Feminism 8 ALREADY PASSED

Charlotte Perkins Gilman - - an early socialist feminist - gender as a social construct - young girls forced to conform in society and prepare for motherhood through playing with toys/clothing etc - sex and domestic economics go hand in hand, women were reliant on their sexual assets to survive and please their husbands - the domestic environment is an instrument of patriarchy, women are economically dependent on men. Nuclear family needs to be destroyed and replaced by communal living - solution lies in equality of opportunity Simone De Bouvoir - - existentialist philosopher and socialist feminist - gender is a social construct - 'otherness' concept, man is dominant and women is 'the other', women are deviants from the norm - housework as a Sisyphean task - to achieve equality society must change to provide universal childcare, equal education, contraception, and legal abortion, as well as women's economic freedom and independence from man in non- exploitative labour Kate Millett - - radical feminist - sex-based oppression is both political and cultural - there is overt sexism and heterosexism in Western literature - undoing the tradition family was the key to true sexual revolution - all heterosexual relationships essentially political in a patriarchal society, women who are able to accept lesbianism place themselves on the road to liberation - the complete destruction of tradition marriage and the nuclear family is the goal of feminism