Feminist Theory

            Until reading Bunch’s “Not By Degrees: Feminist Theory and Education,” I was very much unaware of the multitude of differences present among feminists.  Although I recognized many different beliefs present within feminism, I was under the impression that feminism was somewhat of an umbrella term.  The many different beliefs represented by Marxist, multicultural, liberal, socialist, and radical feminists are, in my opinion, equally persuasive.  Although I find faults, or exaggerations, within these vast arrays of beliefs, I also feel that they all make truly valid points. 

            Multicultural feminists believe that women of color face oppression unique to their race.  I find this highly viable; it is especially visible within the ethnic female Bildungsroman such as Toni Morrison’s Sula and Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street. Within these books, the protagonists—young women of color, face issues such as racism, poverty, abuse which prove to be obvious products of their position as outsiders due to their race.  Liberal feminists believe that women’s oppression is rooted in their exclusion from education, and therefore various options in life are closed to them.  This is evident in the fact that women writers are largely absent in literature, for the better part of our history.  The remaining feminists (Marxist, socialist, and radical) are all arguing about similar issues: Patriarchy, capitalism, and classism.  It is my opinion that all of these factors are tightly knit; they can be seen in all societies.

            In viewing these diverse types of feminism, it is clear to see that stereotypes of feminists are wrong.  Feminists are seemingly one of the most diverse peoples within our society.  By classifying these feminists within these concrete categories, it emphasizes their differences both in beliefs and in aims for achieving equality.  Men’s and women’s research styles are completely different in form.  According to Sandra Harding, historically men have asked “only those questions about nature and social life which (white, Western, bourgeois) men want answered” (6).  Women are different in that they ask questions that can benefit women.  Harding states, “The goal of [women’s] inquiry is to provide for women explanations of social phenomena that they want and need, rather than providing for welfare departments, manufacturers, advertisers, psychiatrists, the medical establishment, or the judicial system answers to questions that they have” (8).  In other words, women’s research was meant to benefit women, men’s research was meant to benefit men.  I do not believe that there is such a thing as a feminist method; women have participated in the same set of gathering information/data, but females are attentive to different information than males.  Harding states, “While studying women is not new, studying them from the perspective of their own experiences so that women can understand themselves and the world can claim virtually no history at all” (8).  Women take different approaches in studying the same subject; consequently, they yield very different information.