Feminist Theory Research Articles

Translating the feminist theory of intersectionality into gender analytical frameworks for gender and development

The growing popularity of intersectionality theory, the critiques levelled against it and its use in gender and development (GAD) warrant a critical reflection by feminists, especially those working with less affluent women. This article examines the stretching of intersectionality in GAD research, policymaking and practice, and shows how it has been depoliticised into becoming a ‘catch-all’ term that can be used by all feminists as a shorthand for explaining differences within the category of ‘women’. The particular focus here is on the gender analytical frameworks that are generally based on a binary understanding of gender and used in the development industry, generally by liberal feminists. Finally, and as a corrective, the article explores the possibilities of an ‘intersectionality-informed’ approach to gender analyses.

A Precondition for Justice: Political Listening, Feminism and Sexual Violence

Questions of speech, silencing and injustice have long been central to feminist understandings of sexual violence, and to activism around it. Listening, and its relationship to justice, in contrast, remains under-explored by feminist scholars and activists. In this article, I argue for a feminist politics of listening as an essential precondition for justice around sexual violence. I argue that feminist engagements with listening have tended to be limited to questions of belief but that this is inadequate for a just practice of listening. Instead, I call for the development of a feminist listening public that engages in active practices of both attentive listening in for the details and nuances of survivor speech and listening out to unheard and marginalised voices. It is only within the context of collective political labour around listening, I suggest, that we can begin to develop a just politics around sexual violence.

Sexual minority men’s experiences of, and strategies for emotional intimacy in intimate partner relationships

Emotional intimacy is key to intimate partner relationship quality and satisfaction. For sexual minority men, queer and feminist theorists consistently link emotional intimacy to diverse sexual practices and partnership dynamics formulated within the relationship. This Photovoice study adds to those insights by drawing on individual photovoice interviews with 16 sexual minority men to describe participant’s experiences of, and strategies for emotional intimacy in their intimate relationships. Analysis revealed three distinct yet entwined themes: (i) embracing vulnerabilities to drive self-acceptance; (ii) building relationality with partners; and (iii) securing connections with family, friends and community. By embracing vulnerabilities to drive self-acceptance, participants spoke to embodied courage and autonomy as key components for addressing wide-ranging emotional intimacy challenges in their relationships. In theme two, building relationality with partners, participants described how empathy, trust and reciprocity underpinned collaborative work to foster emotional intimacy. Lastly, in securing connections with family, friends and community, acceptance and inclusion were key to participants’ sense of belonging and legitimacy which aided their emotional intimacy with partners. The findings provide guidance for tailored programmatic efforts to assist sexual minority men build intimate relationships.

Language and Group-based Power: Myths, Proverbs and Metaphors as Depositories of Gendered and Ethnic Identities in Perpetua Nkamanyang Lola’s Revised Edition of "The Lock on my Lips (2023)"

Gender and Ethnicity are two types of group distinctions with which group-based power is associated and, in most postcolonial African urban contexts, gender and ethnicity intersect to shape our identities, opportunities and the challenges we face. Drawing from postcolonial, queer and feminist theories, this study examines the role of language in the construction of group-based power structures. The study examines the gender and ethnic specific function of Language (specifically myths, proverbs, metaphors, idioms and witty sayings) in the revised edition of Lola’s The Lock On My Lips with the view of demonstrating that the budding dramatist employs these linguistic devices to invest her work with a truly African sensibility and flavour, but mainly to show the role language plays in the social construction of gender and ethnic otherness.

Thoughts on the ink: a critical discourse analysis of women’s petitions in colonial Ijebu, Nigeria (1918–1953)

ABSTRACT Petitions were a prominent platform of engagement between colonial officers and Ijebu women during the colonial period in Nigeria. Studies on Ijebu women have been silent on how lexical choices in their structured petitions against the colonial government reveal inherent contextual issues. To address this void in scholarship, this study investigates petitions in colonial Ijebu with a view to describing the connection between women, power and protest. Engaging insights from critical discourse analysis, complemented with postcolonial feminism theory, twenty petitions constituted the study population. However, eight petitions were purposively selected to describe patterns of Ijebu women’s resistance against colonial hegemony and their implications for petition discourse in Ijebu land. The study notes that petitions in colonial Ijebu are contextually imbued with lexical choices which covertly negotiate power, threat and resistance. The petitions are replete with covert negotiations of power struggles between the colonial officers and Ijebu women.

Rethinking gendered anti-Muslim racism in a relational matrix of race and gender

Gendered ideas of Muslims and Islam are one of the central organising principles of anti-Muslim racism. However, discussions around gendered anti-Muslim racism often ignore ‘Muslim men’ as a gendered category despite ideas about ‘Muslim women’ being constructed in direct relation to (often implicitly assumed presence of) their male counterparts. As problematised by Alimahomed-Wilson (2020), historical anti-Muslim racist representations of Muslim men as violent and oppressive have not been often considered in these gendered perspectives, but instead treated as a ‘gender-neutral’ facet of anti-Muslim racism. Developing on previous works, our research findings highlight that anti-Muslim racism is inherently gendered, not only because women are disproportionately targeted in Islamophobic attacks but because of its gendered essence. Informed by feminist scholars, our understanding of gender is a relational matrix between men and women upon which we elaborate this gendered foundation of anti-Muslim racism. Anti-Muslim racist ideologies are premised on myths and stereotypical ideas which claim that: 1) Islam is an inherently misogynistic religion; 2) ‘Muslim men’ are therefore inherently violent and oppressive, primarily towards Muslim women, but also backwards and unable to govern themselves or their communities and, as such, are in need of correction or control (Abu-Lughod, 2013; Farris, 2017; Kumar, 2012; inter alia). In this article, building on the previous analyses of the gendered aspect of anti-Muslim racism and our research findings based on fieldwork with Muslim communities in Ireland (n = 193), we argue that anti-Muslim racism is gendered not only because it affects women more, but also because: 1) its underlying gendered racial ideology constructs Muslim women as the passive Other of assumed ‘violent Muslim masculinity’; 2) ‘Western liberal’ anti-Muslim discourses, claiming to be vying for the liberation of all women, assume it as their ‘duty’ to save ‘Muslim women’; 3) with ‘white feminism’ often providing the moral ground for this saviour image, ignoring Muslim women's emancipatory agency and politics.

GENDER-RELATED FACTORS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS OF UNDERGRADUATES IN SELECTED FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTHWEST, NIGERIA

Purpose: The study assesses the gender related factors and entrepreneurial intentions of undergraduate students of selected Federal Universities in Southwest, Nigeria. It specifically, examined barriers to male and female entrepreneurial activities in the selected Universities; assessed how entrepreneurship education has impacted entrepreneurial intentions of female and male undergraduates in the study area; and evaluated how entrepreneurial intentions of male and female undergraduates differ in the study area. Theoretical Framework: The study's foundation was Social Feminist Theory (SFT), which clarified the widely held stereotype that women are subservient to men. This stereotype is said to conflict with the innate desire for entrepreneurship, and female students' inclination to start their own businesses may be viewed as a hindrance. In this regard, the study has attempted to conduct a methodical assessment of several publications concerning the relationship between gender and the entrepreneurial intentions of students at particular Federal Universities in the Southwest region of Nigeria. Design/Methodology/Approach: To guide the investigation, three research questions were developed. Similarly, three objectives and three null hypotheses were generated for the study. The study adopted the use of a cross-sectional survey approach, and structured questionnaire administration was made use of, to gather data. A total of 1,820 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents and were all recovered for the study. The study made use of a well-structured and validated “Gender Related Factors and Entrepreneurial Intentions Questionnaire” as the instrument for data collection. The data analysis included both inferential and descriptive statistics, such as; Mann-Whitney U Test, Multiple Linear Regression and basic percentages, counts, mean, and standard deviation.. Findings: The study found that female students faced more barriers to entrepreneurial activities than male students. The distribution of barriers is not the same across the two categories of gender. Entrepreneurship education is positively related to entrepreneurial intention and explains a variation in the level of entrepreneurial intention of undergraduate students in the selected Federal universities. Female students showed less entrepreneurial intention than male students and suggests that the distribution of entrepreneurial intention is not the same across the two categories of gender. Originality/Value: The study, recommended among others that; Policymakers and stakeholders in entrepreneurship matters should give adequate consideration and preference to the female gender in terms of training and other forms of entrepreneurial education to foster better intention with them. Nevertheless, the male gender must not be ignored completely as this may result in a viscous cycle; University management, facilitators and lecturers should also improve on the techniques and methods used in teaching entrepreneurship in Nigerian universities to positively impact the entrepreneurial intention of university students; and Management should also use attractive methods and practical styles that will raise the curiosity of students to the field of entrepreneurship..

Gender-Based Violence in the Lives of Somali Women With Refugee Status: A Framework for Analysis and Action.

Gender-based violence (GBV) poses a significant threat to women with refugee status. Following our analysis based on a previously published scoping review, we introduce a conceptual framework based on postcolonial feminist theory to inform research, policy, and practice that addresses the unique risk factors faced by Somali women with refugee status experiencing GBV and encountering barriers to care. The framework synthesizes existing literature, incorporates findings from previous work with Somali women, and emphasizes the importance of understanding structural and sociocultural factors influencing help-seeking. By developing women-centered interventions, health care and social service institutions can play a pivotal role in addressing GBV for Somali women with refugee status.

ANALYSIS OF GENDER EQUALITY: THE ROLE WOMEN IN TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES OF SIKHISM IN MEDAN CITY

This research aims to analyze gender equality in the teachings and practices of Sikhism in Medan City. This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study method. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with key informants, participant observation, and document analysis. The research results show that the teachings of Sikhism emphasize gender equality between men and women. This is reflected in various Sikh sacred texts, such as the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, which contains stories and teachings about strong and inspiring women. Sikh teachings and practices in Medan demonstrate a strong commitment to gender equality. These Sikh principles are in line with Simone De Beauvoir's feminist theory, she emphasizes and encourages that women must believe they have equal rights and abilities to manage their own lives. and the Sikh Religion in Medan is active in realizing gender equality through various programs and activities. It is important to note that this analysis only provides a brief overview of the role and position of women in Sikh teachings and practices in Medan through the lens of feminist theory. These challenges include patriarchy that still exists in society, gender stereotypes, and women's lack of access to education and economic opportunities. This research recommends several efforts to improve gender equality in the Sikh Religion in Medan. These efforts include education about gender equality, women's empowerment, and increasing women's participation in various aspects of life in society.

Framing the Labor of Paid Egg Donors in Iran: Marginality, Gendered Care, and Divine Reward

ABSTRACT Despite the economic incentives evidenced in the recruitment strategies of the Iranian fertility industry for egg donors, the official discourse put forward by policymakers conveys egg donation as an altruistic act. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in two fertility clinics in Tehran, I center the narratives of paid egg donors to investigate how multiple meanings are attributed to egg donation as a form of labor, demonstrating how reproductive inequalities are perpetuated in this context. Following feminist theorists of reproductive bioeconomies, I argue that Iranian donors experience and articulate their participation in local egg market through the prism of their economic marginality, gendered responsibilities, and religiously informed beliefs, including divine reward.

KINGSTON’S THE WOMAN WARRIOR AND CHINA MEN: GENDERED CONSTRUCTION OF ABJECT THROUGH GHOSTS

The autobiographical works by Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts (1989) and China Men (1989), portray a gendered construction of the abject through the ghosts of Kingston’s deceased family members in the novels. As Chinese descendants, the family should uphold a tradition of honoring their dead, feeding them food, and remembering them. However, Kingston’s family in the novels rejects their ghosts instead because the dead are thought to bring shame and discomfort to the family, who are now living as Americans. We see such ambiguity where the ghosts are simultaneously seen as part of the family yet also discomforting as related to the abject. By utilizing the framework of feminist narratology and theories of abjection, we see that the family abjects them by forgetting and not acknowledging them. These ghosts are part of the family but simultaneously expelled as the abject. However, despite all of the ghosts being the abject, we argue that their individual abjections vary based on their gender where the female ghosts and male ghosts are abjected differently. We argue that the abject constructed through the female ghosts is portrayed as disobedient, disturbing borders, and traumatic, whereas through the male ghosts is portrayed as passively expelled from a place of power and silenced. Despite all of the deceased being treated as outcasts, we see that the deceased women are able to reclaim subjectivity through their abjection, whereas the abjection from the male ghosts reflects ambiguity.

Feminist Analysis of The Women are Singing

Feminist Analysis of The Women are Singing

Environmental Eros: the films of Barbara Hammer as “Creative Geographies”1

In her 1978 essay “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” Audre Lorde avers, “The erotic has often been misnamed by men and used against women. It has been made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticized sensation. For this reason, we have often turned away from the exploration and consideration of the erotic as a source of power and information” (1984, p. 54). Part of our maligning of the erotic, according to Lorde, is our separation of the spiritual from the erotic, a holdover of enlightenment thinking that insists on parsing apart that which is thought from that which is felt and sensed. This paper examines 1970s lesbian-feminist esthetics, specifically the works of American avant-garde filmmaker Barbara Hammer (1939–2019), to delineate an environmental eros, in which more-than-human nature is a source of erotic inspiration and interspecies connection. Just as Lorde theorizes the erotic as a “reminder of [one’s] capacity for feeling and joy” (1984, p. 56), environmental eros understands the erotic as expansively sensual and sensory instead of solely sexual. My close readings of Hammer’s films Dyketactics (1974), Women I Love (1976), and Multiple Orgasm (1976) challenge critiques of these materials as escapist relics of an essentializing past. Instead, I use feminist and film phenomenological theory to argue that the natural environment was an actor in radical re-imaginings of subjecthood and relationality that constitute an eco-erotic ethics with clear implications for contemporary environmental politics and ecological feminisms.

We Must Abolish the Conditions of the Unbearable: A Conversation with Marquis Bey

Abstract: This article is structured as a conversation between scholars Jess A. Goldberg and Marquis Bey, grounded in the arguments of Bey’s recent book Black Trans Feminism , published in 2022 by Duke University Press. Rather than an overview or summary of Bey’s book, the conversation digs into particular dimensions of Bey’s arguments and analyses. It begins by situating Black Trans Feminism in relation to the topic of the special issue of WSQ in which the article appears, with Goldberg asking Bey to explain their thinking around “the unbearable” or the abject as they relate to the framework of black trans feminism. From there, the conversation turns to the roles of affect, desire, and disagreement in feminist theorization and argument as well as an extended consideration of metaphors of “holding” in Bey’s work and beyond. The conversation closes with a critical and loving exchange over questions of violence in abolitionist politics and movements and the risks we take on in trying to abolish the conditions of unbearable life at various levels.

Overcoming “the Penetration Model”: Rethinking Sexuality with Foucault, Shusterman, and Contemporary Feminism

In the present contribution, dealing with the intellectual legacy of Michel Foucault forty years after his death, I offer an analysis of some possible relations between certain aspects of Foucault’s project of a history of sexuality, Richard Shusterman’s somaesthetic investigation of the experience of lovemaking, and some recent attempts to critically rethink sexuality in the context of feminist scholarship. My approach towards Foucault’s thinking in this contribution is not philological or attentively reconstructive but rather selective and interpretive. In the first section, I briefly examine Foucault’s general view of sexuality as a “limit-experience”; then, in the second section, I specifically focus my attention on his (critical) analysis of “the penetration model”—an expression coined by Foucault in the context of his inquiry into Greco-Latin sexual culture. In the third section, I take into examination the important influence of Foucault’s aesthetics of existence on Shusterman’s somaesthetics and, in particular, on his book Ars Erotica. Finally, in the fourth section, I make reference—without any ambition of completeness or systematicity—to the question of the relation between Foucault’s thinking and contemporary feminism, focusing my attention on some recent proposals for a critical rethinking of sexuality by feminist scholars such as Bini Adamczak, Ilka Quindeau, Amia Srinivasan, Tamara Tenenbaum, and bell hooks.

Can the Alienated Helper Speak?

This autoethnographic study explores the often overlooked and undervalued roles of assistants in the contemporary art world, focusing on their experiences of alienation and burnout. Through a combination of personal narrative and theoretical analysis, it examines how support roles, despite being essential to artistic production, remain invisible within the dominant art discourse that idolizes creative authorship. I begin with a reflection on my experiences as both an assistant and a curator, highlighting instances of emotional labor and burnout among support staff. The narrative is contextualized within broader cultural and social frameworks, drawing on feminist theory and sociological studies that critique the hierarchical nature of artistic labor. Extending to autofictional literature, the analysis showcases how assistants articulate their alienation and critique the art world’s exploitative dynamics. By interweaving personal and literary accounts, the study underscores the paradox of interdependence in art, where the labor of assistants is both indispensable and disregarded. The conclusion advocates for a reexamination of artworld structures, urging greater recognition and support for those in support roles.

Caring Technologies: Confronting Invisible Work in Digital Capitalism

ABSTRACTIn recent years, critical studies on digital platforms have emphasized that contemporary capitalism increasingly exploits the relational and cognitive faculties of human beings as sources of value. At the same time, activist projects are emerging in order to challenge the logics of commodification, individualization and accumulation that govern digital capitalism, being grounded in values that aim to promote visibility of labor and cooperation. This article contributes the notion of “caring technologies” where care is employed as a critical lens able to uncover the kinds of productive work made invisible by capitalist logics governing mainstream digital platforms and as a value for designing digital technologies aiming at challenging these very logics. By drawing on feminist theories about domestic work, we stress the analytical and interventionist character of care insofar as it sheds light on the forms of invisible work that allows the productive system to function and a politics that values social and economic relations usually neglected in the capitalist system. Ultimately, the article elaborates on a politics of caring to confront digital capitalism, transforming care into a logic that informs activist interventions which value agential and inalienable aspects characterizing the diverse forms of labor mediated by digital technologies.

Between Refusal and Refuge. Queer Feminist Bookstore Savannah Bay

Feminist bookstores have played an important role in the creation of feminist spaces since the end of the 20th century. In the Netherlands, Savannah Bay is one of the last remaining in a previous network of feminist bookstores. This article explores how the bookstore manages to uphold its function as a feminist space while operating in relative isolation. The data used for this analysis consists of a series of interviews with volunteers working at Savannah Bay. This data is analysed via Bonnie Honig’s <i>Feminist Theory of Refusal</i> (2021), which<i> </i>connects three forms of feminist resistance within one arc of feminist refusal. Crucial to this arc is the circular movement where the women first leave the city, then organise a new way of living, and then return to the city to implement their ideas. By reading the experiences of Savannah Bay volunteers via Honig’s theory of refusal, this article analyses how the bookstore manages to uphold a feminist space while being embedded in a predominantly patriarchal public sphere. It demonstrates the complex ways in which Savannah Bay continuously negotiates its relationship to the customers and volunteers it caters for on the one hand, and a patriarchal public sphere which it seeks to reform on the other hand. Additionally, this reading extends and nuances Honig’s theoretical approach by relating it to empirical data, which raises questions about the conditions for fulfilling Honig’s feminist arc of refusal, and about the relations between the various moments on the arc.

Bodies Never Forget: The Case of Lived Bodily Experiences of Iranian Women

This qualitative research examines the lived experiences of Iranian women under the mandatory hijab law, utilizing a sophisticated theoretical framework that merges Foucault’s concept of bio-power with Merleau-Ponty’s embodiment theory. It further enriches this perspective by incorporating feminist theories of embodiment, providing a comprehensive lens to understand the multifaceted dynamics of these experiences. The research explores how women’s bodies have historically been a battleground for both oppression and resistance in Iran. By examining women’s socio-political circumstances, the study sheds light on the primary mechanisms and strategies the political power employs to regulate and control women’s bodies. Utilizing heartfelt narratives from in-depth interviews with eight Iranian women aged 25 to 45 focusing on bodily experiences, this research weaves together the experiences and resistances of these women in the face of compulsory hijab laws. This research uncovers the profound implications of disciplining and politicizing bodies on individuals’ daily lives. It delves into the nuanced effects ranging from societal pressures and institutional power exerted by the educational system to the emotional repercussions and unfulfilled pleasures resulting from such suppression. It highlights how Iranian women navigate, perceive, and push back against socio-political structures that attempt to regulate their bodies and expressions.

“The Female Condition”: (Re)thinking Marriage, Prostitution, and Feminist Theories of Abolition

“The Female Condition”: (Re)thinking Marriage, Prostitution, and Feminist Theories of Abolition