Postfeminism and the Future of Feminism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Postfeminism and the Future of Feminism - Essay Example The definition of feminism may vary, as the view concerning it may be directly associated with the prevailing ideologies within the society. For example, a patriarchal society influenced by the mass media might understand that feminists are anti-male or are the ones seeking the opportunity to let the women be equal to men. Feminism in this context seems to be a movement against men. According to Hooks, a society founded by Christian culture may continue to believe that women should be under the authority of men, and so they will be ruled over and continue to be submissive (Hooks 2; Shaw and Lee 33). Understanding feminism on this context may be tempting for us to believe that it is about women’s quest to be equal with men. However, Hooks believes that feminism should be defined as a â€Å"movement† to stop â€Å"sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression† (Shaw and Lee 33). From this definition, Hooks tries to emphasize that the problems lie within the actual sex ist actions or thoughts and they are what the feminist movement should need to eliminate. Hooks just wants to correct the popular thought about feminism and its high association with the belief that it is against-the-men movement or women move to be equal with men.   It is at this point that there is a great chance for somebody to develop a theory out of it if exploration and analysis have to be initiated. In fact, one would be able to gain social, cultural, economic and political perspectives by studying feminism, by which one should understand the quest for social justice as the main motivation of the movement to end sexist oppression (Haslanger, Tuana and O’Connor). What is postfeminism? Postfeminism in contrast, tries to define feminism as hopelessly outmoded in the contemporary society as it contains discourses or ideological beliefs trying to make us believe that equality has been achieved (Ringrose 1; Shaw and Lee 15). Postfeminism therefore still defines feminist pe rspective, but the differences start from its associated criticism against feminism that is said to be simply no longer in use. For instance, postfeminism places women as the primary benefactors of globalization taking place in the twenty-first century (Ringrose 3). At this point, it may potentially appear that postfeminism is still a form of feminist movement, but it is placing a different context in it as it tries to position women on top in today’s post-modern world, providing the basis that a woman indeed has achieved the equality she deserves to obtain. This is quite interesting and we might be able to appreciate this point further if we try to take a look at the actual role of the women, their status and the level of achievements they might have acquired and the actual similarities or dissimilarities of opportunities they might have experienced before and in today’s society.