Imperial, Dominant, and Hegemonic Feminism
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Imperial, Dominant, and Hegemonic Feminism
Introduction
The term feminism emerged in the contemporary socio-political discourse as an important movement encompassing ideological frameworks that seeks to establish and define a common goal to achieve equal footing in the political, personal, and economic sector. Since the emergence of the feminist movement, several notions of feminism was developed to create a greater understanding of its role in establishing equal rights and opportunities of women. In this discussion, the different notions of feminism will be explored by highlighting the concepts of each theoretical model. The discussion includes definitions of imperial, dominant, and hegemonic feminism and relates the latter to the concept of intersectionality. Linking the models of feminism to intersectionality brings the discussion to the new understanding of power and privilege in which the notion of feminism is being associated. At this point, it is apparent that despite the varying notions of feminism, they are essentially emphasizing an ideological singularity, which centers on equality between sexes.
Imperial Feminism
The notion of imperial feminism was first used by a black British filmmaker Patribha Parmar, which she described the struggles of women particularly the African descents in Britain during the 1970s (Amos and Parmar, 1984). The term was also referred to as gendered orientalism in which the context of feminism is being attributed to the appropriation of women’s’ rights under the imperial rule (McEwan, 1996). Although the concept was first used to describe struggles of the black women in Britain, this notion of feminism has spread through other cultures in which imperialism is a dominant political structure. One way to put the definition of imperial feminism into a better light in this discussion is to use the Muslim societies as an example particularly in the Middle Eastern region. In an interview with a religion scholar from University of California Riverside Reza Aslan in CNN, journalist Alisyn Camerota asked Reza if Islam is violent given the notion of primitive treatment of Muslim states to women in those regions asked him. Reza responded by articulating the fact that the social conditions of women in Muslim countries vary because in some women can drive a care or even become a head of state while in other Muslim countries does not allow it. Apparently, co-host Don Lemon addressed Reza to be more honest because at some point the Muslim countries with perceived gender equality are not considered as open societies (Mediamatters, 2014).
Now, how would Lemon and Camerota would know that women are being treated primitively in Muslim countries if presumably the haven’t gone into any of the free and open countries like Lebanon and Turkey or able to grasp understanding of women’s struggle for equal rights in Egypt of Morocco? Ultimately, on what evidence would the American commentators base their conclusion about Islam and women? These questions are central to understanding how the ideological framework of imperial feminism was developed in the western societies. Practices, customs, and cultural attributes that define a society also reflect on how gender is being represented. For instance, in some African cultures practice female circumcision, but the western feminists view such practice as oppressive and as the CNN journalists have asserted, those practices are primitive. It is apparent that from the given examples that the notion of imperial feminism stems from the western notion of what is oppressive and what is not is based on the context of western movement. In addition, the practices perceived as oppressive are the ones beyond the norms of the western feminist movement. This is where imperial feminism emerges as an ideological disposition where women in another culture being subjected to the social practices in their country are considered oppressed. Furthermore, this notion of oppressed position provides the imperial feminists with a justification to label the other cultures as primitive, hence warranting an act to liberate.
The many facets of feminist movement also reached the legal environment in which dominant feminism emerged as an important concept. Dominant feminism encompasses a legal theory based on the concept of equality in the legal discourse where female lawyers are faced with challenges when it comes to seeking professional advancement in the practice of law. Catherine McKinnon described dominance feminism as a theoretical framework that investigates underrepresentation of women as potential partners for a law firm derived from the collective experiences of female lawyers. According to the dominant feminism model, the process involve in selecting a potential law form partner encompasses inequality for the reason that men’s knowledge is the norm while women’s experiences are rather inconsequential (McKinnon, 2005). In this regard that the dominant model was introduced in order to empower women as opposed empowering women in relation to men. From another perspective, dominant feminism provides that women is the new dominant gender as they can are also effective in terms of assuming masculine roles and identity. This notion can be observed in several political developments, as women are becoming an equally competitive pick to assume leadership roles. In this sense that dominant feminism was perceived as a power transition in society where women surpasses men in several aspects. For example, in Canada, there are more women earning graduate degree as compared to men (Boothby, 2013).
One of the reasons attributed to the perceived increasing dominance of women is the changing social perspective about gender roles in which the mainstream media portray women with more prominent social, economic, and political status. In addition, the modern social perspective about gender roles provides a new image of men with less masculine characteristics. According to Boothby (2013), the media in particular has create the idiot man character in which the types of Homer in The Simpsons and Peter in Family Guy are depicted as less endearing as examples of idiot men. These depictions by the mainstream media were coupled with new images of women as being the center of reason amidst the chaos or a widely successful character in a particular field or profession. These shift in social paradigm enabled the conception of female dominance, hence, the dominant feminism became more widely accepted as a model of feminism. Primarily, the notion of dominant feminism stems from the context of subordination and dominance in which the men subjected women to subordination by means of establishing control. For instance, the legal system was perpetuated by the dominant male political society to reinforce wage inequality in order to keep women legally and financially powerless (Mazingo, 2012). Given the described shift in socio-economic power where women was observed to have gained dominance, it is apparent that the rise from subordination to dominance through legal goals can be unitarily defined as a result of women’s long standing struggle for power.
Hegemonic Feminism
At this point, it is easy to see how the notion of feminism varies in terms of presenting its core principle, which is gender equality. On the other hand, the notion of hegemonic feminism is a different context of feminism that centers on advocating options to pursue social, political, or economic independence. Instead, hegemonic notions focus on denigrating women who are leaning towards marriage and demonize the idea of marriage itself. This encompasses an advocacy to eliminate the choice of women in becoming a mother or wife. What also sets this notion different from the rest is that the social system that hegemonic feminism aims to create a notion of equality that is run by women for women. It creates a power vacuum in which the barriers of the social norms are being challenged by ideological disposition of equality. In addition, the hegemonic notion disregards class and race analysis that generally individualizes the concept of rights as opposed to the justice-based concept of social change as observed in the dominant feminist model (Thompson, 2002).
In relation to the given example in which hegemonic feminism was viewed as an ideology that seeks to eradicate the idea of marriage, the concept of equality in this feminist model was geared to impose liberalization of women from the social norms such as marriage and the idea of being limited to domestic roles. Apparently, the notion of hegemonic feminism also translates to the dominant model of feminism drawn from the idea that women are on the process of gender domination and limit its objective of control over men. The extent of equality that both the hegemonic and dominant feminism aims to impose over society transcends to socio-political and economic capacity, sexual practices, and race (Thompson, 2002). What stems from the notion of hegemonic model of feminism is the idea of control over common ideologies concerning the role of women in the larger society. On the other hand, it is important to consider the fact that what could hegemonic in one society may not be the same in another. For example, if the second wave of feminism movement in the western society suggests that women hegemony is necessary for women to obtain equality, it may not apply in another society with a different cultural background.
Earlier in the earlier section of the discussion, it was mentioned that imperial feminism is a prominent model of feminism in the western society that view women’s role in another culture as primitive treatment exemplified by the women’s social standing in the Muslim society. This particular view of women in another culture by the western feminist movement justifies the advocacy for a hegemonic movement. For instance, the popular media culture in the western society provides the persuasive and compelling account of oppositional ideology and social change observed in television such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The TV show provides and illustration of hegemonic process and discourse about women (Dow, 1990). This particular example of hegemonic feminism in the mainstream media incorporates the notion of social change that involves a hegemonic process in which the support of the dominant ideology is continually reproduced while gaining tacit approval of those that the dominant ideology oppresses (Dow, 1990). It generally suggests that in order for the hegemonic feminism to achieve its equality objective, the dominant ideology should be depicted as oppressive, and with the approval of the oppressed, the notion of inequality will continue to expand as a hegemonic movement until the perceived as oppressive gain grounds to achieve a dominant status. Apparently, imperial, dominant, and hegemonic feminism are working to achieve a common objective.
Notions of Feminism in Relation to the Concept of Intersectionality
Establishing the context of feminism based on its three prominent models discussed earlier suggests that the notion of feminism encompasses a varying degree of understanding depending on the context of oppression experience. Consequently, the notion of inequality between the male and female gender as the principles of feminism implies is also associated with the underlying concept of intersectionality in which the notion of women oppression depends on varying configuration and degree of intensity. For instance, western society may view women in the Muslim society as highly oppressed by the patriarchal system, but the perceived reality of the Muslim women suggests otherwise. From another perspective, if an African women who undergone a female circumcision ritual in her country view the practice as logically cultural, and view the experience of rejection for being an African woman as oppressive, this implies the concept of intersectionality in relation to feminism. The concept of intersectionality emerges in the feminism discourse in consideration to the multi-faceted layers of oppression experiences of women that varies according to cultural patterns. Despite the variation in degree of intensity and pattern of oppression, all of the experiences of oppression are bound by the society’s intersectional system such as ethnicity, genders, class, race, and ability.
Primarily, the notions of feminism are of the same in context when it comes to the ultimate objective, which is to achieve equality. At the same time, the variation in feminist notion is also influenced by cultural norms and degree of oppressive experiences. Consequently, all of these notions are intertwined and correlated within the concept of intersectionality despite the perceived variations and differences. In other words, women experiences are multi-faceted, and the one-size-fits-all feminist concept is non-existent. Somehow, establishing the exact definition of intersectionality is challenging considering the variation in how the concept is being interpreted in various circumstances of female experiences. However, to put it into a better light, for instance an African-American woman may not condone Chris Brown for assaulting his equally famous partner Rihanna, but when white people label Chris Brown in a racist fashion it can be oppressive for an African-American woman. It is not that the black woman support domestic violence, but the objection is more concerned about the racist experience. This means that the notion of feminism in relation to the concept of intersectionality involves pointing out the singularity of feminist perspectives that does not account the multi-faceted experiences of women from all backgrounds (Vidal, 2014).
The New Understanding of Power and Privilege
Exploring the context of intersectionality encompasses the assertion of the new understanding of power and privilege. In many ways intersectionality highly involves racial dispositions that when brought up in a feminist discussion becomes no different of a topic brought up in any other form (Vidal, 2014). At some point the feminist discourse on intersectionality involving the notion of racism as a central issue transcends into a debate about privilege and social power. The phrase “check your privilege” is an example of a subject concerning intersectionality. In January of 2014, a trending topic in Twitter emerged #reclaimingintersectionalityin2014, which was started by a white feminist. This particular topic gained the attention of the black feminists condoning the ideology behind the tending topic and started that the white feminist cannot reclaim something that was not hers in the first place. Furthermore, the modern day discussion on the context of privilege evolved into another topic as #WhiteWomanPrivilege, which apparently gained negative criticism from women of color. Several tweets on the topic of privilege went into describing the difference in life experiences between white women and women of color.
It appears from the observed discussion on the subject of privilege that the interpretation of its context vary when intersectionality comes into play. For instance, from a white feminist the understanding of privilege means gender equality while for a woman of color privilege is centered on life experiences associated to racial prejudice illustrating depravations because of the color of the skin. In one of the Tweets, the white woman privilege was defined as having 10 kids and not being labeled as a welfare queen, and you get a reality show (Ehrenreich, 2014). This conception of privilege encompasses a notion of the perceived social, economic, and political limitations varied by racial background. It appears that the new understanding of privilege among feminists is largely fragmented. For a white feminist, the subject of privilege means obtaining the same status as the male gender while for feminists of color privilege is about equality regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, and background, hence, the term intersectionality. For women of color the white feminist view is not qualified to talk about privilege or the lack of it when there is a more marginalized sector of women is more oppressed and deprived.
It seems difficult to determine the exact feminist predicament where privilege is the main issue. However, it can be easily illustrated by going back to the core objective of the feminist movement, which is to abolish male domination. Based on the perspective, it is apparent that what feminism referred to as privilege is the fruit of social equity, which includes the notion of power. The context is an equally convoluted subject of debate as the concept of feminism. However, Weber (1978) provided as more established definition of power as one’s possibility to be in a position to act within a social relationship in his own will despite resistance. From a feminist perspective, the understanding of power is centered on the notion that it is a viable resource to insinuate social change. Furthermore, power is understood as a vehicle towards establishing social good that in the state of things appears unequal between men and women. Apparently, this view of power in the feminist perspective translates to an underlying mission to create social balance where the position to do something by one’s own will is being shared between men and women. From this view that power appears to be an object of possession that can be shared and distributed. On the other hand, this understanding of power is still being debated by taking into account whether it should still be claimed by the feminist movement when there are already seen women in position to wield power.
Conclusion
Feminism in its various model and theoretical position provides a specific view of how women should be represented in the society. Although different in context, the imperial, dominant, and hegemonic feminism encompasses singularity in objective, which is to abolish male domination. On the other hand, these models of feminism contradict with the concept of intersectionality and understanding of power and privilege because of the underlying notion of domination.
References
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