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Smith College SWG 150 Spring 2013 Final
Terms, definitions and authors for the SWG 150 final.
48
Women's & Gender Studies
Undergraduate 1
05/06/2013

Additional Women's & Gender Studies Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Gender
Definition
Judith Lorber in her work “believing is seeing: biology as ideology” talks about how gender is a social construction; biological functions do not distinguish women from men, as not all women menstruate or get pregnant, and not all men are sperm producers. Furthermore, genitalia does not determine what gender someone is. Gender itself is the socially constructed binary of men and women and  the constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.
Term
Intersex
Definition
Used by Thea Hillman in discussing her experience with the “condition” Intersex. Intersex people are those born with sexual anatomy someone decided is not “standard” for males or females (Hillman).  They are often given corrective surgery at birth in order to change their ambiguous genitalia into genitals that confine them to a specific sex category (either male or female).
Term
Racial Fabrication
Definition
Haney Lopez, Race is a human social construct that comes into being in relation to other social forces & other pre-existing notions of race, and whose meaning has the potential to change very quickly. His article discusses this term with reference to this historical acceptance of race as a biological trait, when it actually doesn’t have much scientific background as something biological.
Term
Social Construction of Disability
Definition
Susan Wendell, There is a difference between biological reality and socially constructed stigmas. Disability is a barrier, disadvantage and restriction caused by a contemporary social organization that takes no, or little account for people with physical, mental, or cognitive impairments, and excludes from “normal” life. The norm is not biological, the norm is set by society. Disabilities are not always physical, invisible disabilities exist and we can’t assume everyone who appears able, is.
Term
Intersectionality
Definition
  • Kimberle Crenshaw, people have multiple identities, and political issues affect people whose identities intersect differently.

Term
Identity Politics
Definition
  • in the 1960’s, political movements became aware of oppression and made it a viable platform. It is a political/activist strategy that develops out of systems of oppression, and people come together around the categories and try to fight them. Kimberle Crenshaw.

Term
Essentialism
Definition
The idea that there are innate, essential differences between men and women.  The term appears in Kimberle Crenshaw’s work about intersectionality as she is discussing challenging essentialism and learning that categories are largely constructed, rather than innate.
Term
Trans or Transgender
Definition
Transgender is commonly an umbrella term that people use to categorize a wide variety of people who feel they do not fit the m/f gender binary, but not everyone who supposedly is included within this term feels comfortable with it. Trans is often an abbreviation for transgender, but Julia Serano uses it in her article to describe anyone who is “gender-variant,” or feels excluded from the gay/lesbian movements because of their non-conforming gender. These terms’ significance within the work lies in their reality as political terms, because the idea of being “trans” is such a new (and often misrepresented) one.
Term
Trans-Misogyny
Definition
This term was coined by Julia Serano and she uses it to refer to the fact that MTF trans people, unlike FTM, are ridiculed for their femaleness or femininity because malehood is believed to be superior to womanhood, and becoming a woman is a “step down”. Overall, it is the overlap of both cissexism and sexism.
Term
Imperial Feminism
Definition
  • Hawkesworth- aka “missionary liberal feminism”- 1870-1940- followed transnational, socialist equality feminism movement of 1830-1860- embraced difference feminism & imperialism, promoted civilizing missions to other parts of the world in name of global sisterhood to improve other women's states (teach, work as nurses, convert natives, discourage trafficking, alcohol/drug use, nonmonogamous marriage, deviation from accepted gender roles)

Term
Captivity Narratives
Definition
  • Woollacott- popular stories about white women in colonies being abducted by native men, originated in England, spread to America, often used to establish imperialist/colonial authority- 17th-19th centuries


Term
Woman-Identified Woman
Definition
  • Radicalesbians, a woman defined against herself and other women, rather than in relation to men

Term
Personal is Political
Definition
  • This phrase is one that is often associated with second-wave feminism.  Its concept is used in the Redstockings Manifesto.  They write that because of oppression, women have been prevented from seeing their personal suffering as a political condition, as well as conflicts with men as political.

Term
Consciousness Raising
Definition
  • Pamela Parker Allen- women sharing their experiences with other women in small groups to find patterns/show that these experiences aren’t unique, discuss why these experiences occur, discuss what can be done

Term
Coalition
Definition
  1. Bernice Johnson Reagon in her essay about Coalition Politics in feminism as something that cannot be done at home-it must be done out in the world. A coalition is a group of people who cooperate and work together for a common cause, or to combat a certain oppression.

Term
Tyranny of Structurelessness
Definition
  1. Jo Freeman, without organizing, you can’t get anything done/less structured environments breed domination by a select few

Term
Reproductive Justice
Definition
Used by Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice in redefining the term with a new vision.  They write that it is the total social, mental, physical, spiritual, and political well-being of women that will be achieved when we have the power and resources to make healthy decisions for our bodies, sexuality, and reproduction.
Term
Colonialism
Definition
The conquest and control of other people’s land and goods. Ania Loomba writes that it is a widespread theme of human history that also includes the subjugation of different people/civilizations.
Term
Post-Colonial Literature
Definition
A body of literature that responds to the colonialism of a nation and resists it, and contests the empire and its legacies. Appears in Loomba/Adichie..? Needs more research.
Term
Danger of a Single Story
Definition
Chimamanda Adichie, the trouble that comes from only being exposed to one point of view or ideology means that people will misunderstand one another, often at the expense of the person whose story the other person presumes to know. In the context of her lecture, Adichie references her own experiences at university where other students’ only (and faulty) knowledge of Africa was from sensationalist news reports in their own countries.
Term
Global North/South
Definition
  1. Drucilla Barker, Alternative “First/Third World” labels, these denote where the economically more developed and less developed nations & regions are generally located (i.e. Europe, North America, Japan = North; Africa, South America, Southeast Asia = South). These terms also leave room for a broader definition of “developed” than simply referring to places as “[economically] developed,” in that they can also include areas of development such as maternal health and quality of life, thereby ensuring that women’s wellbeing holds a higher position as pivotal to a country’s development.

Term
Imperialism
Definition
Referred to in Ania Loomba’s essay as to whether Imperialism is a political or economic phenomenon. Politically, it is a system in which an imperial center governs colonized countries. Economically, it is a system of penetration and control of markets, in which case, there is American economic imperialism still occurring today.
Term
Globalization
Definition
Integration of international economies, finances, trade, communication, and culture into an one huge network. Mentioned in Baker and Feiner’s piece speaking of globalization as a feminist issue because with an easier flow of “cheap” goods from the global south to the global north, with women bearing the brunt of this labor, their labor, too becomes cheap.
Term
Feministy Curiosity
Definition
Skepticism about what strategies have been utilized to keep women in subordinate positions. Used by Enloe in saying that we must question the commonly accepted notion of “cheap labor” using feminist curiosity.
Term
Neoliberalism
Definition
Need definition.
Term
Informal Economy
Definition
  1. Drucilla Barker, Any sector of the economy that operates outside official industry laws (i.e. sex workers). Barker talks about this in her chapter on how women within the globalized informal economy are at a disadvantage because they are prevented from fighting for better wages or working conditions, but these economies persist because of their benefit to the globalized economy.

Term
Transnational Feminism
Definition
international networks and alliances between feminists in different parts of the world to achieve women’s rights for all; multidirectional, beginning from many points (not just ‘developed’ countries) (Aili Mari Tripp, ‘The Evolution of Transnational Feminisms’)
Term
Orientalism
Definition
  1. a political vision of reality that divides the East/Orient from the West; portrayals of the Orient used to justify imperialism, such as lazy, asexual men, hypersexualized women, women being kept in harems, etc. (Sunaina Maira, ‘Belly Dancing’) Hawksworth

Term
Cultural Appropriation
Definition
adoption of certain elements from one culture by members of another, usually adoption of elements of a, what is thought to be less powerful culture by a dominant one (Sunaina Maira, ‘Belly Dancing’)
Term
Oppositional Gaze
Definition
bell hooks, A type of critical lens when watching movies that acknowledges but is not overwhelmed by the prevalent sexism and racism often present in mainstream movies. In the context of the reading, hooks refers to this as a gaze she developed over years of watching tv and movies and seeing how black women reacted to inaccurate/absent portrayals of them.
Term
Three Looks (in Film)
Definition
  1. Ambreen Hai, Looks in film include those of the camera at the set & characters, the audience at the screen, and the characters at each other. Ambreen explained how the look that is most emphasized is that of the characters, as it maintains the film’s illusion of reality most strongly.

Term
Ideology
Definition
Ambreen Hai, any way of seeing the world that is influenced by the society in which an individual learns said worldview. This includes both myths of “natural” order of things and conscious beliefs. In her lecture on film, Ambreen talked about how ideologies are communicated (and, therefore, either upheld or challenged) in films.
Term
Transgression
Definition
  1. Ambreen Hai, In which some dominant ideology is disrupted within the course of a film. Ambreen discussed this film tactic in terms of Fire and Illusions, films that both use transgression as a significant plot device.

Term
Recuperation
Definition
Ambreen Hai,  In which the dominant ideology upset by a moment of transgression in a film is restored, usually at the conclusion of the movie. This was discussed in the context of Transamerica in Ambreen’s lecture on film.
Term
Possessive Investment in Whiteness
Definition
  1. concrete policies (not just cultural representations) that reinforce the superior status of whiteness through deliberate, systematic actions such as FHA support for segregation, urban renewal, and countless other policies (George Lipsitz, ‘The Possessive Investment in Whiteness’)

Term
TANF (1996)
Definition
  1. ‘Temporary Assistance for Needy Families’: restructuring of welfare under Clinton that cut benefits and claimed to promote work as a solution to poverty; established paternity requirements and forces recipients to work or community service; pushes poor women into the workplace without adequate wages or childcare Baker (in lecture)Needs author.

Term
Privatize/Socialize
Definition
goods and services are privately owned and must be paid for/ goods and services are more communal, subsidized by the government, and regarded more as a right (Nancy Folbre, ‘The Nanny State)
Term
Care Crisis
Definition
women have entered the workforce but are still expected to perform housework and caregiving work for no pay; workplace and family life have not been restructured; this is profitable for men, the government, and business; solutions include paid parental leave, a living wage, subsidized childcare, universal health care, flexible hours, and much more (Ruth Rosen, ‘The Care Crisis,’ Anne-Marie Slaughter, ‘Why Women Still Can’t Have It All’)
Term
Solitary Wage Bargain
Definition
  1. Jane L. Collins and Victoria Mayer, assumption that a worker must be able to respond flexibly to employer’s needs without requiring training, benefits, parental or sick leave; employers not obligated to support employees in meeting family responsibility; labor involved in social reproduction is considered private responsibility and not compensated (Nancy Folbre, ‘The Nanny State,’ Anne-Marie Slaughter, ‘Why Women Still Can’t Have It All’...?)

Term
Contractual Citizenship
Definition
rights are seen as contingent on the performance of responsibilities; women trade their rights and liberties for aid; rights are rooted in performing wage labor; due to restrictions on welfare (for example mandatory drug tests as a condition for welfare) Needs author.
Term
Assimilation/Liberation
Definition
view that homosexuality is ‘natural’ and biologically determined, does not threaten public, homosexuals are just like everybody else/homosexuality is a choice, gay people are not victims, one should be ‘out and proud and challenge ‘straight’ values (Nikki Sullivan, ‘Assimilation or Liberation?’)
Term
Queer
Definition
  1. non-normative; ‘queer resists intelligibility and identification, claims abjection in order to empower’ (Annamarie Jagose, ‘Queer Theory’)

Term
Agency/Resistance
Definition
ability to affect events and act for oneself/ challenge to dominant norms and power structure; Foucault insists that there is always a certain amount of agency and resistance even in positions of oppression; power has many locations (Annamarie Jagose, ‘Queer Theory’...?)
Term
Abject/Intelligible
Definition
  1. identity, body, etc. unable to be recognized by society/ one that is able to be recognized by society (Nan Amilla Boyd, ‘Bodies In Motion’)

Term
House of Difference
Definition
a place/state of accepting all differences instead of organizing around a specific difference and erasing any other differences; for example, Audre Lorde felt like an outsider in the gay community because of her race and being a student, an outsider at her college for being black and gay, etc... looking at only one difference erases others (Audre Lorde, ‘Zami’)
Term
Heteronormativity
Definition
  1. set of social norms that presume that relationships and attraction are between a man and a woman; also reinforces the gender binary Needs author.

Term
Social Recognition
Definition
  1. acknowledgement and comfort with by society, other individuals, and institutions of one’s identity; for example the character Pat in SNL’s ‘It’s Pat’ sketches lacked social recognition, making their live ‘unlivable’ in Butler’s terms (Judith Butler, ‘Undoing Gender’)

Term
Politics of Transformation
Definition
organizing around the position of marginality itself, rather than a certain identity, to overthrow the dominant power system; a more inclusive (theoretical) form of politics (Cathy Cohen, ‘Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens’)
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