Western Feminist Research Articles

The Forgotten Sex: Modern Responses to Correlative Sexism in Kang Youwei and He-Yin Zhen

Abstract The oversight of Chinese feminist traditions in transnational feminist discourse is remarkable given China’s historical importance and vast population. Despite historical suppression by Confucianism, Chinese feminisms emerged at the turn of the last century, drawing from Marxist, anarchist, and liberal movements. While scholars increasingly recognize overlooked female thinkers like Ban Zhao, contemporary discussions of China often revolve around reconciling Confucianism and feminism. This tendency underscores the perception of Chinese feminism as a derivative of Western feminism, where modern thinkers reject local culture for transnational movements. This paper contends that Chinese feminists, including Kang Youwei and He-Yin Zhen, remained deeply rooted in their traditions. While Kang incorporated foreign ideas to advocate for feminist goals and modernize society, he predominantly engaged with traditional philosophy to address its sexist elements. Similarly, He-Yin’s anarcho-feminist approach integrated Western influences to engage with traditional Chinese thought rather than rejecting it outright. By examining prevalent gender and selfhood concepts in traditional Chinese thought, this paper elucidates the notion of “correlative sexism,” and argues that women were not primarily regarded as a “second sex” as described by Simone de Beauvoir. The paper then demonstrates how Kang and He-Yin responded to this sexist discourse, offering novel perspectives on women’s liberation and societal reform.

Between the Harem and Feminism: The Translation and Circulation of Arab Women Novelists

This article critically examines the translation and circulation of literary works authored by Arab women novelists in the 1990s, a period marked by an unprecedented surge in the translation of Arabic-gendered fiction. Through the critiques of Michel Hartman and Marilyn Booth, it aims to shed light on the intricate interplay between translation and gender. Moreover, it probes how the translation and distribution of Arab women's fiction are entwined with the complex politics of Orientalism and frequently shaped by the dynamics of white Western feminism. The study explores the opportunities and challenges encountered by Arab women writers to gain international recognition and the extent to which translation can serve as a medium for their voices to resonate across cultural and linguistic boundaries. Central to the analysis is an exploration of power dynamics inherent in the selection, translation, and promotion of Arabic women writers, taking into account the influence of Western literary markets and feminist discourses. By scrutinizing the contributions of translators and publishers, the research underscores how feminist principles shape the visibility and reception of Arabic-gendered literature on a global scale.

Combined with the Fate of Women in Old China: Explore the Awakening of Women and the Influence of Feminism in Midnight

At the beginning of the 20th century, Western feminist thought began to be introduced into China, and under the impetus of the May Fourth Movement, it was widely concerned and accepted by the old Chinese intellectual circle. Mao Dun was the first scholar to translate and spread Western feminist theories during the May Fourth Movement. The potential text of Mao Dun’s novels can be seen in her representative work Midnight. Based on the background of the old Chinese era, this paper takes the typical female characters in Mao Dun’s Midnight as the research object, and uses three methods of text analysis, comparative study and literary criticism to analyze the fate of these classic female characters in Mao Dun’s Midnight and explore the awakening of women and the influence of feminism embodied in them. Then it reflects the awakening of women and the influence of feminism in old China. Moreover, the awakening of women and the influence of feminism had a profound impact on China and the world at that time and even later generations.

Divided Deterrence: The Philosophical Community’s Response to Nuclear Warfare in 1980s

At the beginning of the 20th century, Western feminist thought began to be introduced into China, and under the impetus of the May Fourth Movement, it was widely concerned and accepted by the old Chinese intellectual circle. Mao Dun was the first scholar to translate and spread Western feminist theories during the May Fourth Movement. The potential text of Mao Dun’s novels can be seen in her representative work Midnight. Based on the background of the old Chinese era, this paper takes the typical female characters in Mao Dun’s Midnight as the research object, and uses three methods of text analysis, comparative study and literary criticism to analyze the fate of these classic female characters in Mao Dun’s Midnight and explore the awakening of women and the influence of feminism embodied in them. Then it reflects the awakening of women and the influence of feminism in old China. Moreover, the awakening of women and the influence of feminism had a profound impact on China and the world at that time and even later generations.

What Happens after Nora Walks Out?——Take Regret for the Past and A Room of One’s Own as Examples to Analyze Female Liberation

At the commencement of the 20th century, concurrent with the transformation of the socioeconomic structure and the augmentation of individualistic consciousness, the feminist narrative in both the Eastern and Western contexts grew increasingly assertive. The character Nora in Ibsen’s plays significantly contributed to the consciousness awakening among women. Regret for the Past can serve as a sequel to What Happens after Nora Walks Out? Delineating the roads and ultimate fate of a consciousness-awakened woman. Concurrently, the eminent Western author, Virginia Woolf, initiated an exploration of feminism within the narrative of A Room of One’s Own marking a significant juncture in the Western feminist movement’s trajectory. This scholarly work involves a meticulous exegesis of the literary texts within Regret for the Past and A Room of One’s Own, examining the diverse experiences of women’s liberation across various historical periods. Research indicates that the status of women has enhanced subsequent to societal emancipation, with women’s liberation being concomitant with their endeavor for gender equality. Subsequently, the Women’s Liberation Movement has achieved additional advancements. It is incontrovertible that research has demonstrated the necessity of social emancipation as a prerequisite for the advancement of women’s liberation. Presently, given the enhancement of women’s societal standing, when running away from home, which had been given the meaning of awakening, was no longer the only option. What contemporary avenues are available for women and what novel challenges confront the cause of women’s liberation?

Decolonising Methodologies: Towards Alternative Approaches to Studying Women’s Unpaid Care Work in the Global South

This paper problematises dominant methodologies and epistemologies in research on unpaid care work in Global South contexts. Women’s unpaid work is often called a ‘burden’ in Gender and Development (GAD) discourse, particularly by actors designing policies and practical interventions who cite evidence produced by feminist economists. Drawing on post-colonial feminist critique of Western feminists universalising their experiences of oppression, this paper argues feminist economists must incorporate the complex lived realities of unpaid care work into methodologies. Recognising the diversity of women in the Global South, and their ability to theorise their own oppression and the value of their labour is essential. Care scholars are encouraged to reflexively engage with decolonial perspectives, and design methodologies which elevate women’s voices. This is imperative given the discursive power of feminist economics in shaping GAD agendas, policies, and interventions. Qualitative and interpretive approaches are proposed as one path to broaden knowledge production on unpaid care work.

Gender Inhibits Embodiment for Intersexuality and in Te Ao Māori

An important worldview in traditional cultures, especially within te ao Māori (the Māori worldview), is that embodiment concerns personhood and relationality, as persons are bodily situated within the environment including in all things between the earth and the heavens. However, the social theories and background of the 1930s–1950s have had a significant impact on the idea and foundations of embodiment. These theories relied on ideas of sexism, though were also linked with racism. Gender was established by medicine as an apparatus of power and control over bodies and beings. Intersexuality was at the heart of the establishment of gender, with its invisibility ensured as a means of maintaining the status quo of the West. Gender was appropriated by Western feminists, disguised as an ahistorical and acultural signifier, to universalise the Western liberal worldview. This article traces the history and purpose of the concept of gender and the way it has been understood and deployed as an apparatus in society. It then illustrates how the deployment of gender has affected the embodiment of intersexuality and te ao Māori (such as on wāhine (women) and takatāpui (sexual diversity)). Lastly, the article sets out the importance of decentring gender to enable a culturally accountable embodiment with a sexuality of dignity that is not limited and disembodied through gender.

Western Feminism and Indian Feminism: A Comparative Study

Feminism is a comprehensive movement that aims to address diverse manifestations of injustice and promote the rights of women. Despite their diverse nature, women's movements around the world express shared concerns regarding reproductive, political and legal rights. The primary objective of feminism is to emancipate women from various forms of mistreatment and foster global collaboration among women. However, there remains a substantial discrepancy in the quality of life experienced by women in economically impoverished nations in the Global South compared to those in economically prosperous countries in the Global North. Women residing in the economically developed regions of the world known as the Global North tend to benefit from capitalism and the global economy. Conversely, women living in the economically disadvantaged regions of the world known as the Global South typically encounter poverty and challenging working conditions. Indian feminism highlights the equal significance of economically exploitative behaviors, racism and gender discrimination as key issues. Indian feminism is considered more comprehensive than other forms of feminism since it places equal importance on both reproductive and productive responsibilities. The objective of this research is to examine the discrepancies between Western and Indian feminist ideology specifically focusing on the challenges associated with the adoption of Western ideals in India particularly the concept of essentialism. This research also examines the impact of increasing inequality on systems that depend on male involvement as well as the philosophical concerns associated with feminism in both Western and Indian settings. In order to illuminate the intricacies and subtleties present in these two prominent feminist traditions, the study employed a qualitative comparative analysis to emphasize discrepancies in the objectives of feminist groups regarding gender equality and women's empowerment.

In Search of Marginalized Womens Tragedy in Urbanization: A Brief Analysis of Supporting Role Narrative in Li Yus Lost in Beijing

Post-millennium Beijing experienced rapid economic growth as a result of Chinas reform policies, fostering burgeoning urbanization and intensifying materialism and societal stratification. Witnessing this metropolitan backdrop, Chinese auteur Li Yu adopted a documentary style in her cinematic narrative in the feature film Pingguo (Lost in Beijing, 2007), which premiered in the same year. Under the influence of Western feminist filmmakers, Lis notable call for social attention to marginalized female workers in the film demonstrated her distinctive ways of amplifying womens voices in Chinese cinema. Through an intertextual analysis of masseuse Xiao Mei, a "Northern Drifter" who tragically descends into a sexualized worker, this thesis would argue how by portraying the gradual psychic and physical alienation of Xiao Mei under the pressure of urbanization and economic competition, Li condenses the existential and spiritual dilemmas of contemporary underclass women into a supporting figure. While advocating for metropolises like Beijing to consider these "neglected majorities" in their development, this endeavor contributes to the study of productions from the late period of China's reform and opening up, as well as to the examination of contemporary Chinese feminist cinema.

Introduction

This introduction aims to frame the texts it predates, to highlight their common theoretical and thematic concerns, and to set them against what we envision as a relevant common backdrop for the issues they raise. To this end, we begin from how insufficient acknowledgement of the current genocidal violence carried out against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by Western feminism is symptomatic of its enmeshment with colonial rationales and imperialist violence. We question the extent of its liberating and emancipatory politics, reading them against the semiperipheral iterations of what Adam Tooze describes as the “polycrisis.” Focused on the gendered aspects of democratic backsliding - broadly understood as a weakening of faith in liberal democracy and the electoral invigoration of the far-right -, the articles included here trace cultural negotiations of gender justice, as it wanes or strengthens across the region. Variously located within broader networks of transnational transfers and global concerns, the articles included here complement relevant work conducted outside the bounds of academic writing. We gesture towards such feminist, anticolonial and antiracist movements which have emerged in Romania, specifically in the literary field, and to their contestation of the patriarchal and deeply unequal national cultural system.

A critical analysis of TERF politics in South Korea: The contradictory constructions of “Western feminism” and its legitimizing effects

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how the Korean TERF movement constructs and positions itself in relation to “Western feminism” to legitimize its anti-trans ideology. Since 2018, Korean TERF discourses have been shaped by factors including the understanding of Korea’s relationship to the West within the movement and the movement’s self-proclaimed identity as feminist outside the West. This process allows the movement to build a “rational” framework to distinguish the characteristics of various “feminist” movements worldwide from itself. Korean TERFs arbitrarily critique “First World Western feminism” for endorsing “gender theory” based on Western privileges. Simultaneously, they break down the category of Western feminism into “US feminism,” tainted by “gender ideology,” and “UK feminism,” opposing this ideology. Through these contradictory strategies, they assert superiority over “US feminism” while acknowledging “UK feminism” as a reference for possible solidarity. This study highlights that TERFism outside Western societies, which has imported “transgender debates” from Anglophone and European discourses, connects to and defines the West in various ways. By showing how Korean TERFs insert themselves within a global conversation rather than constructing an opinion in isolation, this paper underscores the need for a multi-located global framework to critique TERF and anti-trans movements in the non-West and Korea specifically.

She Creates, She Controls, She Commands Respect:

This essay examines how women have been represented in Western rock music through their role as deities. In particular, it aims to understand how these portrayals can reflect the evolution of feminist thought and theory in the Western world. A comparative analysis of Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac and Lazaretto by Jack White aims to demonstrate how these depictions connect with and respond to Western feminist thought from the second wave of feminism in the 1970s to the fourth wave of feminism in the 2010s. Along with musical characteristics, the analysis of these portrayals focuses on spatial and temporal factors regarding the relation of the deity to the narrator while incorporating discussions of systemic issues that have impacted women in both the music industry and general Western society.

Cooking Pilaf with Words: Intersubjectivity and Feminism in the Armenian Transnation

ABSTRACT Using original oral history research conducted in 2019, this study documents the voices, values, and priorities of feminists in the contemporary Republic of Armenia, revealing how interviewees came to feminist consciousness and how they conceptualized feminism. Interviewees articulated which feminist issues they believed to be most pressing in Armenia, including domestic violence, LGBTQIA rights, sexual education, militarism, and misogyny and homophobia in the society and the church. They expressed hopes and concerns regarding the sequelae of the “Velvet Revolution” of 2018. Interviews were conducted with twenty Armenian women diverse in age and occupation, all of whom self-identified as feminists or were deeply involved in feminist activism. These interviews subvert nationalist claims that feminism is intrinsically Western and antithetical to Armenian tradition, providing instead an alternative narrative of Armenian feminism as emerging syncretically from indigenous cultural elements and Western feminism. I theorize intersubjectivity between researcher and interviewee when both are members of a transnation—a nation consisting of those living in the nation-state and those living in permanent diaspora—arguing that there is a web of interconnectedness between researcher and interviewees that complicates the usual insider/outsider oral history relationship. The interview encounter shapes the feminism of both researcher and interviewee.

Contesting the universal claims of Western feminism: Black feminism and reproductive rights in France and the Overseas Departments (1960s–1980s)

This article sheds new light on the history of French feminism during the crucial period between the 1960s and 1980s, and it does by so opening up the range of actors as well as the geography and chronology considered. More specifically, it reconsiders the battles for reproductive rights: the liberalisation of contraception in 1967 and of abortion in 1975. Focusing on the perspective of those sitting on the margins of reproductive citizenship and of the standard narratives of the feminist movement – immigrant women and their organisations in France, and civil society groups in the Overseas Departments ( Départements d’Outre-Mer, DOMs) – as well as addressing the distinct reproductive regimes in the DOMs, allows for a reconsideration of French post-war pronatalism, and breaks away from what has long been the standard narrative of Western ‘second-wave feminism’, globalising and de-centring its history.

Between Tradition and Revolution

Over the past century, the trajectory of gender equality in Vietnam has been marked by a nuanced interplay of historical contexts, societal norms, and ideological shifts. A burgeoning women�s movement has emerged, favoring the term �gender equality� over �feminism� in private and public spheres. Gender equality has historically challenged traditional norms, notably during times of war, reshaping gender roles. Under communism, gender equality became static, confining feminism within a framework of patriotism and heroism. The persistence of gender equality is revealed in the context of a complex and contested amalgam of Western feminist ideas and historical antecedents. This article delves into the evolution of gender roles in Vietnam, exploring how communism and wartime conditions influenced feminism from the national liberation era to the Vietnam War. The article argues that the patriarchal structure present in a longstanding culture of Confucianism in Vietnam does not inherently obstruct gender equality and women's rights. Instead, it stems from changing women�s roles outside the domestic sphere to heroism during war efforts. Vietnamese women�s movement, before the term �gender equality,� emerged during wartime but did not contest feminism. The notion of gender equality has become static; however, feminism is still contested and has yet to be imported to this day. Keywords: Feminism, Gender Equality, War, Communism, Vietnam.

The Female Body, Christianity, and Colonial Modernity: Representation of Foot-bound Women in Alicia Little’s Travelogues

ABSTRACT This article explores Alicia Little’s presentation of foot-bound women in her travelogues and periodical essays. Her exploration of the anti-footbinding movement saw the dissemination of Western feminist ideas in China. However, as the article demonstrates, this cross-cultural exchange was a dominantly Western feminist movement compromised by an enlightenment project based on the notion of modern womanhood or colonial modernity. To understand the background, the article gives an overview of the history of footbinding, followed by the representation of foot-bound women in Little’s travelogues to unpack the idea of modern womanhood. Her presentation of Christianity offers important clues to understanding her writings on the anti-footbinding movement. This article also explores how Little presents her feminist and Christian ideas of modern womanhood, that are at odds with the traditional Chinese womanhood. In contextualizing Little’s role in the anti-footbinding movement, this paper reveals the complicated dynamics between Western feminism, the patriarchal Chinese society, and foot-bound women.

“She is finally home”: feminist storytelling, family imaginaries and transnational solidarity in Irish abortion activism

ABSTRACT Across the so-called West, feminist storytelling positions reproductive justice and the often-twinned issue of women’s place within the family as a progressive issue. This conveniently ignores the inherent contradictions of the existence of only limited access to abortion in many Western nations, as well as parallel histories of access to reproductive justice in non-Western countries. Postcolonial Ireland, as an apparently Western country with a renowned history of anti-feminist legislation, has existed as one of these contradictions. In this article, we examine Irish feminists’ familial storytelling to reveal how they managed their contradictory position in a teleological narrative that positioned Western feminism as the epitome of progress. We adopt a comparative approach – looking at the lead up to the introduction of the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution in 1983, which awarded the foetus constitutional rights, and then the high profile Repeal the 8th movement that successfully revoked that amendment in 2018 – to understand reproductive rights activists’ changing uses of “the family” to effect intergenerational and transnational solidarity. Applying Sara Ahmed’s concept of “sticky” emotions, we examine how feminists transformed “the Irish family” from a site of coldness and despair to one of hope, dignity, humanity and happiness.

Beyond Representationalism: The Performative Materialities and Affective Dimension of Lin Tianmiao’s the Proliferation of Thread Winding

This paper reexamines the meanings and values of Lin Tianmiao’s (born 1961) The Proliferation of Thread Winding (1995) through an analysis of its materialities. Lin’s Thread Winding has received much attention in feminist discourse, which tends to draw attention to the symbolic manifestations embedded in the act of winding, and in textiles and domestic objects—techniques and materials often associated with “women’s work” within certain Western feminist critiques of women’s art. This paper moves beyond the gendered lens of interpreting Lin’s art, which has built on symbolic and metaphorical readings of the underlying visual representations, and instead turn to investigate how her work can be understood from the perspective of its discursive materialities, through which the art objects produce material signs (phenomenological effects) that indicate its previous process of art making. Drawing upon new materialist theories and the notion of affect, this paper understands the materialities of Lin’s work as dynamic phenomena, emerging from ongoing intertwining relationships between human and nonhuman agencies. It examines how Lin’s work constitutes a series of inquisitive investigations into multiple processes of making, and how affective qualities and critical knowledge can materialize in and through this process.

Locating Indigenous Meitei feminist counterspaces in Linthoi Chanu’s Wari: the (fem)animist prefiguration of Feminist Posthumanities

ABSTRACT This article explores the animist socio-cultural fabric of the Indigenous Meitei community in Manipur, India, to locate the feminist counterspaces embedded within it through a (con)textual analysis of two short stories from the anthology Wari (2019) by the Meitei author Linthoi Chanu. In this exploration, we conceptualize a distinctive praxis of Indigenous Meitei ‘femanimism’ – intertwining Indigenous Meitei feminism with animist philosophies. Furthermore, our discussion illuminates how the Indigenous Meitei ‘femanimist’ praxis, embodying a non-dualistic and relational genderscape, prefigures the emergent Western Feminist Posthumanist theoretical discourses, particularly hydrofeminist and vital materialist concepts of fluid and entangled human embodiment. Accordingly, the present study endeavours to bridge a synergistic conversation between Indigenous Meitei ‘femanimist’ praxis and the contemporary Western theoretical currents of Feminist Posthumanities, aspiring to forge a decolonized feminist vista that transcends hierarchical binaries of gender (man/woman), humanism (human/non-human), and colonialism (the Indigenous as primitive vis-à-vis the Western as modern).

Female roles in Western-style Chinese opera: from Confucianist female archetype and political allegory to postmodern complexity

ABSTRACT Borrowing the lens of Western gender theories in exploring the development of Western-style Chinese opera that emerged from the historical backbone of Confucianism and patriarchal traditions, this article examines how female roles were portrayed under the assumed gender binary that is a criterion of heteronormativity with unfaded accents of past feudal Chinese traditions. We identified three periods of Western-style Chinese operatic where the early works in the first two periods (early 1920s–late 1940s and early 1950s–late1970s) reveal that male dominance remains largely at the core led by China’s male-primogeniture tradition, and more often, female protagonists were moulded into political tools for communist and collectivist demands. The latter works, written since the mid-1970s, broke through the ancient feudal shadows of the Confucian Four Books of Women with pluralistic sonic and visual gender expressions that established a schism between past and present Chinese feminism. The outcome reveals how Chinese feminism was portrayed and employed as a political tool in these operas, where female roles were enmeshed between Confucianism and female empowerment, in an ambivalent desire to reconstruct the reality and simulacrum of feminism bounded by political allegory, classical Chinese aesthetics, and Western feminism.