Rationale

Natalie Forney

English 102

19 November 2015

Feminism Research Paper Rationale

               

                I wanted to begin my paper by addressing the confusion in the modern U.S. society that surrounds feminism. I include the definition of feminism from the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary and I will also include a survey taken of men and women who are hesitant to identify as feminists. This shows how even though most people agree that men and women are equal, there is a very present opaqueness and uncertainty that surrounds feminism and its meaning. I will be including several sentences to support each of my main four points: how feminism has evolved throughout history, how its definition has changed and what it means now, how it is having a large impact on our present US culture, and how feminism needs to change to succeed in positive change. I intend to use the research of others, quotes and data from there research, and observations of my own in this paper, as I am part of the young generation that is being affected by feminism. I conclude my introduction in stating and explaining the purpose of my paper and my thesis (that the feminism that exists today is having a negative cultural impact that is getting in the way of positive change). I will end my intro with a transition sentence that leads into the first point of my essay.

                I will then discuss my first major theme - the history leading up to modern feminism - so my readers can understand the how we got to this point. I will begin this history in the mid-nineteenth century which was the first time in American history that we can see a large group of women banding together in hopes of gaining political rights. I will further discuss the oppression they faced because these women stood up and how progress didn’t really seem to be made until the early twentieth century. I highlight significant events in women’s history during this time such as gaining the right to vote, the surge of women in the job market during WWII, other political rights that were provided in the years after, and the many notable women who fought to make a difference during the 1960’s – a time in which the ultimate goal for women was to have a family.

                I then discuss the beginning of the movement that was for the first time known as feminism. Everything before this time was known as the “First Wave” of feminism, but this very significant time (in the 1970s) has been referred to as “Second Wave” feminism. I will describe this wave more in depth because this was the transition phase from the women’s rights movement to what we know as feminism today. I will also list the achievements made during this time that gave women more political equality. I will mention the establishment of the National Organization for Women (NOW) as well as I will be continually referring to this organization later in the paper. I will end this section by introducing modern day feminism and the transition of issues and values that have changed to create what today’s women’s movement.

                I move from the history of feminism to the present state of feminism. I mainly use the NOW foundation to express modern day feminist goals and values, but I use quotes from many other sources to express a full understanding of feminism. I mention the mission statement established by NOW in 1967, but explain that as the mission of feminism has changed depending on the successes and failures of the past and now we must develop a new definition. I also address the fact that there are many distinct types of feminists but that the type that I will be addressing is the political, and national feminist organizations. I will use quotes and references from NOW’s website to show the major issues and values of modern feminism. I will also use quotes from major feminist representatives as well as quotes from other sources to establish an understanding of the major theory of feminism. I will conclude this section by guiding my readers through creating a basic, more truthful definition of feminism.

                With the goals of modern feminism in mind, I will then talk about how our American culture has changed in response. I use lots of quotes in this section to prove my points and reason through why these effects are negative. I describe how the goal feminists is to prove that there is no difference between men and women other than physically. I explain why this is not true through my research and why the goal to prove that men and women are the same is causing feminists to encourage women to act like men. This is effectively (although possibly blindly) repressing characteristics that are typical to women. I point out that since women are inherently different than men, this goal won’t succeed and is ultimately repressing qualities that should be celebrated. I will continue to reason that this is impeding women’s equality.

I point out that another thing that is impeding women’s equality is that women are constantly told that they are victims and often the statistics they are given are false. (I will also give statistics, factual evidence, and quotes to prove this point.) I also describe the effect feminism has had on sexuality. I explain that feminism has approved of sexual expression as it is protected by the first amendment and also publicly encourages young women to explore their sexuality, saying it is an important part of being an equal woman. I talk about how supporting public expression is a way of advertising women as sexual objects and how encouraging experimental sexuality is reinforcing that in our culture (which is the opposite of what feminism’s goal is). I will highlight some other cultural effects but these will be my major points. I will finish this section with a transition sentence leading into my next point.

Finally, I explain how each of these effects can be changed to improve women’s equality and create a more successful and productive feminism. In this section I will mostly be using my own observations and reasoning, although I will use quotes and previous research to clarify my points. I will again explain that there are very valuable differences between men and women that should be recognized and celebrated. I will point out that difference is not the same as inequality. I show that feminism is hypocritical for not celebrating these differences since they often talk about celebrating diversity among women. I explain that women need to publicly celebrate men in order to establish that feminism is a movement for all people, not just women. I urge the feminist movement to stop telling women that they’re victims. American women are some of the freest people in the world and in order to change cultural mindsets we must treat ourselves as equal and valuable human beings who have made massive progress in the modern world.

And I address the issue of approved sexuality within feminism. I point out that the expression public sexuality is demeaning to women and that lack of support from the feminist movement will not stop it, it will stop encouraging it and people will see what feminism stands for. I also mention that feminism should not mandate that in order to be a free woman, one must explore their sexuality as is encouraged in our hookup culture. I explain that a women’s sexual decisions ought to be her private affair, based on her own morals, worldview, and opinion of what being a woman looks like. I will end this final section of my paper by saying that if these steps are taken, feminism can make much more improvements and have more consistency in its values.

I will conclude my paper by referencing the points brought up in my introduction as well as restating my thesis. I will summarize the changes the women’s movement went through history, the present state of the women’s movement (as well as restate a more developed definition of the word feminism), summarize the cultural impact that feminism has had in the last few decades, and restate why certain changes need to be made in order to push further progress of the women’s movement. For each of my points I will list some concluding evidence and reasoning. I will restate why feminism is necessary in our culture, why the way it is now is impeding women’s equality, and how changes could improve the movement as a whole.