not seem to be a cause for alarm; society trains everyone to express a specific gender identity (either “masculine” or “feminine” based on whether their genitals are “male” or “female”) from their birth. These gender identities make it easy to determine whether one has male or female genitals, therefore allowing the heterosexual “norm” to easily prevail by simplifying the policing of other

Intro to Critical Feminist Studies: Web-paper 3

Louisa “Weezie” Lauher

November 21, 2007

Critical Feminist Theory

Paper Draft

Bryn Mawr Boys

Transgender Feminism at Bryn Mawr College

Introduction of Goals

Nicole Matos

Critical Feminist Studies

21 November 2007

The Hardest Button to Button

Restatement of Proposal

A Doll’s House – Henrik Ibsen (1879)
The play’s main critique is the fact that in the era’s culture, men treat women as doll’s that are there only to play a role. Women are not seen as autonomous beings, rather they are seen as one part of a general stereotype to which they are forced to adhere. The world of the play is one in which feminism as a movement has not quite started – it is on an individual basis. For certain women, there is a great dissatisfaction they feel with their roles in life, and they have decided to stop putting up with it. The protagonist, Nora, gives up her entire family in order to escape “doll status” and become independent.