Feminist Standpoint as Ideology, Article Critique Example

Whenever one thinks of feminism, the first thing that comes to mind is a society in which the woman is oppressed and that feminism is an attempt to save women from men and the “harsh” social standing against them. At first, when I came across this article, the title struck me as very anti-feminist, and I almost ignored it but upon reading a few sentences, I started making some head way in understanding the author’s argument[1]. I guess my reaction is commonplace to all college students who at one point taken credits in a social field of study. From the onset of the study, women are portrayed as sufferers under patriarchy psychologically, politically, economically, and socially and are kept so primarily by means of patriarchal ideology. This article opened my mind to a viewpoint of critical argument on the hard stands taken by feminists in order to establish logical conclusions on the topic of feminism.

This text by Rosemary Hennessy is a straight critique. It is an in-depth critical argument concerning the lives of women or knowledge of feminists as a point of ideology critique. Being a straight critique, the argument has a list of statements, which are then elaborately discussed in point form in order to clarify the issues at hand. In this mode of thinking, the author has consciously analyzed the issue of feminism and assessed the thinking process behind materialist feminism. This text in its thinking has presupposed rigorous standards as well as their mindfulness in usage[2]. Critical argument or straight critique is displayed in effectiveness of communication, abilities in solving problems, as well as the author’s commitment in overcoming his or her inherent sociocentrism and egocentricism. The overview of this argument is brought out perfectly well in the author’s awareness of the point of view, statement of the central issue or question, awareness of audience and purpose, as well as the understanding of key concepts.

The ideological (naturalized or commonsensical) idea or practice that this text is trying to challenge or critique is feminism. Feminism is somewhat of a global social ideology that women are oppressed by men in all senses and the idea of feminism is to try to empower women. Materialist feminists look at gender as being socially constructed[3]. Feminism propagates that women are viewed historically as objects merely for reproduction and that their gender roles in the society have reflected this role. Further claims by feminists are that the woman in society is a slave of economic impoverishment. There is need to examine critically the feminists’ standpoint that it is not the duty of women to bear children and that fulfilling childbearing duties is not a requirement but a force of society on women. Whereas women are not dutifully bound to reproduce, it is extremist to take such a stance as feminists have since naturally there are gender based (or the nature of our gender) roles that have nothing to do with male dominance or women oppression such as childbearing. In pursuit of gender equity, leading feminist theory campaigners have lost focus on the real issue of championing women’s rights, which should be more legalistic and constitutional than it is natural. It is good to differentiate gender roles and sex roles in order to be reasonable in arriving at a consensus over the social issues ailing men and women in society.

Feminist standpoint views feminism as a conceptualization from women’s lives vantage point. Initially, socialist feminists saw the idea of standpoint from insights of great scholars like Lukacs, Engels, and Marx in their formulation of a precisely coherent explanation of the authority of feminism[4]. Feminism was to be understood as for whom it speaks for, the oppression forces, and the exploitation that it contests. Therefore, to be a woman does not automatically mean one is a feminist since this is a standpoint (position in society or way of making sense affected by and that seeks to shape power, wealth, and work structures) that is produced socially and could be obscured in its representativeness. The critique is that, there is no what people can call “a typical woman’s life” since the experiences of women in their lives do not necessarily have to be same as the feminist knowledge of the lives of women. Standpoint theorists argue that the stand taken by feminists is a perspective that is constructed socially in order to make sense of the world where they use struggle politically and philosophically to represent their feminist worldview and its “truths.” By taking such a standpoint that struggle is against men, feminists create a gap in knowledge, which tends to make “woman” a homogenous category whereas there are huge differences between “women’s experience” and “women’s lives.”

Further critique argues that feminism’s radical vision of the possibility for a full democracy requires to be analyzed in terms of connections between knowledge (experience) and lives, context and subjects, between larger social arrangements and particular instances. To say women are oppressed will be a statement of generalization, which is not the case. In a system, consideration should be made on the equal opportunity provision, which in fact varies from nation to nation, but globally, natural rights (human rights) apply to both men and women. Therefore, before patronizing and stereotyping the world as one big patriarchal system, questions such as Can women pursue careers. Do they access free education as well? Do they have opportunity and access to wealth creation? If not, what are the social or economic constraints keeping them from doing such and how can the situation is remedied? The critique acknowledges that gender issues and roles play an integral part in human experience and production, including that of literature. This is a natural viewpoint and such issues and roles are embedded in social relations and interaction between men and women regardless of their awareness of these issues and roles consciously or not[5]. In shifting focus from sex roles to gender formation we come to an informed conclusion regarding our unique natures and how to get the best out of every point of diversity portraying indeed that there can be unity in diversity.

The critique implies that the discourse between feminists’ standpoint and the practical lives of women should not be theorized but requires deeper understanding in order to rearrange and intervene in the social relations supported by them as well as their construction of meanings. This critique is successful and effective, as it has gone beyond negative evaluation, faultfinding, and condemnation to arriving at a common ground for reasoning and further exploration of the topic by all stakeholders in order to achieve harmony. At first, the idea being challenged was a no go zone for me from fear of being subjected as an anti-feminist. As I read the critique, at a point I felt as if the whole idea of feminism is overrated and not to be entertained anymore due to its flaws. However, having read through the whole critique, I got the point being put across is that the subject of feminism is one which should be approached objectively since due to various factors (especially cultural and historical) there are social relation issues that need to be addressed between men and women.

Bibliography

Hennessy, Rosemary. “Women’s Lives/Feminist Knowledge: Feminist Standpoint as Ideology Critique.” Ideological discourses 5, no. 495 (2011): 163-174. Accessed 8 Dec 2013.

[1] Hennessy, Rosemary. “Women’s Lives/Feminist Knowledge: Feminist Standpoint as Ideology Critique.” Ideological discourses 5, no. 495 (2011): 163-174. Accessed 8 Dec 2013.

[2] Hennessy, Rosemary. “Women’s Lives/Feminist Knowledge: Feminist Standpoint as Ideology Critique.” Ideological discourses 5, no. 495 (2011): 163-174. Accessed 8 Dec 2013.

[3] Hennessy, Rosemary. “Women’s Lives/Feminist Knowledge: Feminist Standpoint as Ideology Critique.” Ideological discourses 5, no. 495 (2011): 163-174. Accessed 8 Dec 2013.

[4] Hennessy, Rosemary. “Women’s Lives/Feminist Knowledge: Feminist Standpoint as Ideology Critique.” Ideological discourses 5, no. 495 (2011): 163-174. Accessed 8 Dec 2013.

[5] Hennessy, Rosemary. “Women’s Lives/Feminist Knowledge: Feminist Standpoint as Ideology Critique.” Ideological discourses 5, no. 495 (2011): 163-174. Accessed 8 Dec 2013.