Contemporary Feminist Theory Research Articles

THE EVENT: ON SCREEN, REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

This article analyzes the feature film The Happening (Audrey Diwan, 2021) based on the journey and experiences of its protagonist, a young French woman in the 1960s who seeks a safe abortion despite living in a patriarchal context marked by oppression, condemnation of women's bodies, and violence. The aim is to relate the aesthetic, visual, and sound analysis to the current and urgent debate on women's reproductive rights, with an emphasis on abortion. The theoretical framework is anchored in contemporary feminist theory and criticism, especially Federici (2018) and Diniz (2020), and the methodology of film analysis is understood here as a recreation of the original narrative, an exercise that prioritizes passages and frames allied to interlocutions with the theme addressed.

A STUDY OF FEMALE IMMORTAL IMAGES IN THE "CHAOYUAN XIANZHANG TU"（朝元仙仗图) FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE MYTHIC-ARCHETYPAL CRITICISM

This paper intends to apply the mythic-archetypal critique to study the concept archetypes of human collectives and the archetypes in Taoist literature and mythology corresponding the feminine immortal images in the "Chaoyuan Xianzhang Tu." By means of image and word juxtaposition, the study investigates the emotional impacts of female immortal images on modern audiences as well as their contribution to current feminist movements. Aiming to clarify the several metaphors and underlying logic of the development of Taoist female immortal images as a symbolic system, this study analyses the Song Dynasty Taoist painting "Chaoyuan Xianzhang Tu," based on the mythic-archetypal criticism, attempting to visually reproduce mythological archetype images in the portrayal of characters in the image. The study examines the various metaphors in Taoist imagery related to the mythic-archetypal perspective, forming three hierarchical functions: "Great Mother Goddess- The Queen Mother of the West (王母) - Flowers and Fruits," "Anima-Female Immortal Worship-Female Immortal Head Portrayal," and "Eternal Life-Feathered Being-feathered sleeves," all of which allude to the ideological implications of Taoist female immortal worship. Frequently, the symbolic, artistic, and meaningful aspects of Taoist art surpass the literal intent of the surface. The "myth-archetype" theory can be used to interpret these images, thereby guiding contemporary viewers to obtain insights into themselves through Taoist visual arts and providing a potential solution to death anxiety. Additionally, the interpretation of female immortal images offers a novel possibility: the integration of yin and yang, which eliminates traditional male dominance and the concomitant "one-sided, self-centered" feminism. This perspective is applicable to the development of contemporary feminist theory. Keywords: Taoist painting, female immortal images, mythic-archetypal, feminist movements,

Queer temporalities and the life course: Trans aging in Torrey Peters' Detransition, Baby (2021)

Torrey Peters' debut novel Detransition, Baby from 2021, a Women's Prize for Fiction nominee, problematizes gender norms by telling the story of three main characters: Reese, a trans woman, Ames, who de-transitioned to live as a man again, and Katrina, a Chinese and Jewish cis woman who is also Ames' lover and boss. Ames and Katrina are expecting a child and are testing the possibilities of having a non-conventional family together with Reese. Parenthood is, thus, the central theme of the novel which structures also the sections of book into the time before the conception and the weeks after it. By doing so, the temporal framework of the novel queers the linearity of heteronormative life courses on the form as well as the content level. Therefore, the interplay of form and content invites to critically investigate how the concept of trans time that challenges linearity and normative conformity (Halberstam, 2005) may provide useful insights into trans aging and the life course through this literary representation. Following, contemporary feminist theorists' commitments to negotiate what makes “life more livable for those whose gender presentation, identity, or bodily experience have been judged abnormal, nonexistent, or impossible” (Karhu, 2022, 304–305), this paper aims at carrying out a critical feminist literary analysis of trans aging, queer life courses and the thereof related gendered norms in Peters' novel. By relying predominantly on feminist poststructuralist theories (Butler 2004) and cultural aging studies (Maierhofer, 2019), it is the aim to challenge normativity and limited social norms through this critical literary reading.

Alienation and Violence in Beatriz Cabur’s Plays

In the last decades of the 21st century, the growing interest in legitimising contemporary Spanish female playwrights is evident in the context of contemporary feminist theories. This research explores Beatriz Cabur's plays, published and performed nationally and internationally, insofar as they respond to some of the current feminist demands regarding trauma. This study delves into the need for appropriate critical and analytical models for the study of theatrical experimentalism, which, in addition to its academic value, addresses current feminist demands. The development of this study is supported by clear thematic links that are established, from which it is possible to delve into the implicit and explicit feminisms of contemporary Spanish theatre, as well as the shaping, development, and legitimisation of contemporary feminine identities.

Artist Collaboration and Unity in Times of Crisis: The Spirals Project

The pandemic crisis of COVID-19 that we have recently endured, and that to some extent we are still experiencing, abruptly changed the way in which we conceive of the interaction between inner and outer space. Specifically, during the most difficult times caused by the two severe lockdowns, this limitation came complete with a total lack of spatial mobility. This article will explore the impact that this had upon the creative process of writing and making performance work for the female subject and how the return to the domestic space as the only possibility, affected their writing and creativity. Using the concept of the “nomadic subject” developed by Rosi Braidotti in 1996 and revised in 2011 in her book Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory, this article aims to explore these questions from the intersection of body and language through the symbol of the spiral as a source of creation.

Women, Cities and Harassment:

This article aims to analyze technical and aesthetic strategies to represent the actions and experiences of women in Brazilian urban centers, having as an object of study the documentary film Chega de Fiu Fiu (2018). We base our analysis on a theoretical framework composed of reflections on Brazilian documentary cinema and contemporary feminist theory, particularly the issue of harassment. The work invites reflection on the constant cases of harassment suffered by women in public spaces and the right of female bodies to cities, focusing on the experiences of its three protagonists. The methodology used is that of film analysis, and the objective is also to expose cinematic action as containing narrative potential for the debate on gender issues.

The East-West dialogue: methodical diversity and frailties of feminist accounts

This paper investigates the commonalities and differences of contemporary feminist theories by proffering a comprehensive comparative analysis of the Western feminist agenda and Chinese woman’s concerns in relation to the philosophical discourse on global justice. Interpretation of feminist accounts delineates the persistent gender inequalities presented by Western feminist thinkers, such as Maria Lugones, Elizabeth Spelman, and Sally Haslanger, while highlighting the historical and constitutional approach to understanding the roots of gender distinctions and norms in Chinese culture through the philosophies of Ruism, Daoism, and Buddhism, as well as the Civil Code of marriage. Reflection assesses the extent of translatability concerning feminist matters given the dissimilar social contexts and political circumstances between China and the United States. This paper draws attention to the need for embracing the historical and cultural heterogeneity of grievances of women from all over the world to acknowledge the cross- and multi-cultural conditions regarding the life prospects of both men and women. Such initiatives encourage mutual engagement in promulgating the multiplicity of feminist voices to prompt more productive conversations about the identities and meanings of masculinity and femininity instead of expecting or imposing a universal consolidation of woman’s experiences.

Feminism Is forBeginners: Learning from Straight Men Doing Queer Feminism

This essay argues for the importance of cisgender straight male perspectives to contemporary feminist theory and practice. I identify four lessons to be learned from what I call male affirmative feminist theory written by people of all genders, defined as any feminist thought that considers cis men critical interlocutors to feminism and legitimate subjects of gender and sexual freedom projects. These lessons include the value of androgynous thinking; the necessity of anti-essentialist approaches to male gender; the importance of understanding nonviolent and anti-sexist male perspectives on gender dynamics; and the potential queer investment that cis straight men might have in feminist politics, namely the freedom from heteronormative policing. I offer an intellectual genealogy of cis male contributions to feminist thought, followed by a close reading of Mike Mills's Academy Award–winning film Beginners (2010). The movie presents a visual account of straight male masculinity as it is positively impacted and influenced by feminist and queer perspectives, without necessarily becoming them. The film makes a powerful male feminist argument for the value of “beginning,” asking what feminist and left social justice projects might gain by splitting their gaze between a focus on failed relations across gendered difference—grounded in the seemingly endless betrayal of women and queers by straight cis men—and a productive openness to the inauguration of unexpected relationships between all gendered subjects.

Women’s Rights, Peace, and Democracy

This paper analyses the reformulations of citizenship, positive peace and democracy‎ of both contemporary feminist theory and the feminist movement. ‎In doing so, it will explain the interrelationship between the feminist movement‎ as a democratic movement and its proposals for reformulating concepts‎ and ideas that make up what we can call the “grammar of politics”. Following ‎Seyla Benhabib, the “democratic iterations” that have been achieved in the ‎framework of human rights will be presented, giving some examples at national‎ and international levels. Finally, the changes and challenges in women’s‎ demands for rights in current scenarios will be analysed.‎

What’s at stake in contemporary feminist theory? A review of current writings on women, gender and feminism

What’s at stake in contemporary feminist theory? A review of current writings on women, gender and feminism

Pendekatan Sosiologis Terhadap Peraturan Penanganan dan Pencegahan Kekerasan Seksual di Lingkungan Perguruan Tinggi Perspektif Feminisme Kontemporer

This article aims to examine the dynamics of sexual violence in Indonesia and the application of regulations to prevent sexual violence in universities. Methodologically, this research was conducted based on a qualitative approach. There are two types and sources of data used, primary data and secondary data. Based on the analysis of field data through the perspective of contemporary feminist theory, this study found two important findings; First, sexual crimes with motives for harassment and violence against students are currently becoming a crucial issue. This situation was triggered by weak regulatory mechanisms, unequal distribution of power, and the rootedness of a social hierarchical system that places women as a lower social group, so they tend to be treated arbitrarily. Second, efforts to deal with sexual crimes in the campus environment can be carried out through two approaches, cultural and structural. At the cultural level, there needs to be a transformation of values ​​in the cultural sector, especially in cultural systems that are biased toward patriarchal values. As for the structural level, efforts to deal with sexual crimes can be carried out by strengthening the law, both at the enforcement and protection levels. In the context of the dynamics of sexual violence on campus, a concrete form of structural effort is the implementation of Permendikbud No 30 of 2021, which contains the agenda for the Prevention and Handling of Sexual Violence (PPKS) in tertiary institutions.

Towards a Radical Feminist Resignification of Vulnerability: A Critical Juxtaposition of Judith Butler’s Post-Structuralist Philosophy and Martha Fineman’s Legal Theory

This research article aims to theoretically reconstruct a positive feminist conceptualization of vulnerability via a thorough systematization and critical comparison of Martha Fineman’s socio-legal philosophy and Judith Butler’s post-structuralist ethico-political theory. Through the introduction, the reader becomes familiar with numerous interdisciplinary re-articulations of vulnerability within the realms of contemporary feminist theory. The second subsection illustrates Fineman’s vulnerability approach in terms of an alternative ontological paradigm deriving from the recognition of our fundamentally fragile universal condition. It explores Fineman vulnerability theory’s normative implications in relation to the legitimate political organization of democratic societies and the fair function of their central institutions. The third subsection systematizes the dual texture of the Butlerian radicalization of vulnerability as an existential condition of irreducible relationality and a socio-historically contextualized and differentially allocated distribution of precarity among differently gendered, racialized, sexualized and nationalized subjects. Incidentally, the article elucidates the differentiations between the Butlerian conceptions of vulnerability, precariousness, precarity and dispossession and additionally investigates Butler’s revolutionary constellation of vulnerability and resistance. In the third subsection, this article designates the similarities and divergences between the two vulnerability frameworks and critically evaluates their epistemological capacity to reconstitute a politically empowering conceptualization of vulnerability within the heart of contemporary feminist theory. To that end, the author develops a critical assessment of Fineman theory’s epistemological, political and conceptual limitations in regard of its gender-blind universalistic structure. The author conclusively argues that Butler’s two-fold vulnerability perspective entails more nuanced theoretical conceptions and more empowering political devices for contemporary feminist struggles.

Pertencimento e (sobre)vivência nas cidades: análise do documentário Chega de Fiu Fiu (2018), de Amanda Kamanchek e Fernanda Frazão

The current article means to analyze technical and aesthetical strategies represented by women’s actions and experiences in brasilian urban centers basing its study on the feature film “Chega de Fiu Fiu” from 2018. It is supported by the theorical picture made on reflections about the brasilian documentary film industry and the contemporary feminist theory, specially on what relates to sexual harassment and catcalling questions. The documentary is directed by filmmakers Amanda Kamanchek and Fernanda Frazão and executed by Think Olga, a non-profit organization from the civil feminist society whose mission is the female empowerment through information. The work addresses the constant sexual harassment cases suffered by women on public spaces and offers some reflections on the female bodies right to the cities, focusing on the three main characters experiences: Rosa Luz, Raquel Carvalho and Teresa Chaves. The methodology in place will be the film analysis and expects to show the movie industry action as narrative mightiness on the gender equality debate as well.

Geschlecht und Geschlechterverhältnisse bewegen: Queer/Feminismen zwischen Widerstand, Subversion, und Solidarität ed. by Verena Sperk et al.

Reviewed by: Geschlecht und Geschlechterverhältnisse bewegen: Queer/Feminismen zwischen Widerstand, Subversion, und Solidarität ed. by Verena Sperk et al. Simone Pfleger Verena Sperk, Sandra Altenberger, Katharina Lux, and Tanja Vogler, editors. Geschlecht und Geschlechterverhältnisse bewegen: Queer/Feminismen zwischen Widerstand, Subversion, und Solidarität. transcript Verlag, 2020. 218 pp. Paper, €40. Inspired by Sara Ahmed's call to embrace living a feminist life in her book of the same name and to face injustices as a collective, Geschlecht und Geschlechterverhältnisse bewegen: Queer/Feminismen zwischen Widerstand, Subversion, und Solidarität (Shifting gender and gender relations: Queer/Feminisms and resistance, subversion, and solidarity), with its nine contributions, addresses sociohistorical and cultural phenomena and discursive interventions into contemporary feminist theory and activism. Underscoring that gender and gender relations are not only the object of research but are categories that are constantly in flux and transforming, the editors argue for the separation of feminist and queer analyses in order to avoid the latter being subsumed within the former. They call for resistance, subversion, and solidarity as modes of feminist critique to offer multiperspectival approaches to gender and gender relations by engaging feminist critiques of subjectivity, queer theorizing and its politics, postcolonial theory, body studies, mad studies, and intersectionality. Eliah Lüthi's contribution engages with trans* and mad studies in order to argue for an examination of the depathologization of trans* individuals and the repeated and ongoing practices of exclusion of certain trans* bodies. Arguing that norms are defined through and rely on an Other that serves as the referential counterpart, Lüthi considers changes in the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the European International Classification for Diseases since the mid-1970s, emphasizing that trans* as a category has undergone processes of pathologization, its subsequent depathologization, and repathologization. [End Page 127] In her contribution, Tanja Voglers examines the relationship between the queer politics of Christopher Street Day (CSD) and the memory culture linked to the Stonewall riots. Relying on discourse analysis of texts and images, she underscores how the Stonewall riots are considered the starting point of gay and lesbian activism by many activists as well as academics. However, this particular construction of a whitewashed gay and lesbian history eclipses the fact that queer activism and organizing predates Stonewall and that race played a significant role in the riots of the 1960s but is often overlooked in mainstream discourses. Using LesMigraS as an example of an organization that positions itself in critical opposition to the CSD celebrations in Germany, Voglers emphasizes how certain groups are unable to participate in CSD because they do not see themselves represented in the program yet wish to feel more welcome (again). Andrea Urthaler turns to the feminist movement in Southern Tyrol in her article and shows that it has existed since the 1970s. She argues that the movement needs to be interrogated in relation to space, gender, and power, and draws a connection between private and public places and spaces. Urthaler points out that the feminist movement contributed to the creation of women's shelters, archives, libraries, and so on, and thus caused significant changes to some spaces in the city of Bozen. Verena Sperk focuses on the harmful potential of humor and laughter and the normalization of injurious language. However, she argues, humor can also be understood as a mode of transformation, since it holds the potential for resistance and feminist intervention. Using the stand-up show Nanette by Hannah Gatsby as an example, Sperk underscores that comedy can walk a fine line between being demeaning and having the power to unsettle hegemonic structures. The volume's final contribution, by Alexa Baumgartner, examines the Austrian avant-garde architecture movement of the 1960s and 1970s and asks how certain avant-garde buildings have the capacity to deconstruct gender relations. Leaning on contemporary posthumanist and queer feminist theories, she underscores that architecture offers the possibility to rethink bodies in relation to the materiality of buildings, but she cautions that many of the installations do not call into question traditional gender dynamics such as heteronormativity. Overall, the volume is a valuable contribution to feminist and queer scholarship and touches upon a variety of...

Guarding against imperium: The implications of Pettit’s theoretical framework for a model of neo-republican democracy

ABSTRACT The idea of ‘counter-control’ has greatly added to Philip Pettit's theoretical framework of freedom as non-domination, not only helping Pettit to meet prominent analytical criticisms from contemporary liberal theorists, but also helping to better illuminate the possibility of ‘unmoralized’ interference without domination. But while this idea has helped to increase the attractiveness of freedom as non-domination as a philosophical ideal, it has also revealed some disparities between Pettit’s theoretical framework and the practical model of governance to which he ascribes – disparities which call into question the model’s overall ability to guard against imperium and tackle the issue of political legitimacy. In this paper, I review two of these disconnects. First, I discuss how Pettit’s interpretation of ‘individualized’ influence leads him to overlook some of the institutions that would be necessary to satisfy this theoretical constraint. Second, I illustrate how Pettit fails to account for his own axiom of positionality when discussing the institutions that allow citizens to exert ‘unconditioned’ influence, or ‘control’ over legislative direction. In concluding, I draw several inferences from these arguments for neo-republicans continuing to engage in democracy-building.

Feminist theory, method, and praxis: Toward a critical consciousness for family and close relationship scholars

Feminism provides a worldview with innovative possibilities for scholarship and activism on behalf of families and intimate relationships. As a flexible framework capable of engaging with contentious theoretical ideas and the urgency of social change, feminism offers a simultaneous way to express an epistemology (knowledge), a methodology (the production of knowledge), an ontology (one’s subjective way of being in the world), and a praxis (the translation of knowledge into actions that produce beneficial social change). Feminist family science, in particular, advances critical, intersectional, and queer approaches to examine the uses and abuses of power and the multiple axes upon which individuals and families are privileged, marginalized, and oppressed in diverse social contexts. In this paper, I embrace feminism as a personal, professional (academic), and political project and use stories from my own life to illuminate broader social-historical structures, processes, and contexts associated with gender, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, nationality, and other systems of social stratification. I provide a brief history and reflections on contemporary feminist theory and activism, particularly from the perspective of my disciplinary affiliation of feminist family science. I address feminism as an intersectional perspective through three themes: (a) theory: defining a critical feminist approach, (b) method: critical feminist autoethnographic research, and (c) praxis: transforming feminist theory into action. I conclude with takeaway messages for incorporating reflexivity and critical consciousness raising to provoke thought and action in the areas of personal, professional, and political change.

The State in Feminist Theory: Hopes and a Critique of Governance Feminism

Contemporary feminist theory rarely engages with the discussion of political strategies and the issue of the state. Feminist philosophers tend to interpret the state as an omnipotent institution continuously governing women’s lives and bodies, while defining women as rather passive objects of state politics. The new global wave of feminist protests against domestic violence and sexual harassment that has erupted in the last four years inspired a new cycle of theoretical debates about the meaning of gender equality and the role of the state in the feminist liberation project. The increasing power of feminist movements coupled with new feminist attempts to infuence political institutions raise new questions about the dominant feminist political strategies and engagements with the state. How should feminist movements view the state? What does the state mean, and what role do women play in it? The article discusses the state as a major feminist theoretical issue. It argues that feminist thinkers and activists need to engage with state issues if we are to achieve such large scale and structural changes as gender equality, the end of female poverty, or abolition of unpaid reproductive labor. The paper reconstructs the political theory of carceral feminism, i.e., the dominant form of political feminism in today’s world, developed by Catherine A. Mackinnon’s reviewing its recent critique formulated by Janet Halley. It concludes by posing the question about other alternative and non-carceral forms of feminist governance.

Body-Images and the Pornography of Representation

The paper examines some issues in the medicalization of the female body as they impinge upon contemporary feminist theories of subjectivity. The biological sciences operate by making the embodied subject visible and intelligible according to the principles of scientific representation. However, the bio-technological universe merely manifests and intensifies the tendencies that had been evident since the beginning of modern technology and science. Science in the modern world is an exultation of the scopic drive as a gesture of epistemological domination and control by rendering the invisible visible and visualizing the secrets of nature. The merry-go-round of bodily parts, or cells, or tissues that do not belong anywhere encourages the fantasy that one does not really come from anywhere specific, from any one bodily point. This visualization ends in medical pornography, a system of representation that reinforces the commercial logic of a market economy. The whole body turns into a visual surface of interchangeable parts. This new medical pornography, which is ultimately grounded in detachment of the fetus from the mother’s body, dismemberment of bodily unity, and swapping its parts, has enormous social and political consequences. The article reviews the thinking of contemporary women and feminist scholars — Donna Haraway, Luce Irigaray, Evelyn Fox Keller and others — and argues that feminist critiques have quick and successful in counteracting the perverse effects of new technologies. The author stresses that productive feminist interventions in biomedical power structures will require paying close attention to the politics of visual culture and the pervasiveness of pornography as the dominant structure of representation in both scientific and popular discourse.

After a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology: A Ten-Year Retrospective

After a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology: A Ten-Year Retrospective

Katolické výhrady vůči liberálnímu chápání svobody a sociálního řádu

This article is a contribution to the recurrent debates on the (in)compatibility between Catholic and liberal tradition. It focuses on the differences between these traditions concerning their conceptual foundations: liberty and, more extensively, social order. In the first part, the article characterizes the most important doctrinal elements of liberal and Catholic political theory. In liberal tradition, the emphasis is upon normative and ontological individualism and the primacy of individual liberty. Catholic social ontology offers a rich understanding of social order where it differentiates between partnerships and communities. This is linked to the specific conceptualization of the common good which is more robustly conceived than in its liberal counterparts. In the second part, the article delineates the different meanings of liberty in contemporary liberal political theory. It demonstrates that the Catholic tradition unambiguously prefers the positive concept of liberty. Next, it dialectically moves to the concept of autonomy. Some versions of autonomy are closer to the Catholic tradition than others, but overall, the Catholic conception is based on a richer metaphysical foundation that links liberty with participation in the common good. The article culminates with D. C. Schindler’s metaphysical criticism of the basic building blocks of liberal thought, which explains the reasons why the liberal conception of the common good cannot accommodate its Catholic counterpart.