There are different branches, each with a different way of framing issues. Like other socio-political (your democratic-republican-whatever) views, they aren't really falsifiable.Submariner wrote:With an unfalsifiable premise at it's core (Patriarchy Theory) 3rd wave feminism is incompatible with skepticism (which is why I said "modern..(postmodern?...)" above. If you disagree that Patriarchy Theory as described is NOT unfalsifiable, well that's a topic I would debate with you.Dick Strawkins wrote:Academic feminism, which does seem to be a branch of postmodernist critical theory, isn't going to be reconciled with skepticism. That doesn't mean, however, that "feminism" can't be reconciled. Feminism (equality, egalitarian, evolutionary, gender, rad etc) has so many branches and competing theories that some of these can probably be encompassed by skepticism.Submariner wrote: To be honest, I don't believe modern feminism (postmodern feminism?) with it's presuppositions such as patriarchy, and the Marxian theme switch of "gender" where previously was "class", can be reconciled with skepticism.
Peezus defines feminism as "the radical notion that women are people."
The Secular Women organization recently defined it as the opposition to sexism.
If these are legitimate definitions then it is not going to be difficult to fit skepticism in somewhere.
I wanted to have some overview and now compiled one, I hope it is somewhat useful. I've linked to Wikipedia for convenience sake. In the box at the side you find many more variants.
Main Categories
- 1st Wave . . . . . . . . . .
- First Wave Feminists at the time fought gross de facto inequalities. Chiefly: the right to vote.
2nd Wave . . . . . . . . . . - Socialist Feminist think that patriarchy is linked to capitalism, or uneven distribution of wealth between the genders. They reject the Radical Feminist view that it's all about Patriarchy but accept the general idea that there is some sort of status quo that is economically beneficial for men.
- Marxist Feminsts are similar to Socialist Feminists, but place emphasis on the role of class and private property. A higher class rules in their interest and exploits lower classes. Historically, women were the exploited ones (and seen as property of men) and were thus excluded from participation, then economically were in a weaker position, resulting in lesser influence. It usually does not operate with Patriarchy.
- Liberal and Individual Feminists see the issue in legal systems, or the setup of society in it's laws. Other than that, it is individualistic and places responsiblity on the individual to be treated fair and equally.
- Radical Feminists think it's all about Patriarchy. It the view espoused at FreeThoughtBlogs, at least by PZ Myers, he speaks out against TERFs (see below), which rather underlines that he is a radical feminist.
3rd Wave . . . . . . . . . . - 3rd Wave Feminists came about due to disputes over sex work, porn and the like and could be considered a synthesis (or "moving on"). It favors individualism over dogma and can be summarized as the dissolving of "feminity", introduction of queer, etc. with the introduction of post-structuralism.
- Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminists (TERFs), continuation of Radical Feminism, this time rejecting the 3rd wave stuff.
- New Feminists are really super old ones, and are also difference feminists that view men and women as complementary. I'd place Traditional Women's Rights and other conservative views here.
- Equality Feminists believe that both men and women, while biologically and anatomically different, enter the world with the genetic inheritance of a mother and a father and from that respect, human nature is androgynous, neutral, and equal.
- Difference feminists stress that men and women are ontologically different versions of the human being. In the second wave, so called "reverse Reverse gender polarity" became popular, stating that woman are superior to men (reversing Aristotle's, and thereby traditional and widespread view through history that men were superior to women).
- Sex-Positive Feminists came about against core Radical Feminists (such as Dworkin) and are about sexual freedom (the divide that caused the third wave). Noteworthy as it came up a few times, Greta Christina and AFAIK Watson have been mentioned in that category.