Types of Feminism (Liberal, Psychoanalytic, Care, Postmodern/3rd wave)

For Tuesday's class each group was required to read a chapter from Tong's book that corresponded to a different type of feminism. The 4 types of feminism were liberal feminism, psychoanalytic feminism, care focused feminism, and postmodern and 3rd wave. In class, each group explained their type of feminism to the rest of the class.

Liberal feminism:
Liberal feminists are against sexism and oppression. They believe that differences in men and women come from women not having the same opportunities and that racism, classism and heteroism contribute to sexism. They focus on equality and economic independence. This movement was sparked by the industrial revolution. Some examples of issues that liberal feminists would pursue include equal pay, women in the military, and assumed roles in careers. Liberal feminists are criticized for being anti-male and one-sided (white middle class).

Psychoanalytic feminism:
Psychoanalytic feminists have used Sigmund Freud's writings to better understand women's oppression. According to Freud, children go through psychosexual developmental stages that ultimately determine their gender identity. Men that develop through these stages normally will have masculine traits and females that develop normally will have feminine traits. According to Oedipal phase the son rivals for the mother's attention and the daughter rivals for the father's attention. This points the children towards heterosexuality. If children do not resolve the Oedipal complex there will be conflict. Some examples of psychoanalytic issues include upbring of children, men being able to adopt, incessed, and vitually any episode of law and order. Psychoanalytic feminism is criticized for not including social agents.

Care Focused Feminism:
This type of feminism focuses on how ethics for men are in terms of justice whereas for women ethics are in terms of care. They believe that the care of private spheres needs to be brought to the public sphere. Schools need to teach about the power of sympathy, empathy, and imagination in order to equip students with caregiving skills because people that think maternally are more likely to promote peace and sustainable economy. Care focused feminists are criticized for being too focused on personal relationships.

Postmodern and 3rd wave feminism:
Postmodern feminism is based on the rejection of ideas based on an absolute world that is male in style. These feminists reject feminist thought of having a single explanation for why women are oppressed. They believe that there is no single formula for being a good feminist. They are criticized for their indivualistic nature which makes it hard to form a movement and for being too abstract.
Third wave feminists push to take feminist thought in a new direction. They accomodate diversity and change and welcome conflict. They are criticized for having no core values.

I had never heard of these types of feminism prior to this class. Actually, I did not know of any specific types of feminism. I found these different types of feminism to be interesting but a little too extreme for me. Although I recently determined that I am a feminist after reading the Jessica Valenti article, I do not think that I can classify myself as any of these types of feminism.