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Feminism Vs Gatsby

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One Step Foreword, Two Steps Back: Evaluating Actions of Radical Feminists Which Undermine Feminist Issues
Feminism is currently evolving and expanding its reach to include all women regardless of ethnicity and economic status. This fundamental idea to incorporate all women in feminism, and to involve all women in the continued struggle for equality is in peril as privileged women (predominantly white, and of relatively good economic status) stymie real feminist issues, thus causing women new to feminism to distance themselves from the title of feminist. In her article I’ve Been Pondering Whether You Can Be a Part-feminist’: Young Australian Women’s Studies Students Discuss Gender Kate Hughes questions women from a wide range of ethnic and …show more content…

The manifestation of these extreme tactics in media give negative connotations to being a feminist, which creates a further rift between men and women. Marilyn French a key player in second wave feminism stated in her book: Feminism is for EVERYBODY, that “[feminism] does not privilege women over men” (qtd in Adeleke 128). While French was from the previous generation of feminists and was a self-described radical feminist she still believed that the ultimate goal of feminism is equality between both sexes. The arrogant, chauvinistic acts performed by these radical feminists are traits often associated with men and criticized by feminists (Adeleke 126). The absurd irrationality of extreme feminists only serves to detract from women’s oppression, trivialize feminist issues and can lead to people perceiving feminism as a fallacy (Adeleke 126). The discrediting of feminism due to radical feminists is detrimental not only to the work of previous generations of feminists but as well as to the future generations of feminists who fell estranged from feminism as it is represented in media …show more content…

I believe this is due to the way feminism has been portrayed in the media by radical feminists who dominate the spotlight. The overwhelming majority of these ‘infamous feminists’ are white, middle class heterosexual women (Schuster 1) whose opinions and issues are broadly labeled as feminist. Radical feminisms ability to dissuade women from identifying as a feminist is illustrated in a quote from Alison Dahl Crossley’s When it suites me. I’m a feminist:’ International Students Negotiating Feminist

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When feminism was becoming more common in Europe after World War I, many judged feminists harshly, describing them as a “shrieking sisterhood” and manly, neglecting their duties at home. The negative feedback made many women negligent to describe themselves as feminists(“Feminism in

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Camille Yates Dr. Paige ENGL 1113 21 April 2023 Rhetorical Analysis Essay Unit #2 Bad Feminist is a book written by American writer Roxane Gay published in 2014 that became a New York Times Best Seller. Gay exemplifies her “bad” feminist traits and contrasts them with her “good” feminist traits. The purpose of this formal essay is to broaden the definition of what a “feminist” actually means. Many women do not fall underneath the certain opinions of what “feminist” would be. Gay discovers her definition of what a feminist is by utilizing her use of rhetorical appeals and elements that ultimately successfully contributes to her purpose in writing Bad Feminist.

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The generic feminist movement consists of “white, middle-class heterosexual women” (Tong 42). These women focus on their needs, and neglect the specific needs of many women of color, who are often of a lower socioeconomic standing. White feminists focus on liberating the oppressive “housewife role,” (Tong 214) and fail to even attempt to include minority women who may in fact dream of a life in which they were able to stay home with their children. White feminists “fail to realize that it is possible to oppress people by ignoring their differences” (Tong 214). This issue makes it difficult for many non-white women to relate to or desire to be a part of the feminist movement.

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Words such as ‘unspoken assumption’, ‘insidiously’,‘exaggerating’, and “preoccupation” show suspicion towards the topic of women's rights and movements . In addition, the author also gives emphasis towards the downfall of men’s rights by including details such as “special privileges and protection to women” and “men’s supposed mistreatment of women”, thus showing how the author is directly opressed by the fight for equal rights. The author sees men's rights and their struggle with oppression as them being expected to have traditional cordial manners and fall into the traditional role of the patriarchy of the family, and decides to ‘debunk’ feminism by using these few points against a legacy of hatred, oppression, and misogyny that created

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593 Words | 3 Pages

“On the one hand there was liberal feminism; on the other hand, there was women’s liberation. People also sometimes talked about that wing as comprised of radical feminism and socialist feminism, with radical feminists regarding women’s oppression as the root of all oppression and socialist feminism placing women’s oppression within the other context of other forms of oppression, particularly race and class” (Finsterbusch, 2013, p.147). Epstein goes on to suggest that the women’s movement currently has narrowed its politics and as the women’s movement has aged it has become vulnerable to absorbing the current trends within its own class and as a result this has led to the movement not taking center stage. Epstein concludes that we need to “return to a sort of revised version of radical feminism and place feminism within the demand of an egalitarian society and a demand for a society that respects human connection and communities and promotes them rather than destroying them” (Finsterbusch, 2013,

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427 Words | 2 Pages

Milligan is comparing how people viewed feminism back in the day. It is stated in the article that a conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh referred to feminists as “feminazis,” emphasizing the degradation, and the shame for believing in gender equality. The term “feminist” has gone through so much sabotaging by misinterpreting and misunderstanding what it meant, until the word began to revive again and have a real meaning to it Milligan explained. It started by younger women who thought to help their society, and according to 2013 Huffington Post poll, it is said that “82 percent of Americans, men, and women, believe the genders should be "social, political and economic equals” feminism has grown to be embraced. Feminism became a crucial part of our society today, as well as the feminists to defend the

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208 Words | 1 Pages

Radical feminism arose out of the political activism present during the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s and soon spread to Canada and other parts of the western world (Reichert, 2016a) Whereas first wave feminists sought to fit women into existing structures, second wave feminists turned their lens to the public versus private sphere of women’s lives in the 1970s, particularly as they related to sexuality and violence. Domestic violence against women was perceived as a public issue rather than a personal family matter (Reichert, 2016b). Radical feminists sought to challenge patriarchal structures that both created and perpetuated violence against women. Their efforts led to reforms in public policy, the creation of

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445 Words | 2 Pages

Before reading these excerpts my knowledge about feminism has come from the mass media. Because of this I am only getting one view of feminism and it’s the story the media wants portrayed. Before I delved deeper into feminism I believed it was anti-male. One example is from what I’ve seen on Twitter. They have a meninist account and a feminist account.

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729 Words | 3 Pages

Feminism has become a major topic of discussion in recent years. Phyllis Chesler and Donna M. Hughes from The Washington Post stated that, “Women’s economic and social participation is considered a standard requirement for a nation’s healthy democratic development.” There are marches all over the world, filled with people supporting women’s rights. However, most people do not realize that feminism is not just a 20th century concept.

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544 Words | 3 Pages

An Annotated Bibliography Benna, Steven. " These 16 Insanely Successful College Dropouts Show You Don't Need a Degree." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 01 July 2015. Web.

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600 Words | 3 Pages

Julia Schemmer, an undergraduate student studying Public Policy and Education at the University of California, writes copious blog posts, and was a finalist for Shorty Awards of 2015 Best Blogger. Schemmer wrote an article for The Huffington Post in 2014 titled “The Difference Between Feminism And Sexism.” This text argues that feminism should include creating equal rights for men and women, instead of “hating” on the opposite sex. The article relies heavily on facts regarding women facing serious problems by repeating “I’m a feminist because…”(pars 4-8) These extreme hits on reality are interpolated into her argument with the hopes of appealing to the reader's pathos while also giving reason to her being a feminist to help with an appeal in ethos, but because of the repetitive nature of her statement, Schemmer easily loses the appeal to logos, and hurts the effectiveness of the article.

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144 Words | 1 Pages

Feminism has five different components and this essay will discuss the theory and how this is being supported or criticized by the Australian contemporary society. Other points this essay will discuss is how feminism is looked at for the time when women came out and started to make their mark on the male world, and issues from a women’s perspective should be looked at and supported in the way male opinions are supported by society. What I think is that the contemporary society looks at feminism as being a theory of how women came out and about to seek and demonstrate, issues that needed to be reconstructed from being one gender sided, and how there are radical feminist, Marxist feminist , and liberal feminists. Therefore the argument this essay

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291 Words | 2 Pages

Radical feminism, like any kind of feminism, is criticised not only by men but women, too. Critics argue that Radical Feminism is not really about feminism but is mainly about self-victimizing and hating men. Because Radical Feminism calls for the removal of power of men over women and highlights the supremacy of men, many people believe that it adopts the strategy of violence, division and proclaims hate speech. It is seen by them as a hate movement rather than a feminist one. They argue that the things that Radical Feminism allows is making feminism appear pointless to people.

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However, both branches of the movement condemned depictions and portrayals of women in mainstream media for their stereotypical and demeaning representations of femininity. Not only did feminists want to challenge dominant media representations and offer positive portrayals of women, they were also eager to take action against the media marginalization of feminism. Early second-wave feminist representation was distorted and often framed as deviant, illegitimate and extremist in the news media . Feminists were ridiculed, referred to as bra-burners, hysterics, and were supposed to be unfeminine, aggressive man-haters. They were portrayed as “A bunch of incompetents, who, if you gave them just a little power, would turn into megalomaniacs and become as lethal as Snow White’s wicked stepmother” .

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1987 Words | 8 Pages

It argues that the oppression of women is the most widespread, the oldest and the most difficult to eradicate. From these ideas of radical feminism, it can be seen that power lies in the structures built into our society, and most importantly that this power is used on behalf of patriarchal values which seek to keep women oppressed and subservient to men. The methodology of radical feminism to eradicate this power would be a complete upheaval of our political and economic institutions. Radical feminism has many contrasts and similarities to other forms of feminisms. In one regard, radical feminism and Marxist feminism resemble each other.

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