WMST-L File Collection: Feminism(s) (including Critiques) Last updated: Sept. 1, 2010

The following files from the WMST-L file collection discuss feminism(s), and include critiques of feminism:

Conservative Feminism: An Oxymoron?

(December 1998; see also Radical Feminism, below)

Daphne Patai, Women's Studies, and the Chronicle

(A WMST-L discussion concerning an essay about women's studies by Daphne Patai in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the wisdom of the Chronicle's choice of Patai to discuss the state of women's studies. October/November 2000. 3 parts.)

Ecofeminism in the Caribbean

(Suggested resources for creating an undergraduate syllabus on this topic. WMST-L discussion, August/September 2003.)

Darwinian/Evolutionary Feminism

(This WMST-L discussion seeks to clarify the meaning of "Darwinian" or "evolutionary" feminism. The discussion took place in May 2005.)

Feminism and Evangelical Christianity

(WMST-L discussion concerning the relationship between feminism and evangelical Christianity. April 2003.)

Feminism and Social Change: Suggested Readings

(Suggested readings for a course on Feminism and Social Change. WMST-L query and responses, including syllabi. November/December 2003.)

Feminists Who Reject the Feminist Label

(WMST-L, October 1993)

Feminists Who Reject the Feminist Label II

(WMST-L, September 2008)

Films about First Wave Feminists/Feminism

(A discussion on educational films about first wave feminists/feminism. WMST-L, September/October 2009)

The Gender Knot - Allan Johnson

(Information and strong recommendations for this book by WMST-L subscriber Allan Johnson. It's the book most frequently recommended as an introduction to feminist issues for men and/or for those who "just don't get it." Messages on page 1 span 1997-2002, with one from 2005 about Johnson's second text that builds on _The Gender Knot_; page 2 adds messages from a 2006 discussion.)

Global Feminisms Texts

(Recommendations for feminist theory texts that give students a sense of the issues concerning global feminisms. WMST-L discussion, June 2003.)

Getting Together: How to Start a Consciousness-Raising Group

(A 1972 pamphlet by WMST-L member Marge Piercy and Jane Freeman)

The Girl Power Movement and Feminism

(A discussion of the "girl power movement," with some attention to its relationship to feminism. WMST-L discussion, October/November 2000).

Have Women Achieved Equality?

(Discussion of how to deal with some students' belief that today "men and women are equal in every area of life." July 1998; 3 parts)

Household Division of Labor

(Discussion of gender beliefs and the household division of labor; consideration also of research methodology. WMST-L, September 2002.)

How Political is the Personal?: Identity Politics, Feminism and Social Change

(Essay contributed to the WMST-L file collection in 1994 by list member Joan D. Mandle. The Web version includes a few small changes.)

Knitting as a Revolutionary Act

(A discussion of women's needlecraft, especially knitting, as a feminist, revolutionary act. WMST-L, late April/early May 2002.)

Making 'Contemporary' Women's Literature Relevant

(A discussion of ways to make women's literature of the 1970s and '80s, and the feminism it reflects, relevant to 21st-century students. The discussion took place on WMST-L in January 2005.)

Marxist Feminism

(Attempts to define/explain Marxist Feminism. WMST-L, August 1994)

Professing Feminism, by Patai and Koertge

(A three-part discussion of Professing Feminism: Cautionary Tales from the Strange World of Women's Studies, by Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge. The discussion took place on WMST-L over a period of months in 1994 and 1995.)

Pro-Life Views in Women's Studies

(This discussion of pro-life feminism took place on WMST-L in October/November 2002.)

Radical Feminism

(November/December 1998; 2 parts. See also Conservative Feminism, above.)

Radical Feminism: Readings for a Course

(This WMST-L discussion from February 2007 offers suggested readings for a course in radical feminism and also includes some discussion of radical feminist thought about transgender issues. See also Radical Feminism, above.)

Readings by Straight, White Feminists

(A student's request gave rise to suggested readings and discussion of the request's legitimacy. WMST-L, May 2002)

Readings for Men

(Responses to a 1994 query for recommended readings about gender and/or feminism for well-intended men, along with Judith Lorber's 1995 bibliography of readings about men and feminism. Two parts.)

Resources on Anarchist Feminism

(Resources for learning about anarchist feminism. WMST-L discussion, April 2006)

Should We Teach Camille Paglia?

(A 3-part file that also includes some discussion of sexual equality and sexual difference. April 1995)

The Struggle for Feminist Purity Threatens the Goals of Feminism

(A 1992 essay by WMST-L member Daphne Patai; originally published in the Chronicle of Higher Education)

Students Who Deny That Problems Exist

(A WMST-L discussion about how to respond to students who deny that gender problems exist in media representations--or in life more generally. May 2001. See also the earlier related files, Have Women Achieved Equality? and Teaching Students to "Get It".)

Teaching '70s Feminism

(The challenges of teaching feminist thought and activity of the 1970s. Includes considerable discussion also of the notion of "waves" of feminism. WMST-L discussion, July 2001. 4 parts. See also the later (2002) discussion, 'Waves' of Feminism.)

Teaching Students to "Get It"

(WMST-L discussion about how to help students recognize that women still face oppression. October 1999)

Transnational Feminism: Resources and Issues

(WMST-L discussion, December 2007)

The War Against Boys

(2-part WMST-L discussion of Christina Hoff Sommers' Atlantic Monthly article, "The War Against Boys." WMST-L, May/June 2000. See also a later WMST-L discussion of the backlash issue, Backlash: Girls vs. Boys.)

'Waves' of Feminism

(A lengthy WMST-L discussion from May/June 2002 that focused at the start on the book Jane Sexes It Up: True Confessions of Feminist Desire and evolved to consider as well the notion of "waves" of feminism, especially second and third-wave feminism. A few additional messages from 2002 and 2003 (including a brief third-wave bibliography) appear at the end. See also the earlier discussion Teaching '70s Feminism.

'Waves' of Feminism, II

(Appearing just a few months after most of the lengthy discussion listed directly above, this brief follow-up deals primarily with the origins of the term "third wave." WMST-L discussion, July 2002.)

'Waves' of Feminism, III

(A January 2005 discussion of so-called "third wave" feminism. The discussion arose from the lengthy discussion Young Women and "Feminism".)

Who Stole Feminism?

(Discussion (Fall 1994) of Christina Hoff Sommers' book, Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women. Includes a link to Laura Flanders' published critique, The "Stolen Feminism" Hoax.)

Why Not a Feminist Overhaul of Higher Education?

(A 1998 essay by WMST-L member Daphne Patai. Written in response to Vision 2000, the essay was originally published in the Chronicle of Higher Education.)

The Women's Rights Movement: Where It's Been, Where It's At

(Keynote address given in October 2001 by former WMST-L member Sonia Pressman Fuentes, a founder of NOW, WEAL, and FEW. Fuentes deals with the second wave of the women's movement: its history, her role in it, and where it is today.)

"Women's Studies" vs. "Gender Studies"

(Eight parts (!), including discussions that took place on WMST-L in 1993, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2008, and 2009, plus a bibliography created in 2005.)

Young Women and "Feminism"

(A 3-part WMST-L discussion from January 2005 discussing the claim that young women are reluctant to be associated with "feminism." This issue has arisen on the list with some frequency. For some additional discussions, see, for example, Feminists Who Reject the Feminist Label, The Girl Power Movement and Feminism, Teaching '70s Feminism, and 'Waves' of Feminism.)

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