Philosophies of Art - Research Paper Example

Philosophies of Art: Politics of Difference in Feminism The twentieth century, in its second half, was characterized by the rise of significant political movements. For example Black Civil Rights, second wave feminism, the American Indian movements and gay and lesbian liberation. The convergence of such movements depicted that there were social injustices going on at the time to different groups of people. The social movements follow a rational body of literature that absorbs questions pertaining to nature, origin and expectations of the social groups being defended. Identity politics organizes social groups with one accord and with the agenda that they are being oppressed. For example if a woman’s identity is Native American, this makes it possible for her to be a victim of cultural imperialism, violence, marginalization and exploitation. This paper analyzes a variety of efforts that have been put forward to interchange the much-condemned idea of feminist politics with reference to women’s distinctiveness with the perspective of perceiving themselves and expressing their views as a crowd. It is believed that when the womenfolk express themselves in groups they radiate an explicit display of collective politics with diversity and inequality taking the core of their agenda. This understanding varies from other various concepts of political community in the political theorizing arena. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the feminist notions had taken center stage, black feminists, Third World women, women of color, women with various personalities and lesbians began to pass across the message that global feminism does not care about race, age, culture, class and sexuality. Their arguments were based on the idea that unsophisticated categories presented by women’s movements had no capacity to account for their several loyalties and identifications (McRobbie 2009). Feminist Theory Identity Crisis There are many arguments by critics that feminist theory is struggling in the contemporary world and undergoing a crisis of identity. This intimidates the same practicalities of feminism just like it has been expressed up to now, its persistent existence as well as its position and influence in the academy. The expressions of other feminists, for example women of color, lesbian and Jewish feminists came up with the idea about “feminisms” rather than just “feminism.” They ensured the dispute of radical division in a hypothetical discourse that had constituted itself upon a belief of unity based on what was seen as a common harassment of all women by their male-controlled societies. Additionally, these feminisms integrated the views of numerous oppressions by replacing it with the old-style notion of oppression as functioning binary oppositions not held in the first days of the second wave of feminism. In this period, there was a strong solidarity among the feminist social groups that is still nostalgic to the Anglo-American feminists. (Mc Nay 2010) Examples of these feminist binaries are white woman versus woman of color, Jewish versus Gentile, heterosexuality versus homosexuality, rich versus poor and the rest of the variations in female and sexual personality that are interconnected with each other. The oppositional feminisms plan not only ordered to be recognized, but also antagonized the ten-year-old activists with the clarification that the same activists had rebelled against the academy which it had made its niche. They did this by confronting the claims of reality and the ability to represent women in the form of universal notion of “woman”. In other words, they were concerned with bringing transformation to the feminist knowledge. However, this problem could only be debated in the viewpoint of feminist relation to the academy. Feminist Viewpoints on Law and Justice Feminist theory has been going through constant transformations over the last forty years. By focusing on law and justice practices, feminist engagement in the same has had developments over time. Liberal feminism is has been practiced for the longest time possible in over three centuries to be precise in which women were allowed to seek for legal and citizenship rights just like the men. Throughout the 20th century, these rights advanced in their outlook. The feminist groups strived to destroy barriers preventing women from accessing education publicly, having payable employment, and entitlements of the state. Liberal feminists claimed that most or all sex-based groupings are not right. This resulted into the concept that women should have unbiased treatment and opportunities as men. This approach has led to women’s occupation in previously male-dominated jobs like the police but there should be scrutiny about whether the women are treated in the same way as the men in such jobs (McRobbie 2009). Cultural feminism began almost a century ago and is inclined to the agenda of “equality with men.” The feminist groups, to elevate women’s sexual, social and reproductive involvements, by propping them and not overlooking them, have emphasized this. This has been a risky idea politically since by exposing women’s into such a public debate, concludes into re-inscribing women’s difference as a deficit in comparison to men. Carol Gillingham (1982) explains this notion as an example of a 20th century cultural feminism with regard to gender dissimilarities in moral thinking. She explains that when it comes to responding to moral issues, women differ from men. Girls and women often use contextual and relational reasoning but on the other hand, men and boys use abstract reasoning. Carol maintains that moral development is dictated by both modes of thinking. Similar to liberal and cultural feminism, radical feminism explores gender variance, but the opinions concentrates more convincingly on disparities and power that create gender variance or differences. A radical feminist of the 20th century called Catherine MacKinnon criticized Gilligan’s arguments opposing that the feminist groups arose from their slumber after they noticed that males were dominating most power platforms and women were not able to grab a different kind of power. (Dubois et al 1985) In her perspective, women’s values and voice are never clearly distinguished until there is revolution in gender power relations. Other radical feminists examine the common forms of harassment in women’s daily lives that pertains to sex or gender as this happens to women and managed through heterosexual relations which are male dominated. The main concern is the way sex or gender relations can be transformed so that women do not subordinate men. Feminism and Feminist Art In the late 1970s, The Feminist Art Movement started to venture into artwork with the belief that their views will be received better through this notion so as to create a revolutionary trend. This scheme had been previously disregarded and trivialized. In the United States, for instance, one of the Women Liberation Movement agendas was to include art in their practices so as to incorporate both women and men’s experiences (Lockwood 2006). In the early 1960s, women artist were struggling to take part in the male-dominated art business and came up with different strategies to incorporate feminist meanings in their work. Their artworks later became difficult to recognize as woman-made resulting in the rise of many countercultural movements simultaneously with feminist groups especially in the U.S which began to experience social upheavals. For example, the Civil Rights Movement, the arrival of oral contraceptives, the Vietnam war etc. It is not easy to determine when awareness and demands merged into the Feminist Art Movements. Towards the late 1960s, women movements associated with art emerged. For instance, the Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) in New York disintegrated in 1969 from the Art Workers’ Coalition (AWC) with reasons that the AWC was dominated by men and would not protest in the best interests of women artists. Other countries also went through social unrest during this period which generated interests in gender issues in both male and female artists. But mostly feminist issues were more pronounced with regard to power and most artworks were sexual in nature. The results of such artwork led to a change in the society today and includes but are not limited to exclusive access to education, women deciding on issues concerned with pregnancy, unbiased pay with men, women’s suffrage and the right to divorce their partners. This has led to a decline in social problems like domestic violence, especially against men in which the possibility of a woman killing her husband has dropped significantly, (Turner 2011). Feminist Theory and Minority Women This section explores why feminism should focus their efforts to women in specific groups who have agreed to be dictated by traditional systems of justice which have rules that will possibly harm them. The main response is that feminism has the ability to respond to such issues both in theory and practice. Not only does this call for a review of the procedures that analyze women’s choices in life, but a review on understanding the beliefs and behaviors of minority women who are group insiders (Lyshaug 2006). There is a range of literature that explains about minorities in human and social sciences context. However, feminism has always been skeptical about such theories with the argument that they might crowd out the real differences between men and women. Theory should provide a chance to individual experience and practice though on one side skepticism is evident. Feminist criticism of outdated methods in social and human sciences range from the employment of deconstruction as a way of challenging the abstract conventions of the social world through to a determination that only practice can display the magnitude of oppression of women. The rigidity between the theory as well as practice in feminist theory is largely accepted and known. MacKinnon recognized the significance of personal experience to theory, which she argued that practical experience opens up the door to a more universal theoretical development. Being keen with the variances between women with basis on race, culture and religion does not necessarily ascertain that gender must be generally analyzed using these categories. There is a possibility to argue that oppression has specific factors that are inclined to gender rather than other irrelevant facts. Therefore a more sophisticated analysis needs to be invented in which gender is rationalized along with such groupings as race, class, culture and religion. However, this still puts gender as a distinct category and cannot be put together with these subsets. Conclusion In conclusion, it is believed that gender transformation feminism was the foundation for the second-wave feminism. This is because of their practicality in the political arena and has the most suitable way of redressing the modern gender inequality issues. The struggle for equivalent legal status and political exemplification for both men and women as well as the autonomy for the females’ choices with regard to sexual, procreative and marital issues have not been attained by many countries in the world. Gender discrimination at work with regard to pay is an omnipresent in capitalistic and socialist economies. The world economy with its manipulation of poor women and on the other hand men as cheap labor has deteriorated the measureable circumstances of life for lots of people around the globe. In the above findings most feminist writers who have developed the “we” notion as the naturally shared subject among feminist groups have drawn attention to continued but unrestricted political bonds which have made it possible for joint political action in the perspective of multiplicity and inequality. This strategy is unlike other existing conceptualizations of political arenas in the grounds of political theorizing, “Feminist political togetherness”. Although the politics of gender transformation feminisms leaks into politics for every underprivileged person, the conflicts of gender resilient feminisms are for women only. Struggling to guard womens bodies against genital mutilation, unwelcomed pregnancies and sterilizations, abortions, rape, beatings, and killings has been a massive and endless struggle (Alcoff 2006). This makes feminist groups be at loggerheads because of the complex variations in their philosophies. Works Cited Alcoff, Linda Martin. Visible identities: Race, gender, and the self. New York: Oxford University Press. 2006, Print. Dubois, E., Dunlap, M., Gilligan, C., MacKinnon, C., and Menkel-Meadow, C. Feminist Discourse, Moral Values, and Law: A Conversation, Buffalo Law Review, 34, pp. 11-87, 1985. Print. Gilligan, C. In A Different Voice (Cambridge: Harvard University Press) 1982, Print. Lockwood, Bert B. Womens Rights: A Human Rights Quarterly Reader. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. Lyshaug, Brenda. “Solidarity without sisterhood? Feminism and the ethics of coalition building.” Politics & Gender 2, no. 1:77-100. 2006, Print. MacKinnon, Catherine A. Toward a Feminist Theory of the State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1987. Feminism Unmodified. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1989, Print. McNay, Lois. “Feminism and post-identity politics: The problem of agency.” Constellations 17, no. 4:512-25, 2010. Print. McRobbie, Angela. The aftermath of feminism: Gender, culture and social change. London: Sage. 2009. Print. Turner, Francis J., Social Work Treatment: Interlocking Theoretical Approaches (Oxford Univ. Press, 2011. Read More