Feminist Sociology

What is Feminist Sociology?

Feminist Sociology, theoretically, can be defined as a perspective that deals with gender issues and its relation with power and societal norms such as race, nationality, economic status and sexual orientation and structures.

The Feminist Theories have been developed with the aim of proposing knowledge, facts and ideologies that can contribute towards bettering the lives of women, put women on an equal platform as that of men and diminish way of oppression. The theory also contributes towards providing a collective voice to women folk and improves their social status.

Heterosexism

Defined as a structure of discriminations, attitudes and biases that refer to the equation between sexuality of a male and female and also their relationships, heterosexism and heterosexual marriages have been considered to be the only union that is accepted lawfully in the society. This system is clearly in contrast to homosexualism and homosexual unions, be it between either of the genders. Homosexualism has not been accepted by the governments and not been validated. Heterosexism, has been presumed to be superior and defines the sexual orientation that is devoid of biases or attitudes.

Feminism and Race

When it comes to oppression against women, racial oppression has also been noticed where the level of struggle doubles up. The striking relationship between racism and feminism was not taken into account until the feminists belonging to the second wave pointed it out and published details under Black Feminism. Two women of African American namely, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett and Anna Julia Cooper have played a great role in conducting research studies and contributing to the concept Black Feminism, a sociological theory developed on the interests of women based on their skin color.

Types of Feminism

The different types of Feminism are listed below:

• Radical Feminism (feminist perspective that aims to overthrow the existence of patriarchy through opposition of varied gender roles and continuous oppression faced by women)
• Liberal Feminism (focus on showing a woman's capabilities of maintaining equality in the society through their own actions and personal choices)
• Feminist Existentialism (putting emphasis on the concepts of interpersonal relationships, living freely and enjoying freedom socially as females)
• Marxist Feminism (considered to be a part of feminist theory that focuses on evaluating oppression of women through capitalism and other social economic means)
• Cultural Feminism (marking the ideology that defines female nature and stating the differences between that of men and women socially)
• Post-modern Feminism (an approach of feminism that includes elements and aspects of post-modernism along with post-structural theory)
• Anarcha Feminism (a combination of anarchism and feminism; believe that fighting against patriarchy is part of class struggle)
• Sex-positive Feminism (a movement that initiated in 1980s to bring about sexual freedom for women as part of the basic struggle of freedom for women)
• Psychoanalytic Feminism (emphasizing that gender is not a biological but a psycho-sexual orientation and development in an individual and that there is a difference between sex and gender)

Conclusion

Feminist sociology is an important aspect of sociological conflict theories. It helps in defining the status of women in the society, evaluating and analyzing the factors that contribute towards making their lives better and giving them the power to voice their opinion in significant matters.