Types of Feminism and Their Impact on Society

This essay explores the different types of feminism and their impact on society. It discusses radical feminism, cultural feminism, socialist feminism, postmodern feminism, Marxist feminism, and black feminism. The essay aims to identify the various types of feminism and their significance in promoting gender equality.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Annotated biibligraphy
King, D. K. (2016). Multiple jeopardy, multiple consciousness: The context of a Black feminist
ideology. In Race, gender and class, 36-57. Retrieved from:
https://cleisabeni.com/uploads/6/0/4/7/60470251/multiplejeopardymultipleconsciousness.
pdf
The article has pointed out the discrimination as well as the demargnalization of the
intersection of sex and race. The focus of the assignment is on the discrimination that is
faced by coloured women on the basis of their skin along with being a female (King,
2016). The author has pointed out that women who are not coloured are less likely to face
discrimination in both professional as well as personal life. The dual as well as
systematic discriminations of sexism and sexism remain pervasive, and, for several
individual classes inequality compounds those oppressions. This article is highly relevant
to my topic feminism since black feminist theory is a major part of the mentioned topic.
Policastro, C. (2015). Feminist Theory. The Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, 1-5.doi:
10.1002/9781118519639.wbecpx082
This article has described the origin of the feminist theory as well as its impact on the
society. The author of the article has pointed out that the chief aim of the mentioned
theory is to draw attention to the discrimination of between the male and female gender
that takes place in the society through differential socialization (Policastro, 2015). The
feminist theory argues that the gender system is a method of social stratification where
occupations, attributes as well as roles associated with the female are afforded less value
compare to the same associated with the male gender.

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The article is highly useful for my research since it will provide me with information
about the different perspectives associated with the feminist theory. This article will also
help me to access the misperceptions associated with the mentioned theory along with
providing me with brief knowledge about the chief five schools of thought associated
with the feminist theory that includes Marxist feminism, socialist feminism, radical
feminism as well as modern feminism.
Wilson, K. (2015). Towards a radical re‐appropriation: Gender, development and neoliberal
feminism. Development and Change, 46(4), 803-832. doi: 10.1111/dech.12176
The mentioned article pointed out the importance of gender equality in order to increase
productivity, improve the development outcomes for future generation (Wilson, 2015).
The article argues that the approaches taken for instrumentalizing gender equality within
the neoliberal development frameworks is in fact resulting in deepening of the gendered
inequalities in order to sustain as well as strengthen the process of global capital
accumulation in a varied number of ways.
Considering the fact that neoliberal feminism is a major part of the feminist theory, the
chosen article has high relevancy with my topic. The article is useful for this research
since it explored through development discourses as well as practices associated with
microfinance , adolescent girls s well as reproductive rights.
Beegan, R., & Moran, J. (2017). Prostitution and sex work: Situating Ireland’s new law on
prostitution in the radical and liberal feminist paradigms. Irish Journal of Applied Social
Studies, 17(1), 6.doi: 10.21427/D7BQ6T

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In the mentioned article, the authors have discussed the two specific dominant feminist
positions namely, the liberal feminism and the radical feminism along with reviewing
their differing perspectives that are specially influential in the Irish prostitution as well as
sex trafficking. Along with this, the article also contains a brief outline of the recent
legislation of the Irish government on prostitution in the context of the Nordic model
(Beegan & Moran, (2017). From the research, it has been found that being a male
dominated industry, normalizing prostitution through legalisation as well as
decriminalisation regimes creates men’s sense of entitlement to own or gain access to a
woman’s body through force or payment.
The article is highly usefully for my research since it helps me understand the perspective
of both radical as well as liberal feminism on prostitution. According to the radical
feminist theory, it is crucial to confront prostitution as a condition of gendered
oppression. However, in the view point of the liberal feminism, prostitution is a
legitimate work and an expression of agency and choice.
Hartmann, H. I. (1979). The unhappy marriage of Marxism and feminism: Towards a more
progressive union. Capital & Class, 3(2), 1-33. Retrieved from:
https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~hoganr/SOC%20602/Hartmann_1979.pdf
This paper argues with that a good number difference as well as discrepancies exists
between Marxism as well as feminism (Hartmann, 1979). The author pointed out of the
fact that in spite of the fact that both Marxism as well as feminist theories are needed to
understand the capitalist society and the position of women in the same, feminism has
always been subordinated.

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The paper is highly relevant to my research topic since it has detailed discussion about
Marxist feminism which is a major part of the feminist theory. The paper has provided
me with an effective understanding how feminism is getting dominated at certain instance
by Marxism.
Guest, C. J. (2016). Knowing feminism: the significance of higher education to women’s
narratives of ‘becoming feminist’. Gender and Education, 28(3), 471-476. Retrieved
from: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/25837/2/Knowing%20feminism_Final
%20submittedPRECEPDF.pdf
This article has the focused on the consequences of students becoming politicized and
thereby ignoring multiple factors active in developing a political consciousness (Guest,
2016). In this paper, with the help of narrative interviewers, the importance of education
in order to become a feminist has been assessed. The paper has also assessed the
importance of academic feminism as well as non-STEM disciplines as a crucial part of
becoming a feminist.
The article is highly crucial for the research paper since it helped me to understand the
importance of academic knowledge in order to become a feminist. This research paper
also opened the scope for me further continue my research on academic knowledge
associated with the feminist theory and their impact on the students.
Dunn, T. L., & Szymanski, D. M. (2018). Heterosexist discrimination and LGBQ activism:
Examining a moderated mediation model. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender
Diversity, 5(1), 13. Retrieved from: https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=6003&context=utk_graddiss

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The focus of this article is on the relation between the heterosexist discrimination as well
as LGBQ activism and its relationship with feminism. The authors in this article has
discussed about the positive coping mechanisms as well as outcomes of introducing
feminism in the homosexual community like improving the lives of lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) individuals (Dunn & Szymanski, 2018).
The article is highly useful for my research since it has points out an unique perspective
and importance of the feminist theory in the homosexual community. Considering the
fact that the feminist theory has the potential to diminish the discrimination of the
homosexual community in the society, This article will help to conduct further research
on this specific topic.
Roberts, A. (2015). Gender, financial deepening and the production of embodied finance:
Towards a critical feminist analysis. Global Society, 29(1), 107-127.doi:
10.1080/13600826.2014.975189
In this article, the author has critically analysed the methods in which gender inequality
has been linked with financial dependency of women. The research has been conducted
with the help of a global coalition of public as well as private institutions which has come
together in the recent years for promoting an instrumentalist gender equality agenda
(Roberts, 2015). The research has found that both corporate as well as financial firms are
laying an increasing crucial role for shaping the contours of the global gender equality
agenda along with financially empowering women.

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The article is useful for me since it helped me to understand the importance of financial
importance in order to deal with as well as diminish the discriminatory acts of the society
agaist women.
Essay
The term feminism can be defined as the doctrine that advocates social, political as well
as economic rights for women equal to those of men. The feminist theory attempts to look at the
oppressed positions of women in today’s society. According to researchers, two waves of
feminism are there. While the first wave includes the issue of suffrage, or the campaign for
women’s right to vote, the second wave includes feminism that took place during Civil Right
Movement that focuses on women’s liberation. The chief aim of the essay is to identify different
types of feminism in the society and their impact on the same (Crenshaw, 2018).
In this paragraph, the basic concepts on which the feminism is based on, has been
discussed. The three basic concepts of feminism include gender, sex and sex roles. While the
gender can be defined as the culturally determined attitudes, cognitions as well as belief systems
about female and males, sex is referred to the descriptive, biological variable which is used for
distinguishing male and female.
According to researcher, while culturally males are expected to be strong both physically
and emotionally and enjoy freedom and independence, females from innumerable number of
times are expected to be the weaker sex and endure dominance. The feminist theories have been
developed in order to eliminate this discriminating as well as stereotyping mentality. In order to
reduce the discrimination against women in the society and establish the equality of the
mentioned gender, 6 types of feminism has emerged, namely, Radical feminism, Cultural

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Feminism, Socialist Feminism and Postmodern Feminism, Marxist Feminsm and Black
Feminism or Womanism. Amongst the mentioned types of feminism, Radical feminism is the
mostly practiced feminism in Australia (Reinharz, 2018). Considering the fact that male
supremacy is the oldest form of oppression, mail dominance is considered too be the primary
focus of the mentioned theory. The theory advocates that only revolutionary change, such as
socialized child and family care and the end of marriage, not legal reform of the existing social
system, needs to occur.
From the above discussion it can be clearly understood that a good number of feminist
theories have been developed over time in order to eliminate the discrimination against women.
However, in order to ensure effective action, efficient implementation of the theories in
academic, personal as well as professional life is highly needed.

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Reference List
Beegan, R., & Moran, J. (2017). Prostitution and sex work: Situating Ireland’s new law on
prostitution in the radical and liberal feminist paradigms. Irish Journal of Applied Social
Studies, 17(1), 6. doi: 10.1111/dech.12176
Crenshaw, K. (2018). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique
of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics [1989]. In Feminist
legal theory, 57-80.retrieved from: https://philpapers.org/archive/CREDTI.pdf?
ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000603
Dunn, T. L., & Szymanski, D. M. (2018). Heterosexist discrimination and LGBQ activism:
Examining a moderated mediation model. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender
Diversity, 5(1), 13. Retrieved from: https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=6003&context=utk_graddiss
Guest, C. J. (2016). Knowing feminism: the significance of higher education to women’s
narratives of ‘becoming feminist’. Gender and Education, 28(3), 471-476.
Hartmann, H. I. (1979). The unhappy marriage of Marxism and feminism: Towards a more
progressive union. Capital & Class, 3(2), 1-33. Retrieved from:
https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~hoganr/SOC%20602/Hartmann_1979.pdf
King, D. K. (2016). Multiple jeopardy, multiple consciousness: The context of a Black feminist
ideology. In Race, gender and class, 36-57. Retrieved from:
https://cleisabeni.com/uploads/6/0/4/7/60470251/multiplejeopardymultipleconsciousness.
pdf

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Policastro, C. (2015). Feminist Theory. The Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, 1-5. doi:
10.1002/9781118519639.wbecpx082
Reinharz, S. (2018). Friends or foes: Gerontological and feminist theory. In The other within us,
73-94.retrieved from:
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429964602/chapters/10.4324/978042949605
9-7
Roberts, A. (2015). Gender, financial deepening and the production of embodied finance:
Towards a critical feminist analysis. Global Society, 29(1), 107-127. doi:
10.1080/13600826.2014.975189
Wilson, K. (2015). Towards a radical re‐appropriation: Gender, development and neoliberal
feminism. Development and Change, 46(4), 803-832. doi: 10.1111/dech.12176

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