Academic Master

Education, English

the notion of feminism in well-developed societies

For the interpretation of the present trends in any discipline related to the social world, one must know about its history and past incidents, which are the basis for the current trends of that discipline, social influence, or any wave of revolution. There are many things that happened in the past that are the core cause of the differences among the people of the society. For instance, the blacks don’t like the whites because of their horrible past under the white nation’s influence. Also, women have been pressed down since the ages, and even in the United States, this trend was before the slavery period, and they were only considered for their fertility and pleasure purposes.

Feminism is one of the main issues of society in Australia, Canada, America, and the United Kingdom. Since they are a well-developed country, they have considered social equality among gender, race, class, and ethnicity because of higher levels of diversity. The topic is too wide, so the paper is supposed to discuss the past to understand the present as well as the discussion of feminist theories, including the waves of feminism, pleasure versus danger, and heterosexual imagination. Also the main aim of the paper is also to discuss how the sexual and gender-based double standard is being loosened in different ways and how it still exists and is practiced in other ways.

At the beginning of the 20th century as well as at the end of the 19th century, the era when the United States of America was completely occupied with industrial improvements and social reforms, including the complete end of slavery and removing the social differences among the individuals like black, white, men women, foreign and native, it was highly observed that the mixture of social norms is seen and seemed to be disturbing for everyone. Women faced great problems in maintaining themselves professionally in society. The cases of regular sexual harassment and abuse caused great difficulty for the women to survive in the American Society.  The first wave of feminism was seen during that period of time when, for the first time in history, American women took a stand to fight for their rights. The reform was started in America and was found to have influenced the entire world. There were two main traditions in the feminist movement. One was stronger and described and explained the primary dangers and very few possibilities of sex and pleasure activities. The second tradition of that wave was to encourage and enhance the knowledge of the women to be adventurous, carefree, and leap in the sex experiences, but there was neglecting the male construction of the sexual experience for the women.

In a discussion of feminism briefly, about the theory of pleasure versus danger as well as all of the waves of feminism, It can be explained that the overall movement of feminism was based on giving women the right to choose their own way of living and the pleasure of sex as they require. It would be necessary to mention that black women have faced more about sex and freedom of choice. The story of a girl who got prominent was about her waiting for the bus at a rural bus stop and a car stopping. The two men from the car introduce their lust for sex, but since all the girls were not considering when the specific girl explained that she is a lesbian, the men punched her chest only for that reason and attacked her badly. Many incidents of the same theme happened at that time, which was the cause of the movement of feminism. There were small and big, influencing and non-effecting waves of feminism that were introduced by the communities and the feminist movement leaders who had the main goal to give the rights of women in North America, specifically black women. This was due to the Western social thoughts that were associated with blackness and imagined wild sexuality and uncivilized behavior because of racial differences.

The pleasure and danger theory explains the woman’s life associated with the quality of sex and the dangers that she faces due to the necessary interaction of society. Examples include male gynecologists who attempt to check the private parts of the female during the examination of the woman’s pelvic portion. Many feminist leaders, including female representatives, have raised the voice of cancellation of the license of the men who are attempting to do false actions while in the process of diagnosis. The danger for the women in such a diagnosis is the loss of their virginity, which would be disturbing for them. Also, it described the persistent form of sexual dangers and the violence that was observed due to gender freedom and self-determination at the same time. The paradox is completely understood, and the joining of danger and pleasure together has sadly remained relevant, and no individual in society feels comfortable with these terms together in the American world, especially African-American women as well as men. It is all explained because, in the explanation of the disappearance of virginity, it is clearly explained that we live in a world of less inhibition, and there are more dangers comparatively in the past 40 to 60 years. The vulgarity of the sudden introduction of sex and sexual education in the books, including sexual behaviors and homosexuality being introduced among children as a legal concept, is also a concerning concept.

One of the main aims of feminist social purity advocates was the ending of the double standards. It was highly observed that the double standard for the women was affecting the female body of the community in which they were not given the right to protect their virginity, misuse of their bodies, and attempt because of their weaknesses. The target of the feminist movement’s representations in the lawsuits was focusing on two major aspects. The first one was the greater and closer to perfection safety of the women and higher and stricter penalties for the men who are involved in creating insecurities among the women. According to them, social poverty could be achieved by applying a set of controls over sexuality, which would be structured through the families and would be enforced by the laws or by the social influence in which, as it is known that the sexual risk could not be removed but should be minimized at least. The reaction of the men was also considered, and it was also claimed that the men could fulfill their sexual desire through prostitutes, which have been available in the American culture since the start of history.

Feminists were supposed to be correct and considered by the parliaments and the law-making departments but with respect to the opposing and contradicting effects which are assumed and were also faced at that time and also currently were ignored, including the HIV-AIDS and other STDs. The heterosexual imaginary theory was considered highly before any decision, and it was highlighted in the official papers that the sociological concepts should be considered before any appeal or request to be considered or approved in which the main point was the consideration of the family norms and the ethical and religious acceptance towards the enhancement of the prostitution. The perfect example of the black community being involved and were against the heterosexual imagination was that their poverty and norms, which were built by their ancestors since they were in Africa that because of poverty and lack of nutrition, they supposed to complete and fulfill their sexual desires by only the heterosexual activities for the purpose of reproduction to use their women’s fertility for the growth of population and the whites and other Americans were involved in many other things including the homosexuality, transgender including the gays, lesbian, bisexual, and other roles of genders including the men acting like women and women acting like the men.

In a nutshell, it can be explained that the feminist movements were very high in the past. The first wave of feminism was revolutionary in changing the basic concepts of domestic and working women. It describes the persistent form of sexual dangers and violence that was observed due to gender freedom and self-determination at the same time.  The feminist leaders were both considered as correct in one sense as well as considered as wrong in the other sense. Most of the feminist movements were considered to be unnatural, against the culture, and forbidden in many ethically and religiously composed societies. In the 1890s and 1910s, the first movement was highly opposed by the men and the many females who were more focused on their social and domestic freedom and the happy lifestyle provided by their men.

Works Cited

Miller, Sarah A. “How You Bully a Girl” Sexual Drama and the Negotiation of Gendered Sexuality in High School.” Gender & Society 30.5 (2016): 721-744.

Weitzer, Ronald. “Sociology of sex work.” Annual Review of Sociology 35 (2009): 213-234.

Schilt, Kristen, and Laurel Westbrook. “Doing Gender, Doing Heteronormativity: “Gender Normals,” Transgender People, and the Social Maintenance of Heterosexuality.” Gender & Society 23.4 (2009): 440-464.

Warner, Marina. Alone of all her sex: The myth and the cult of the Virgin Mary. Oxford University Press, USA, 2013.

Tribunella, Eric L. Melancholia and Maturation: The Use of Trauma in American Children’s Literature. Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2010.

Hassard, John, and Denis Pym, eds. The theory and philosophy of organizations: critical issues and new perspectives. Routledge, 2012.

Davis, Deirdre. “The harm that has no name: Street harassment, embodiment, and African American women.” Ucla Women’s LJ 4 (1993): 133.

Collins, Patricia Hill. Black sexual politics: African Americans, gender, and the new racism. Routledge, 2004.

Collins, Patricia Hill. Prisons for our bodies, closets for our minds: Racism, heterosexism, and Black sexuality. na, 2004.

Vance, Carole S. “Pleasure and danger: Exploring female sexuality.” (1984).

Vance, Carole S. “Pleasure and danger: Exploring female sexuality.” (1984).

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