Feminist Lens Research Articles

Transforming adult education through critical feminist theory: Towards a critical consciousness learning model

AbstractIn this conceptual paper, I delve into the urgent necessity of reshaping adult education and advocate for the adoption of critical feminist theory as a foundational framework for the examination of adult education. Based on the theories of adult education and critical feminist theory, I argue that a critical feminist lens could help educators better support adult learners from diverse backgrounds and spark meaningful social change. Building on principles of ideology, consciousness, and standpoint from critical feminist theory, I propose a critical consciousness learning (CCL) model that challenges existing assumptions and inspires innovative research and practice. Ultimately, my objective is to empower adult educators to reimagine the landscape of adult education in a manner that champions principles of equity, inclusivity, and transformative learning, thereby ushering in a new era of adult education.

Exploring Feminism In John Steinbeck's East Of Eden

East of Eden, a notably controversial novel by John Steinbeck, has been subject to diverse critical discussions across various approaches since its publication. The extensive range of themes and symbolic elements within the work contributes significantly to its critical acclaim. Steinbeck skillfully challenges universal principles by constructing a world rich with them. This analysis focuses on examining East of Eden through a feminist lens. By exploring key female characters, notably casting Cathy Ames as the embodiment of evil, and scrutinizing the dynamics between male and female characters, the aim is to delve into the novel's prevailing perspective on the expected roles of women in society and family.

Feminist Theological Themes in the Biblical Art of Lilian Broca: From Lilith to Mary Magdalene

For three decades, the Canadian artist Lilian Broca has been creating art featuring biblical women: Lilith/Eve, Esther, Judith and Mary Magdalene. These are not single artworks, but series, presenting these women in the contexts of their narratives. In contrast with traditional artistic representations of these figures, dominated by the male gaze, Broca brings a feminist lens to their stories. Broca’s work not only converges with feminist theology and biblical studies, but she also uses this scholarship as part of her research, pointing to a fruitful and significant relationship between feminist art and academic theology.

How freedom of movement infringes on the right to leave

This article contributes to discussions that problematize the recent proliferation of soft law instruments in relation to international migration. The Global Compact for Migration has placed soft norm instruments more formally on the agenda of plausible tools with which to regulate people's movement. I am contributing to these discussions by engaging with the question of how the amalgamation of soft and hard law contributes to and impacts on legal effects, using a postcolonial feminist lens. I do so by focusing on the interaction between freedom of movement and the right to leave in the ECOWAS area, drawing on original research material collected mainly in Abuja, Nigeria, but also in Senegal, Guinea, and The Gambia. It is argued that freedom of movement provisions, as they are promoted by the ECOWAS and largely funded by inter-governmental organizations and European donor countries, end up infringing the right to leave. In a first step, existing norms at international, continental, regional, and national level are discussed to prepare the ground to answer the question how such infringing is done. From this step, I conclude that the triple layers of legal instruments, political instruments, and programming are impairing the intent of the right to leave in the way that a politico-legal landscape is constructed within which programs operationalize freedom of movement. The next step then looks at freedom of movement programming at regional, national, and local levels by asking about the subjectivities that are created—for example the “potential migrant”; by shedding light on practices of resistance—for example in how national governments use diplomacy to disengage; and by highlighting how “home patch” talk renders those potential migrants leaving not just implausible but suspect. It is found that, in the legal and political context of West Africa, soft norms thrive. The GCM constitutes an unhelpful list of random contradictory approaches that orient ideas, policy initiatives, programs, and ultimately people, toward being fixed in place, rather than being able to leave and to move freely should they want to. This happens in-country when people have not yet begun to move.

Who Do We Call “Creepy?”: Sex Workers’ Relationships as Targets of Intimate Intervention

Like other forms of problem-solving justice, prostitution diversion programs (PDPs) are designed to (re)shape thinking and behaviors. The authority to surveil and punish stems from criminalization of sex work, itself an act of control over women and their bodies. The court cues normative behaviors through rewards and punishments based on information gleaned through ongoing surveillance in and out of court. Using a critical feminist lens, we draw on ethnographic and interview data from studies of two court-affiliated PDPs to examine the regulation of women's bodies and intimate relationships. We found that criminal justice professionals explicitly viewed constant discussion and surveillance of all facets of PDP participants’ lives as a tool to cause participants to internalize particular understandings of normative relationships. Such normative understandings involve assumptions about which men are “creepy” that do not always reflect women's lived experiences and decontextualize relationships in ways that are incompatible with women's own assessments of these relationships. This analysis contributes to feminist social work by revealing the social control functions of such programs, which employ “creepy” intrusion to police the boundaries between unacceptable and normative behavior while simultaneously disregarding the systemic forces that shape women's choices and constructions of normativity.

‘I’m a red-blooded male’: Understanding men’s experiences of domestic abuse through a feminist lens

The ways in which gendered expectations of women are used to maintain power and control by male perpetrators of domestic abuse are now well understood. It is also increasingly recognised that men can be victims of domestic abuse. This has led to calls to de-gender theories of violence and abuse, and arguments that the feminist theories which underpin many interventions are outdated. We draw on the experiences of 344 men using a helpline for male victim–survivors of domestic abuse to show that patriarchal constructions of relationships, femininity and masculinity, which underpin women’s experiences of domestic abuse by men are also central to understanding men’s experiences of domestic abuse by women. We propose that men’s victimisation by women perpetrators is not incompatible with feminist understandings of domestic abuse. Rather, that the influence of patriarchal norms in men’s victimisation accentuates the importance of gender in understanding and responding to domestic abuse.

Dual modality feeders: a group of human milk feeders with unique practices and needs.

Dual modality feeding (DMF) - feeding human milk interchangeably from the breast and from a bottle - comes with unique practical, emotional and relational challenges, as well as support needs. Yet, there is little research that explores the experiences of individuals who use DMF in the Canadian context. The aim of this study is to explore the practices, challenges, reasons and enablers of DMF. Repeat, semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted at 8 weeks and 22 weeks postpartum. Interview transcripts were thematically analysed using a critical feminist lens. Nova Scotia, Canada. Ten DMF mothers. DMF practices were influenced by a mix of social and material circumstances, including breast-feeding challenges, the involvement of support persons, finances and access to lactation support. Individuals who predominantly fed at the breast expressed milk strategically to mitigate transitory breast-feeding challenges, for convenience under specific circumstances, and to share feeding responsibilities with other caregivers for personal and practical reasons. Individuals who mainly bottle-fed did so due to long-term breast-feeding challenges or a need to return to employment. Enablers of successful DMF were consistent between the two groups and included practical, personal and relational aspects. DMF is a unique practice compared to feeding human milk solely from the breast or bottle. Despite the potential growing prevalence of DMF, it is currently understudied and inadequately addressed in existing support programmes in Nova Scotia. Tailored programming and public messaging are needed to support DMF families.

Archiving the Past, Painting the Present

This paper focuses on the representations of diversity and feminism in the French fi lm Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fi lle en feu, 2019), directed by Céline Sciamma. Set in the 18th century, this fi lm addresses numerous contemporary issues through a feminist lens. This paper views Portrait of a Lady on Fire as a visual archive in the history of feminist and queer cinema, creating dialogues between the past and present. Concurrently, using Céline Sciamma as an entry point, the paper also explores the female authorship in the 21st-century French cinema.

The normalisation of sexual violence revictimisation in regional and rural areas: Our failure to respond

AbstractSexual revictimisation has devastating consequences for victim/survivors, yet there is limited research exploring women's experience of revictimisation in regional/rural areas. Using a community‐based participatory research (CBPR) approach, this paper reports on a qualitative study that employed a material feminist lens and Nixon's theory of “slow violence” to explore women's lived experiences of sexual revictimisation. In‐depth interviews were conducted with victim/survivors (N = 11) living in regional and rural areas of Australia. Findings show that the failure of family, community and services to respond appropriately to participant's disclosures of violence and abuse was deeply entangled with rural infrastructure, isolated landscapes, fear of social isolation, victim‐blaming discourses, idealisation of men in the community and limited relationship and sexuality education (RSE) in schools. These components collectively formed a manifestation of “slow violence,” which accumulated over the participants' life spans and gradually normalised relational violence. This paper draws attention to a complex interplay of cultural, material and interpersonal elements, including the culture and spaces of rural/regional communities, that establish conditions enhancing the likelihood of women experiencing sexual revictimisation.

‘we are not like them’: reinventing modernity within tradition in the debates on female khatna / female genital cutting in India

Since 2011, female khatna, or the practice of female genital cutting within the Dawoodi Bohra community, has become a big topic of debate in India and globally. The ‘secret’ tradition has been challenged by community activists, tabled in parliament, heard by international courts of law and debated on news channels. In response, a growing number of Bohra women have come to the fore to publicly defend their right to khatna by subverting seemingly Western tropes of autonomy, equality and modernity. Situated in the thick of these polarised exchanges, this article examines the complicated, under-explored relationship between gender and Islam by foregrounding self-narratives of the Bohra women who actively participate within, as opposed to fight against, patriarchal norms to preserve the tradition. I juxtapose their narratives with those of anti- khatna activists to further contextualise and clarify their ‘modern-yet-traditional’ subjectivities. As such, this article combines a postcolonial feminist lens with Eric Hobsbawm’s notion of ‘invention of tradition’, to investigate the multiple ways in which a majority of Bohra women are using the rhetoric of ‘modernity’ in public—by reinventing history, renegotiating patriarchies, reimagining the other and incorporating biomedicine—to preserve and perpetuate this contested tradition.

Excusing Coercive Control in Popular Young Adult Fantasy Texts

This article utilises a feminist lens to conduct close textual analysis of A Curse So Dark and Lonely and the Cursebreaker series (Kemmerer 2019) and The Cruel Prince and the Folk of the Air series (Black 2018-2019) to demonstrate how elements of coercive control are excused and minimised in the narratives. By highlighting the postfeminist sensibility evident in these young adult fantasy novels, this article argues that female protagonists are characterised in contradictory ways. They are both ‘empowered’ and subjugated, yet this is diminished by a rhetoric of choice and agency. As female protagonists, Jude and Harper each possess physical strength, intelligence and humour which positions them as agential and empowered. Yet, at the core of their romantic and sexual relationships they are both victims of coercive control. While the novels ostensibly present strong female protagonists, implied girl readers are positioned to excuse the removal of agency, manipulation, and even physical violence towards these postfeminist heroines.

A Feminist Analysis of George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession: The Concept of the “New Woman”

Mrs. Warren’s Profession was written in 1893 by the Irish critic and dramatist George Bernard Shaw, who introduced social realism to the British stage. First performed in 1902 in London, the text is a social critique satirizing the stereotypical Victorian norms. Reflecting Shaw’s feminist ideals, the play also contributed to the development of the feminist movement. Mrs. Warren’s Profession introduces the “New Woman” type who rebels against the stereotyped female representations and male-centered conventions of the nineteenth century. The play mainly revolves around a controversial taboo topic, prostitution. Shaw dramatizes this profession through the two untraditional female characters. Kitty Warren is an audacious woman running a brothel to provide her daughter with better life and education standards and Vivie is a highly-educated and independent woman who expostulates her mother for her profession. Mrs. Warren’s Profession stresses that it is the social, economic and moral ills of the society that lead women to choose this profession. This paper, from a feminist lens, links these two non-conformist characters to navigate the ways through which the concept of the “New Woman” is represented. This paper also investigates how these characters protest against the stereotypical female roles imposed on them to gain an autonomous identity within society. Thus, this study, through these two female characters, reveals how this play dethrones the myth of the “Angel in the House,” the ideal Victorian woman, and sheds light on the modern feminism.

Social entrepreneurship in sport: a peripheral country perspective.

For the past decade, scholars have been working towards developing a robust theory of social entrepreneurship in sport (SES). However, SES theory remains void of peripheral country perspectives and thus perpetuates the Eurocentric views of entrepreneurship. This paper used a decolonial feminist lens and Whittemore and Knafl's methodology to conduct an integrated review of SES literature written in or about a peripheral country context. The review examined how scholarship from and about this context had considered geographical and culturally specific perspectives in the development of SES theory. A total of n = 1971 papers were retrieved, with only n = 12 providing relevant peripheral country context. This scarcity of literature indicates that the current theory of SES lacks peripheral country perspectives. Many papers in this review (n = 5) are written by authors in or from a peripheral country. Their contributions to SES literature revealed the decolonial feminist approaches that centralize alternative perspectives and added plurality to the definition of SES. The findings revealed the nuanced theoretical approaches to SES and highlighted the gaps in this context. The review shows how, despite the rise in social enterprises that focus on gender equity and the economic inclusion of women, gendered studies were still very scarce.

Feminism Is for Everyone: Scientists, Too.

Critically informed engagement in politics and the knowledge of social theory help democratize knowledge production, and redress power asymmetries in science and society. A feminist lens is one of the many ways in which power asymmetries in science can be critically unpacked and interrupted. There are many strands of feminism and feminist theory that differ in their approaches to resist patriarchy and injustices in science and society. As an example, I adopt here the definition of feminism of the late cultural critic bell hooks because her works underscore that feminism is an intersectional liberatory methodology for everyone to resist multiple forms of oppression simultaneously. Queer theory is a strand of social theory that came to prominence since the 1990s in particular. Queer feminism continues to shape feminist writing on science cultures and the knowledge-based innovations contemporary science strives to accomplish. Systems science brings about systems thinking, and that includes rethinking science as culture beyond a narrow realm of technology, and being cognizant of the broader social, feminist, queer, and political contexts of science around the world.

Becoming a Feminist Educator: A Self-Study Exploring Possibilities of Feminist Pedagogy in Higher Education

ABSTRACT This article explores the process of becoming a feminist educator as the author employed feminist theory in her pedagogy for the first time. This self-study answered the research question: ‘What would a feminist pedagogy look like in a music history classroom?’ Throughout a ten-week undergraduate music history course, the author employed a research design based on autoethnography and autobiography in which data was collected from research journals, class sessions, dialogues with a critical friend, and student feedback. This self-study both illuminated and improved the author’s pedagogical practice as a newly conscious feminist educator. The author re-imagined knowing and being through a feminist lens as she experienced epistemological and ontological shifts in her pedagogy. The author’s feminist pedagogy unfolded through knowing herself as an educator, knowing the curriculum differently, and knowing through experience. Feminist pedagogy was also enacted through being in relationship with herself, being in relationship with others, and being in community. This self-study provides an example to educators in self-study of practice and in-service teachers of feminist pedagogy moving from theory to practice. It provides a discipline-specific example of resisting oppressive ways of knowing and being that exclude gendered experiences from educational spaces.

Ordinary Moments

This autoethnographic piece presents a series of “feminist notes from the academy” collected and fashioned while watching the ordinary moments of life in a contemporary Australian university pass by. The affective and feminist works of Virginia Woolf and Kathleen Stewart locate this article creatively and critically to document the “somethings” that happen day in and day out. The question asked by Virginia Woolf in 1943 in Three Guineas about the terms on which we have joined the academic procession of men are as relevant now as they were then, and each short autoethnographic note aims to bring sharply into view what it is we are against and what it is we stand for as feminists in the academy today. Niggling at the edges of this piece, however, is my positioning as a white-settler-colonial-cis-gendered-feminist woman in the academy, the relevancy of Virginia Woolf’s wondering and writing about the status of women through a different kind of feminist lens, and indeed, the capacity of autoethnography to get down to the roots of this dilemma as it is being played out in the fields of Gender Studies today.

A Critical Study of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter through the Lens of Radical Feminism

The study is an exploration of Hawthorne’ The Scarlet Letter (1851) using feminist lens. The present study seeks to investigate the women sufferings in the character of Hester Prynne in the novel The Scarlet Letter (1851). Moreover, the study also aims to explore the factors of women sufferings in the light of Morgan’s theory of Radical feminism (1992). The sttudy is qualitative in nature. Textual analysis is done to see the sufferings of Hester and the factors contributing to women sufferings. Findings of the present study indicate that woman suffered with their status in the society and the physical state of mind that is not accepted by the patriarchal society. Hawthorn’s novel The Scarlet Letter (1851) had depicted the real picture of women sufferings in a male dominated society and also the factors that led women towards suppression.

The cultural logics of mothering practices: agency capacity of the university-educated Chinese mothers in Singapore and Hong Kong

PurposeThis study aims to reveal and compare the cultural logics of university-educated Chinese mothers in Singapore and Hong Kong in their mothering practices to improvise their femininities in constituting their work–family interactions.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research, with the ethnographic elements, has included 32 Chinese mothers to share about their mothering experiences through semi-structured interviews. This methodological design with feminist lens embraces women’s own narratives as sources of knowledge and learns their voices to reinvent their role and bodily engagement in shaping their family dynamics.FindingsThis discussion basically reaffirms the argument where the mother’s involvement in their children’s schoolwork becomes one of the core elements in their actual everyday mothering practices. It has further reflected the dynamics of family quality time in the light of mothers’ cultural logics as much as their attentive agency capacity to present their respectable femininity in the form of mothering.Research limitations/implicationsThis research process has revealed the actual experiences of the participants from their own narratives. For future research development, data collection can be extended to include the husbands’ profiles and their narratives in understanding their wives’ mothering experiences.Originality/valueThis discussion enriches the work-family literature by extending it to the Asian Chinese context. While the concepts of cultural capital and habitus have been addressed in previous studies, this discussion highlights the agency capacity of the university-educated Chinese mothers in their cultural logics to deliver their respective mothering practices. This filtering process to transmit cultural capital to their children is as much as they involve in reproducing status boundaries for the family.

Kerala’s celebrated Kudumbashree scheme for poverty reduction: a critical look through a feminist lens

This paper critically examines whether the Kudumbashree scheme of the Kerala government was successful in both reducing poverty and enhancing the social capital of women. The evidence shows that while Kudumbashree’s programmes made a significant contribution to Kerala’s broader efforts to reduce absolute poverty and empower women, not enough is being done to remove societal constraints on women’s roles and advancement.

Challenging Patriarchy: Feminist Reading in Select Poems of Adrienne Rich

This paper examines the feminism of Adrienne Rich, focusing on how she subverts patriarchal ideas and themes in a few of her poems. Rich's criticism of gender roles, power relationships, and the repressive aspects of patriarchy can be found by looking at her poetry through feminist lens. Rich effectively promotes gender equality by challenging patriarchal norms through the use of language, imagery, and poetic methods.Rich's poems under study are: ‘‘Tear Gas’’, ‘‘Paula Becker to Clara Westhoff’’, ‘‘Snapshot of a Daughter in – Law’’, ‘‘Diving into the Wreck’’ ‘‘Power’’, and ‘‘Rape’’.The shape as well as themes of Rich's poetry prove a new style of American writing poetry. Rich refuses the rule that is put by male on female writing because she wants to express her voice and dream. Rich fights the patriarchy that is imposed on women and represses them for ages. Women are oppressed and their rights are violated by males society.Rich has used her poetry to defend women and has released them from the oppression of patriarchal society . She dares to write as a woman. Rich Introduces herself as a female who suffers in a patriarchal society. Rich is aware limited of language to transferring woman's voices, so she searched for an efficient device to transfer the experience and suffering of women.