Post-Structuralist Feminism
Post-structuralist Feminism
People live a world where meanings flow into an endless an endless sea of uncertainty. The constant changes that occur in the society also alter the perception of individuals. There experiences dictate the construction of giving meaning of the objects around them. The knowledge that people acquire through their experiences help them to understand the things and/or events around them. It is with these experiences that they draw their concepts and perceptions. Therefore, as people evolve so do their notions, subjectivities or significations.
As kids, men and women form initial concepts of sexuality. They learn from their parents that boys are boys and the things that make them as such; they also learn that girls are girls and the things that make them as such. This means that parents whose significations of sexuality are constructed by society are constructing the same significations for their children. As children grow, they take their experiences and reinforce their initial concept of sexuality. This is unless there experiences lead them to do otherwise.
Post-structuralist feminists are holding the belief that sexuality is a social construct. They believe that it is inescapable since language itself is inescapable. However, they recognize the fact that language is dynamic, therefore, it is subject to change. Post-structural feminists’ considerer gender and identity as a mere construct, then it suggests that the two only impedes the progress towards women’s liberation. They argue that if women insist the presence of women oppression, then they are actually intensifying the presence of the oppressor. Therefore, pushing for the acknowledgement of the presence of oppression women actually contribute to their own oppression.
They also oppose the possibility of defining woman. Any attempts to do so will result to reinvoking the powers of oppressive mechanisms (1990). This is the case since the definition of woman will be based on the prevailing discourses, which is the very reason of the struggle.
Post-structuralists consider actions and practices as linguistic signs. This means that practices and actions can signify an object or item other than itself. This happens when the practices or actions are seen in relation to other practices or actions (, 2004). This is much the same way as a word can be given meaning in relation to other words. Therefore, the actions and practices of women can be given meaning in relation to the practices and actions of other.
Because of this, post-structural feminist oppose the view of a universal identity of women. Post structural feminism believes that dichotomies like oppressor and oppressed, backward cultural and women’s liberation no longer exists in its universal form. They also push for the acceptance that the theories being used in feminism such as universality are formulated in the west and as such, they were crafted considering western conditions. This means that these theories will be meaningless in non-western cultures since the underlying conditions are different.
Women experiences vary (, 1993). It may be the case that two women face the same problem but it is certain that they will react or interpret the situation differently. These differences can be brought about by cultural differences that mold them into separate and distinct individuals. This means that the notion of liberation for various women also varies depending on their belief and value system. Therefore, different approaches are needed in order to face the problems of women all-over the world and no approach will be able to address all of the issues at the same time.
Based on the discussions above, it is clear that post-structural feminism believes that the power to liberate one’s self is in one’s own hands, since post-structural feminism gives importance to individualism and discredits universality. However, this kind of thinking bounds to dismantle existing collaborations among women struggling to free themselves. Promoting individualism will make women think that other women cannot help them with their fight since they do not understand their condition. This is like turning women against women to weaken their hold on their belief and thus weaken their struggle.
Even though, women have different backgrounds, it is not a far-fetch that they same similar experiences and through this patches of similarities women can bond together to put an end to the oppression that they are experiencing. They may have different belief systems but they are tied together by their passion to become free and that is a start.
The post-structural feminist view that the concept of women’s liberation is non-existent means that there is no need to fight the current system or that women cannot do anything about since it is a mere construct, thus inescapable. This clouds the true enemy. This hides the fact that it is through solidarity that women of the world can face their issues. It is through collective action can they mass up the strength needed to change things over.
Conclusion
In the end, it can be said that the presence of various schools of though regarding what women ought to be and ought to do only shrouds the real problem. Women are being feed with rhetoric’s that are supposed to help them understand their situation. While debates are being held within the academe, majority of the women of the world are still bounded and gagged. Yet many “feminists” fail to reach out to them. Instead they wallow in their theories and pretend that they are helping in the resolution of the problem. It is important to note the only through the understanding of the real situation can women find ways to alleviate their situations and until somebody makes them understand everything will remain the same.
Reference
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