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Feminist Theory
Introduction
Feminist Theory is an aspect of considering feminism as having been based on socio-phenomenon issues rather than biological or scientific. It appreciates gender inequality, analyzes the societal roles played by feminists in a bid to promote the interests, issues and rights of women in the society. It is also based on the assumption that women play subsidiary roles in the society. The whole idea of feminism has however experienced hurdles in the form of stereotyping by the wider society. This paper tries to examine some of the effects of stereotypes that feminism goes through, what other philosophers say and the way forward towards ending stereotyping.
To begin with, according to many philosophers, it would be wise to argue that stereotyping on feminism especially by men is not based on their biological make up but rather on their culture. Culture has imparted in men some unique beliefs in specific thoughts, feeling and behavior towards women as whole and feminists in particular. This notion has however been criticized by angry women philosophers like Jean Grimshaw who argue that just being borne a man is not a sufficient enough reason to criticize women feminists.
Other feminists who have criticized this stereotyping by men in the form of philosophical connotations argue that philosophy in itself has got a lot of flaws. According to Deleuze and Guattari (1994), philosophy is not reflective and neither communicates nor contemplates. This could be in response to those philosophers who tend to dwell on unrelated topics and ignore a whole subject on women empowerment. A case in point is the approach by “The Man of Reason” concept which asserts that the relationship between man and woman is distinct. ...
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...leage by appearing to be extreme radicals and derogatory to men at the expense of the plight and welfare of women. (Conaway, 2005)
Works Cited
Conaway, C. (2005). A Psychological Effect of Steriotypes. Retrieved March 05, 2012, from
Countering Steriotypes by Changing Rules: http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr2005/q1/section3c.pdf
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1994). What is philosophy? New York: Verso.
Gentile, L. (2008). The Relationship between gender identity and the effects of stereotype threat
on woman's math performance. Retrieved March 05, 2012, from Counselling Psychology Dissertations: http://iris.lib.neu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=couns_psych_diss&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.ke%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Deffets%2Bof%2B%2Bstereotypes%2Bon%2Brelationships%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D7%26ved%3D0CFUQFjAG%
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