A Reappraisal of the Quality of Women Candidates

Abstract

This article focuses on “second-wave” feminist perspectives on the role of the state and its effectiveness in removing gender-based inequality in Indian society. The major argument is that feminist rethinking of the relationship of women to the state illustrates the maturity of the Indian women's movement and its recognition that well-planned, mobilized, and effective state policies are crucial to the promotion of women's interests. Recent scholarship has addressed, more systematically and more critically than any in the past, the nexus between social and political processes and the subordination of women. It provides a contextualized and nuanced understanding of the complex interconnections between gender, state, religion, and community. Consequently, not only have feminist writings of the past two decades in India added to current gender sensitive scholarship on the state and development, they have also facilitated the construction of programmatic guides for realizing “strategic gender interests.”     

Intersectional Individuality: Georg Simmel's Concept of “The Intersection of Social Circles” and the Emancipation of Women

Georg Simmel's “The intersection of social circles,” a chapter in his 1908 Sociology, contains discussions of class, religion, ethnic, and gender relations that are highly relevant to contemporary sociological concerns. Simmel's argument is based on a notion of historical dynamic that interprets increasingly complex intersectionality as a sign of progressing civilization. The article establishes how Simmel describes “the intersection of social circles” and then looks at Simmel's account through the concept of “intersectionality” as developed in contemporary feminist theory. The article suggests that although some aspects of Simmel's account of women in modernity are incompatible with contemporary feminism, the shared use of the same image, “intersection,” in Simmel and in contemporary feminist theory is the symptom of a shared concern with a particular aspect of the complexity of modern society. In Simmel, the increasing density of the intersections of social circles points to the increasingly complex individuality of modern subjects, whereas the use of the same image in contemporary feminist theory is part of a critique of inequality and oppression in the same modern society whose advent Simmel celebrated. Intersectionality is a characteristic of modern society that first became visible more than a century ago and has meanwhile become ever the more a signature of modernity.     

The Influence of Term Limits on the Electoral Success of Women

ABSTRACT

In this paper I develop a theoretical approach that rehabilitates identity as a political and interpretive, not essentialist, category. To this end, I explore versions of feminist standpoint theory developed by Nancy Hartsock and Alison Jaggar. While these versions of standpoint theory have marked the significance of experience and knowledge for feminist practice, their conception of subjectivity is too unified and, therefore, creates problems for addressing the epistemological implications of “difference.” For this approach to feminist subjectivity, power relations of race, class, and nation are “differences” which are viewed as threatening endless fragmentation or promising plurality. Alternatively, following Norma Alarcon's theory of multiple-voiced subjectivity, I argue that relations of power produce complex subjectivities situated within multiple, intersecting axes of power: race, class, sex, gender, nation. These relations of power mark the terrain of experience as an interpretive field for the production of knowledge and collective identity. This approach shifts the interpretation of experience and knowledge from a paradigm of essentialism, fragmentation, and pluralist difference to a paradigm of accountability and coalition.     

Introduction

Abstract

This article examines how surges of female representation have produced gender patterns in standing committees and affected the financial support for “women's policy” in the Norwegian and Swedish national legislatures. The argument is two-fold. The more women there were in the Riksdag and the Storting, the more likely they were initially to end up on a “female” standing committee. Second, as the ratio of women legislators grew, spending on “families and children” in the national budget plummeted in both countries, only to acquire more prominence as the proportion of women legislators reached more than one fourth. The article begins with an extensive critical analysis of the gender-theoretical assumptions of the women and legislatures literature, suggesting that contemporary feminist scholarship that assumes gender to be malleable and contextual is more fruitful.     

Transgender Activism

Abstract

Feminist analysis of transsexualism such as that of Janice Raymond has seen it as a deeply conservative phenomenon in which surgical mutilation is employed to maintain the genders of male dominance and female subordination. Transsexualism has a new face in the nineties in “transgenderism” which employs queer and postmodern theory to render transsexualism progressive. This paper argues that “transgenderism” is also deeply problematic from a feminist perspective and that transsexualism should be seen as a violation of human rights.     

Romance and agency: An argument revisited

Sociological discussions of romance novels are sparse. As a cultural artifact, the formulaic genre of romance fiction (and its more than 50 million readers) has been ignored by many scholars, disdained by some for its mass‐pop culture appeal, and condemned as a tool of the “patriarchal apparatus” by others. Some feminist scholars have cautioned against outright dismissal, however, pointing to oppositional codes and empowering elements in the texts themselves. Others have highlighted the expectations readers bring with them to the text. This important, though limited, discourse has contributed to the enduring debate over culture, that is, structure versus agency. We argue that the debate has remained one sided, as those who claim to afford women readers autonomy have done so within an equally deterministic framework (i.e., feminist politics). Implications for affording readers even more autonomy are discussed.     

Decolonizing my hair,unshackling my curls: an autoethnography on what makes my natural hair journey a Black feminist statement

ABSTRACT

There is unquestionably a buzz in US Black women’s communities about a trending “natural” phenomenon. Sales of chemical relaxers (sometimes dubbed “creamy crack” among the US Black community) have dropped 34 percent since 2009, while sales of “natural” hair care products that promise to non-chemically enhance or beautify “natural” curls are up exponentially. Corresponding to the rise in sales of “natural” hair care products are beauty blogs, YouTube instructional videos and supportive social groups—such as “natural hair” meet-ups, which have organically emerged for, and been mostly created by, Black women as a tool to support and nurture women as they take this journey. In this article, I use Black feminist P.H. Collins’s work because her understanding of the relationship between knowledge, consciousness and empowerment provides a framework or point of departure for grasping my own lived experience of going “natural” with regards to modes of oppression and methods of resistance.     

Conceptions of Gay Male Life-Span Development

Abstract

Four of Erikson's eight psychosocial crises were used in this qualitative, exploratory study as an organizing framework. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, seven men were interviewed with the goal of understanding how they have navigated Erikson's life stages. Significant results included: an early sense of being different and a period of time between “coming out to self” and “coming out to another person,” both complicating Erikson's sense of “social trust.” The men also described finding non-biological ways of achieving generativity as well as the development of a strong internal sense of authority or locus of control. Other strengths gained included: achieving a broad base of social support or a “family of choice,” and becoming role models themselves in response to a clear absence of positive role models during their own adolescence, which many identified as delaying their coming out. Finally, AIDS was discussed by many as a critical factor affecting how these men navigate each of Erikson's stages. Implications of these tentative findings are suggested for research, teaching, practice, and for psychosocial theory itself.     

Community Participation Reconsidered

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the process of planning, developing, and implementing a community-based project with Hmong women in a large Midwestern city. Combining action and research to forge relationships, identify common goals and garner resources, the Hmong Women's Project applied principles of both feminist and participatory action research (PAR). In light of the successes and challenges of this ongoing project, we critically evaluate the oft-encouraged goal of “maximum community participation” in PAR projects by questioning common definitions of “community” and “participation.” We argue that the parameters of what constitutes a “community” and what counts for “participation” are inherently unstable, requiring constant negotiation of ideas, values, identities and interests among all who participate in a PAR project.     

Lesbian Books,Lesbian Book Reviewing

Abstract

The emergence of lesbian book reviewing as a genre has several causes: the boom in lesbian book publishing; the increased visibility of lesbian books in mainstream bookstores; heterosexual readers' current fascination with lesbians and lesbianism; a growth in academic and feminist interest in lesbianism and “queer studies”; a general appetite for the “good” lesbian fiction that has appeared recently; and a new world market for lesbian writing. Responsible lesbian book reviewing should have as its goals to review as many books by lesbian authors as possible, including those not “about” lesbian issues or topics; to review books about lesbianism and lesbian issues, including those written by heterosexuals; to cover the entire range of genres, from serious academic books to popular romances; to seek out and publicize lesbian writers from around the world; to make known smaller lesbian and lesbian-friendly presses; and to present a wide range of responsible reviewer comments on the books reviewed, as the lesbian book market continues to grow, lesbian book reviewing should let readers know what's available, create dialogue about the ideas presented in lesbian books, establish ethical stances, support lesbian publishing, become a responsible member of the “lesbian community,” and create a wider space for lesbian writing in the world of readers.     

Winning the Battle but Losing the War on Violence

Abstract

Scholars have recently claimed that global violence – defined largely as homicide and casualties from war – is in steep decline. However, research dedicated to using data to prove the decline of violence, in particular Steven Pinker's book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, almost completely neglects evidence of gendered violence within and across states. This methodological and analytical failure results from flawed theoretical assumptions about what violence is and how to count violent incidences. While prevalence surveys show that a large proportion of women and girls (not to mention men and boys) experience sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), it does not appear in declinist analyses. This is especially problematic given the burgeoning evidence of SGBV's scale and significance in current conflicts, often as a “tactic of war” targeting civilians. Analyzing global violence from a feminist perspective thus radically challenges declinist views about trends of violence. The explicitly feminist perspective on international relations in this article provides a more universal accounting of global violence, and the contemporary changes in the nature and forms of violence.     

#MeToo: Before and After

ABSTRACT

This essay asks, why now? What contributed to the rapid public success of #MeToo in this contemporary moment? It situates the explosion of #MeToo within both a longer history of feminist debates and activism around sexual violence, in which feminists of color have played a leading role, and the rage and bewilderment so many women have experienced in the wake of Donald Trump’s election. The author proposes the term “facilitative displacement” as a way to understand how Trump’s election, despite and perhaps because of his known record of misogynist statements and assaultive behavior, may have fueled #MeToo.     

“Tapping” Women for Post-Crisis Capitalism

Abstract

Girls and women have become the public faces of development today, through the success of “Gender Equality as Smart Economics” policy agendas and similar development narratives that mediate feminist claims through market logic. Women, these narratives assert, are more productive, responsible, and sustainable economic agents for future growth in the context of global financial crisis and therefore their empowerment is economically prudent. In this article, I provide a feminist reading of Foucault's critique of human capital to examine the discursive terrain of the “Smart Economics” agenda and to understand the knowledge it produces about female bodies, subjectivities and agency. Through a discussion of the World Bank's 2012 World Bank. 2012. World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar] World Development Report on gender equality, I argue that the current narratives of women's empowerment are premised on a series of gender essentialisms and their “activation” through biopolitical interventions. The activation narrative of human capital appears, under feminist eyes, to reflect the notion that the supposedly intrinsic responsible and maternal nature of women can be harnessed to produce more profitable and sustainable development outcomes and, by extension, “rescue” global capitalism.     

A “shift in attitude”? Institutional change and sexual and gender-based crimes at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

ABSTRACT

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has been slow to address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) crimes perpetrated during the Democratic Kampuchea regime. However, there appears to have been a tentative “shift in attitude” at the ECCC toward the investigation and prosecution of these crimes. This article draws on feminist institutionalist theories, first to explain the ECCC’s initial failure to prioritize SGBV and then to explain how and why this may have changed. The article suggests that such change has not arisen from the ECCC’s formal rules. Instead, various actors working with and around these “old rules” have drawn on these provisions, civil society initiatives and international and national gender norms to modify “informal” practices concerning the prosecution of SGBV at the ECCC. Sensitivity to SGBV is particularly important in hybrid, or internationalized, international criminal structures, which may be hindered by prohibitive practices emerging from both the international and national components of the institution.     

Feminism and casework

Abstract

In my casework with women I have been impressed by the striking similarities in their experiences, particularly as wives and mothers, and in their feelings about themselves. Even more surprising has been the fact that most of the women I have worked with have considered themselves 'unique' in these feelings and deficient because of them. Feelings of low self-esteem, of failure in their socially ascribed roles and confusion about these feelings are common. In trying to understand the difficulties and conflicts confronted by these women (and the similarities I find they bear to my own feelings) I have found the feminist analysis of women's psychology and a feminist approach to therapy most informative. I present here my early attempts to integrate a feminist theory into my psychodynamically oriented casework.     

“A male feminist walks into a bar,because it was set so low: The pedestal effect and the economy of gratitude in feminist spaces”

Men in feminist spaces often find themselves the recipients of disproportionate gratitude and attention—along with other persistent effects of male privilege that I have elsewhere termed the Pedestal Effect—despite this running counter to both prevailing feminist ideologies and the desires of the men themselves. Sociologist Arlie Hochschild described a similar economy of gratitude wherein low expectations led to heightened valuation of married men's household contributions, smuggling inequities from the wider society into the marriage and inhibiting progressive change even if both parties desired a more egalitarian partnership. By applying Hochschild's framework to interview data from 52 men and 12 women active in the field, I show that the same process explains the troubling continuance of male privilege in feminist spaces: while interviewees of all genders problematize the imbalanced economy of gratitude and many have attempted specific counterstrategies, it nonetheless persists in importing inequalities, undermining men's accountability, and inhibiting desired progressive change. This suggests that the economy of gratitude may be a ubiquitous interactional process that reproduces inequalities across a wide range of social contexts. I emphasize that the economy of gratitude is in fact intersectional, not only gendered, and introduce the idea of a “low bar” to more fully account for the broad range of social influences on expectation-setting.     

Apples and Oranges in Child Custody Disputes: Intimate Terrorism vs. Situational Couple Violence

ABSTRACT

In response to Dutton's (this issue) critique of feminist theories of domestic violence, the author of this article makes three points relevant to the debate about the gender asymmetry of intimate partner violence. First, there are three major types of intimate partner violence, only one of which (intimate terrorism) is the kind of violence that we all think of when we hear the term “domestic violence.” Second, both major types of sampling designs in domestic violence research are seriously biased, and those biases account for the fact that both sides of this debate have been able to marshal ostensibly contradictory empirical evidence for their position. Third, intimate terrorism (also know as domestic violence, spouse abuse, wife-beating, etc.) is, indeed, primarily male-perpetrated and, in the case of heterosexual relationships, probably best understood through some version of a feminist theory of domestic violence. The author then discusses the implications of these points for assessment of risk in child custody deliberations.     

The Mobility of Elderly Residents Living in Suburban Territories

Abstract

Many authors have observed die elders' unanimous aspirations to age in place. Such residential aspirations echo theoretical concepts such as “environmental-fit.” Aging residents adapt to their residential environment according to their autonomy level, their financial and social resources, as well as the meanings they invest in both residential situations and lifestyle (Lord, 2004; Wagnild, 2001). Therefore, the suburbs constitute a challenge for aging residents' intentions to remain in their home for as long as possible. These low-density environments encourage car dependency for almost every daily activity. In that regard, many studies have investigated the daily mobility patterns of elders living in such areas. However, most of them have focused on aspects linked to transportation and driving security (Rosenbloom, 2003). In this context, with a socio-anthropological (in-depth interviews) method, the elders' daily mobility is explored in a complex layering of issues. Two interdisciplinary qualitative researches on the daily and residential mobility of elderly suburbanites have been used: a group living in Quebec City's Post-War suburbs in Canada (n = 56) and another in Marseille's periurban suburbs in France (n = 36). The results show that we must investigate beyond the elders' “emotional attachment”to their “home” in order to explain the everyday tensions underlying accessibility and daily mobility. Aging in a single-family house is more than a deliberate choice. Moving away from one's neighborhood is considered a last resort alternative by the majority. Instead, the elderly from both milieus will adapt their lifestyles to the environment by redesigning their daily activities and their mobility practices in order to age in place. Therefore, adapting daily mobility practices to social interactions and social representations all become a sine qua nonecondition.     

Women’s Accounts of Heterosexual Experiences in the Context of Menopause

ABSTRACT

A number of biomedical models of female sexuality have emerged during the past few decades, and these have been challenged by feminist theorists who have tended to focus on the influence of contextual issues that mediate women's sexual experiences. In this article, a qualitative analysis of accounts relating to heterosexual experiences obtained from 25 menopausal women in Ireland through in-depth interviews is presented and considered in light of existing theoretical perspectives on sexuality. The average age of women in the sample was 54.2 years, and a diverse range of socioeconomic backgrounds was represented. We found that in describing their contemporary sexual experiences, contextual issues were brought heavily to bear as participants drew on discourses of personal history and biography, including previous relationships, to explain their current sexual experiences. However, a few women foregrounded physiological and biological reasons associated with hormonal changes to explain alterations in their sexual relationship, although overall, these were featured to a far lesser extent compared with their prominent position in biomedical menopause literature. A dominant feature of data was the influence of the discourse of the male sex drive, and many women explained their lesser interest in sexual activity compared with that of their partner in terms of men's nature. The findings suggested that for participants, anxiety around sexuality was socially produced either through the expectation to satisfy a partner, or by dominant discourses that defined sexual engagement as “healthy” and sexual apathy as “unhealthy.”