Feminist Schools of Thought
When feminists decide to take action to combat sexist oppression, they are generally inspired by something. Often, personal suffering or the understanding that women as a group are damaged serves as motivation.
Different motives can be informally grouped into schools of thought. These provide some reason for pursuing some acts over others, as well as illustrating what aims feminists may have.
While categorizing a feminist into a certain school of thought is not always straightforward or desirable, recognizing the many schools may help identify social change objectives and highlight ideological differences among feminists.
I'll analyze and contrast eight different schools of feminist theory, the majority of which come from the Anglo-American heritage, and their descriptions of women's oppression and liberation efforts.
It's important to remember, though, that while these categories reflect a wide range of feminisms, they're not mutually exclusive, restrictive, or complete. There are different approaches to understanding women's oppression, as well as different forms of feminism.
Please click on the links below to learn more about each type of Feminism in detail:
- Third World and postcolonial feminism
- Postmodern feminism
- Womanist theory
- Cultural feminism
- Socialist feminism
- Liberal Feminism
- Marxist Feminism
- Radical Feminism
~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan
You may also want to read more about Feminism and Activism here.