Catharine MacKinnon Essays

Radical Responses The human desire to fight for rights is unavoidable. History has proven that people will always fight against a societal practice they deem unjust as shown during the abolition and suffrage movements. Although Hawthorne opposed abolitionists and feminists because he believed they would cause too much conflict and violence, he acknowledged that slavery was wrong and realized these movements were unstoppable. Nathaniel Hawthorne addresses the consequences of radical change in his

Kiss of the spiderwoman, written by Manuel Puig, is about two prisoners Valentin and Molina, hold in a Argentinean prison in the late seventies. The story is developed through an extended dialogue between the two prisoners. Molina is a middle aged man who was arrested for molesting a child even though this was not the true reason. In the late sixties this accusation was often used for plebeians who did not fit in society, like molina, who is a homosexual. Molina passes the time as he retells films

In the eighteenth century, women’s positions in societal hierarchy in France were considered inferior to a man and they had no political or voting rights compared to their counterpart. They were viewed physically different than men and destined to a domestic role of taking care of the family rather than involved in public affairs and political rights of society. Most women were housekeepers, peasants, shopkeepers or laundresses and were second-rate to men. Women did not have the same freedom as

Classification in “She Unnames Them” Analyzed Through Connell In the theory titled “The Social Organization of Masculinity,” the author, Raewyn Connell provides deeper insight to Ursula LeGuin’s short story, “She Unnames Them,” by expressing to readers the significance of names and relationships. Connell breaks down one of the main facets of masculinity, defining the idea of hegemonic masculinity as a system that enables the perpetual dominance of men and subordination of women in society. By applying

Gloria Steinem: Female Activist Gloria Steinem rose to national fame as a feminist leader in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s for her work as a journalist, activist and political organizer. Her tireless efforts to lobby for social and economic equality allowed Gloria to emerge as an enduring symbol of female liberation. She advocates for intersectional feminism which examines the intersections where forms of oppression overlap and looks at the institutions and conditions hindering women from advancing

The procedure of attaining a position in government dramatically changed in the United States between 1820 and 1840, and the rise of mass democracy was responsible for this. Many social changes occurred that changed the way officials were elected into government. Unfortunately, voting was still limited to free, white men, and it was the same white, wealthy men running for office, but these officials had to gain the respect of the common man to gain power. Along with an increased interest in politics

Sexual content is expected, maybe even desired, when watching television, movies, or scrolling through social media. Sexual content is a broad category that can cover anything from an erotic, consensual sex scene in the television series Bridgerton to the depiction of a nonconsensual, teenage rape scene in 13 Reasons Why. These images created and deployed in television, movies, and on social media are not considered pornography because they do not present sexually explicit obscenities, and are instead

becomes especially embodied, a performance for others to interpret, internalize, or judge. But if this is true, the speech-action dichotomy falters. Pornography, one of the ways humans communicate about gender and sexuality, is both action and speech. Catharine A. Mackinnon’s article Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech is arguing for access to legal recourse to those who have been harmed by the pornography industry. In order to get to that conclusion though, she must first get across that porn acts upon

Catharine MacKinnon, feminist theorist who argues against the theories propagated by Socialist Marxists, comments that in contrast to upper class women who are kept as possessions, proletariat women are more liberated in the sense they have certain agency to go

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines Sexual Harassment as the, “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature” (EEOC, n.d.). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 explains that this type of workplace harassment is a violation when the unwelcomed sexual advances or requests are an implicit or explicit, “term or condition of employment” (EOCC, n.d.). In the years following World War II, the United States

In this essay, I will examine whether silencing argument proposed by Rae Langton (1993) is sound. To analyse, first, I will explain silencing argument. I will also explain J. L. Austin’s speech act theory, since Langton relies on speech act theory to justify silencing argument. According to silencing argument, pornography silences women in Austin’s term, because it prevents women’s illocutionary acts. Therefore, works of pornography impinges women’s right of free speech. Second, I will point out

OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN: NORTHEAST SUBMITTED BY: YANU TAKO (3rd SEMESTER) COURSE: SOCIOLOGY OF MINORITIES AND ETHNIC GROUPS (CSSS) COURSE INSTRUCTOR: DR. A. BIMOL AKOIJAM “It is true, and very much to the point, that women are objects, commodities, some deemed more ex- pensive than others-but it

FORD, T. H. (2009). MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT AND THE MOTHERHOOD OF FEMINISM. Women's Studies Quarterly,37(3/4), 189-205. Ford analyzes Mary Wollstonecraft and her views on feminism. He goes into detail of the theory that women are only used for sexual reproduction that denotes their ability to be self determined and their probability of female autonomy. Ford goes on to discuss the scrutiny that Wollstonecraft faced during the 1970’s. After the 1970’s, Wollstonecraft was reappraised with the second wave