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Feminism

Women are an oppressed group, another oppressed group


The system of our society is called patriarchy. It literally means
"the rule of the father". Patriarchy is a social system in which
males:
Hold primary power.
Predominate in roles of political leadership, moral
authority, social privilege and control of property.
Hold authority over women and children.
It is a system in which many people still believe. The male
supports the family, and so, his wishes are to be accomplished
(whatever the wishes are).
In the patriarchal society there is a hierarchy between the male
and the female.
It is the male who is the dominant element in the system.
They are at the top of the hierarchy. The male is the
patriarch.
The female is inferior to the male. They are subordinated
to male. They are victims of male chauvinism or sexism.
Instead, it would be correct to talk about psychological
gender (and not about biological sex).
The law in this system is the patriarchal law, by which the
patriarch imposes himself. The aim of this law is the
perpetuation of tradition.

In this way, the male is the father of the patriarchal law, and
sometimes, the wife of the male plays the role of the mother of
the patriarchal law, because she is his allied.
In some cases, the mother of the patriarchal law supports the
system because she has no way out. Since she doesnt work,
she doesnt have money to afford living on her own. So a
woman may not divorce, even thought she knows her their
husbands is not interested in her any more, that he doesnt love
her or that he has different girlfriends. What is more, since her
husband is the one who brings the food, it is easier for her to
keep her husband happy as if nothing happened, than to go out
and work.
The forces which lead to females oppression are mainly
economic. There are also cultural forces and values, but they
are determined by economic forces.
Sometimes, women are able to change their reality, their
oppression. This is called subversion. When they awake, they
see their reality and they want to change it. Women can do
great things, because everything is constructed. Even gender is
constructed. Identity is constructed. Women can rebuild their
entire lives.
Julia Kristeva: Far from being a mere blank which awaits its
social or sexual role, the subject is in process and is capable of
being other than it is
The discourse of the body is a politics of the body, a
rediscovery of its sociality through an awareness of the forces
which control and subordinate it.

However, the patriarchal system imposes that the private and


public spheres of life are two, that they are separate, as if
questions of the human subject and questions of political
struggle were not connected.
The fact is that they are one. There is no distinction between
them.
For example:
Abortion: It has both, a human aspect and a political
aspect, and they cannot be separated.
Malnutrition: It is connected to both of them, to the
possibilities that the State offers and to their human lives.
Divorce: It is not only private. It is social because many
people get divorced. And also the other way round,
something which is social affects private peoples lives.
Massive food consumption: Expensive brands of food
(social) become private for us because we eat that food
they produce. We introduce that kind of food in our bodies.
Our body expresses itself: When we eat something and
then we have spots on our skin because of an allergy.
When girls become bulimic (which is social and private at
the same time).
The stereotypes in society were always set by the middle
classes. They are the ones who impose theses things. Some
years ago, middle class women didnt work (although working
class women did work, but they were not important) and that is
why these stereotypes were built. All of them carried the idea of
women as inferior to men:
Romantically idealized

Angel of the house


Maddona
Prostitute
Outcast
Embodiment of chaos: The mad woman in the Attic. The
one who goes against the patriarchal law.
Stereotypes have changes with the passing of time. Current
stereotypes are:
Women as an object: Reified women.
Emancipated women.
Spinster (solterona).
Women who dont study and dont work.

Women who are the allies of the father. They still exist.

Women are both, inside and outside of male society


because of a disruption of order: There is something in
women which is not understood and which is refused by the
male order.
Women have changed but men havent. They are always the
same.

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