Rosemarie Tong. Feminist Thought: A More comprehensive Introduction

1. Essentialism - "The belief in a uniquely feminine essence, existing above and beyond cultural conditioning...the mirror image of biologism which for centuries justified the oppression of women by proclaiming the natural superiority of men (Tuttle 90)." Tong's use of the term is relative to the explanation of the division of radical feminism into radical-cultural and radical libertarian.

2. Androgyny - "...suggests a world in which sex-roles are not rigidly defined, a state in which ‘the man in every woman' and the ‘woman in every man' could be integrated and freely expressed (Tuttle 19)." Used more frequently in the 1970's, this term was used to describe a blurring, or combination of gender roles so that neither masculinity or femininity is dominant.

3. Inegalitarian - "Marked by disparity in economic and social standing (Webster Third 1156)." Quoted from Millett's Sexual Politics, this term is used to describe the importance of "social caste" in terms of the stratification of oppressions.

4. Transvaluation - "the act or process of altering the value or worth placed on something (Webster 2431)." In other words, redefining what is good and what is bad, this term is related to feminist's debate over androgyny.

5. Compulsory Heterosexuality - "Heterosexuality is usually presented as either natural or as a choice; the understanding behind the phrase...is that women do not have the freedom to choose. If heterosexuality were no longer compulsory, then gender identity, sexuality...as well as the structure of society would be vastly different - presumably non-sexist (Tuttle 67)." This term is used as one of many identifiers of the patriarchal institution's view on sex.

6. Separatism - "The belief and practice of a community of women separate from men...as a means of defining a specifically feminine stance...The most radical extreme of separatism can be seen in the refusal of some lesbian feminists to ally with women who maintain any connection with men (Tuttle 289)." Lesbianism was a topic that radical feminists were divided on. Lesbian separatism was prevalent early in the movement as radical-cultural feminists struggled on whether to accept them, and radical-libertarian feminists were ready to welcome them.

7.Gynocentric - "Women-centered. Antidote to gynistic (women-hating) and androcentric (man-centered) attitudes entrenched in our culture (Tuttle 135)." A feminist principle, Tong relates that it is stressed that women relate to men on these terms, rather than renouncing men entirely.

8. Misogynistic - "One who hates women (Webster's Third1444)." Tong utilizes this term in relation to feminist views on pornography and its effect on women.
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Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks

1. Subjugation - "The act of forcing to submit to control; domination (Webster's Third 2276)." hooks presents this terminology as a solution some felt would eliminate the problems of male domination and patriarchy.

2. Imperial Feminism - "Eurocentric, mainstream feminism. The word ‘imperial' invokes ‘imperialism' to stress that this sort of feminism, which presents itself as the only feminism, has emerged from imperialist nations and retains imperialist, racist traditions which alienate and oppress non-white and Third World women (Tuttle 154)." hooks' main point is to stress that mainstream, white feminism has excluded the needs and ideas of non-white women, believing that their ideas of feminism are the only ideas. "Many women have said to me, ‘We wanted black women and other non-white women to join the movement,' totally unaware of their perception that they somehow ‘own' the movement, that they are the ‘hosts' inviting us as guests (hooks 55)."

3. Heterosexism - "Refers to prejudice against or ignorance of an alternative to heterosexuality and the prevailing heterosexual lifestyle (Tuttle 142-143)." hooks states that the acceptance of the "normal" family structure leads to acceptance of sexual oppression as well as the defense of oppression based on sexuality.

From The Dialectic of Sex
Shulamith Firestone

1. sex class: ". . .Focusing on the ideological functions of the family. Under the domestic mode of production male household heads exploit and profit from women's domestic labour and their work as unpaid labour in family enterprises (Andermahr 198)." Firestone uses this term to refer to an inbred way of thinking, reinforcing female inequality. "Sex class is so deep as to be invisible (Kolmar 183)."

2. revolution: "Firestone defines revolution as the seizing of control of the means of reproductions of women, which would lead to the dissolution of the biological family (Humm 244). Firestone views "revolution" as a necessary process of feminism. "Indeed the situation is beginning to demand such a revolution (Kolmar 183)."

3. a priori: "Derived by logic, without observed facts (Word Perfect Dictionary). " Firestone uses this term to describe categories of thought, stressing them as not factual. ". . .systems that explain a priori categories of thought; historical materialism, however, attempt to explain ‘knowing' by ‘believing' and not vice versa (Kolmar 185)."

4. psychosexual: "(1) Of or relating to the mental, emotional, and behavioral aspects or consequences of the biological process of sexual differentiation. (2) Of or relating to the complex of mental or emotional attitudes concerning sexual activity (Webster 1833)." Firestone uses this term to depict the consequences resulting in the biological family. "though it is true that throughout history there have been many variations on this biological family, the contingencies I have described existed in all of them, causing the psychosexual distortions in the human personality (Kolmar 186)."

5. pan-sexuality: (1) The suffusion of all experience and conduct with erotic feeling. (2) The view that all desire and interest are derived from the sex instinct (Webster's Third 1631). Firestone believes that pan-sexuality has been suppressed by sex distinctions. ". . . genital difference between human beings would no longer matter culturally. (A reversion to an unobstructed pan-sexuality. . . (Kolmar 186)."
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"A Black Feminist Statement"
Combahee River Collective

1. Black feminism: "Creating theories which meet the needs of Black women by helping Black women to mobilize around issues they perceived to have a direct impact on the overall quality of life. . . .Only Black women can understand the role gender has played in Black male thinking (Humm 26). Collective speaks about the oppressions Black women have faced; including racism from both white feminists and men, and sexism from men of all cultures. "As Black women we see Black feminism as the logical political movement to combat the manifold and simultaneous oppressions that all women of color face (Kolmar 272)."

2. National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO): "Group founded in 1973 to advance the rights of African-American women within the feminist and civil rights movements and to confront sexism and racism through a single organization (Boles 212)." Collective refers to the NBFO as a Black women's organization apart from the theories of the "white movement." "Black feminists primarily located in New York felt the necessity of forming a separate Black feminist group. This became the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) (Kolmar 273)."

3. sexual politics: "The political character of sexuality which is based on the unequal power of sexual relations. A major premise of feminist theory is that sexual politics supports patriarchy in its politicisation of the personal life (Humm 264)." Collective relates the term "sexual politics" to issues dealing with class and race. "We believe that sexual politics under patriarchy is as persuasive in Black women's lives as are the politics of class and race (Kolmar 274).
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"Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence"
Adrienne Rich

1. compulsory heterosexuality: "A term in radical and lesbian theory for the enforcement of heterosexuality. It includes the ideology and political control of sexuality. [Rich] argues that the assumption of heterosexuality both reflects and reinforces ignorance about lesbian and lesbian perspectives (Humm 44)." Rich talks about compulsory heterosexuality as a societal problem. ". . .discussions are carried on without reference to compulsory heterosexuality, as a phenomenon, let alone as an ideology (Kolmar 304)."

2. lesbianism: "The condition of emotional and sexual relationships between women or between self-identified lesbians. . . .Lesbianism is used as a scare term and policing mechanism by patriarchy, and feminist historians and others are annotating a fuller tradition of lesbianism in order to counter stereotypes (Humm 149)." Rich discards the word lesbianism, due to its limitations. "I have chosen to use the terms lesbian existence and lesbian continuum because the word lesbianism has a clinical and limiting ring. . . We can also hear it in such associations as marriage resistance and the "haggard" behavior. . . (Kolmar 305).

3. nascent: The undergoing process of being born, beginning to exist (Webster 1504)." Rich uses this word to describe the newly formed "political statement" made when women categorizes themselves as lesbian. "By the same token, we can say that there is a nascent feminist political content in the act of choosing a woman lover or life partner in the face of institutionalized heterosexuality (Kolmar 310)."
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mode of production: The way society is organized to produce goods and services. Consisting of the forces of production and the relations of production. "So, for example, Americans think in certain characteristic
ways about liberty, equality, and freedom because their mode of production is capitalist." (Tong 95)

superstructure: That which rests on the base, or the mode of production, and must reflect its shape. Usually the institutions of a society such as the government, and legaly system that reflect the mode of production.

political economy: Referring to the interdependant workings and interests of political and economic systems. "Marx observed that every political economy--the primitive communal state, the slave epoch, the precapitalist society, and the bourgeois society--contains the seeds of its own destruction." (Tong 97)

fetishism of commodities: In capitalism the tendancy to treat commodities as having a life of their own. Something that obscures the underlying social relations among people that are the actual source of commodities. "According to Marx, capitalist ideologies lead workers and employers to
focus on capitalism's surface structure of exchange relations." (Tong 97)

class: A social category and division resulting from unequal distribution of rewards and resources such as wealth, power, and prestige. For Marxism, these differences are basedon people's place in the economy. "Thus, there are within capitalism enough internal contradictions to generate a class division so severe it will overwhelm the very system that produced it."(Tong 97)

class consciousness: A condition where members of a class are consciouss of themselves as a class. It is a condition where members of a class realize their collective state and conceive of collective solutions to their problems.

false consciousness: A lack of class consciousness resulting in distorted perceptions of class and its consequences. "It causes exploited people to believe they are as free to act and speak as their exploiters" (Tong 98)

proletariat: Those who produce wealth but neither own nor control any means of production. They must sell their own labor in order to obtain their means of subsistence.

alienation: The breaking of the unity of mind and body that the proletariat experience from not owning the fruits of their own labor. A sense of meaninglessness, fragmentation, and worthlessness. (Tong 98-99)

capitalism: An economic system that emerged in the 16th century in Europe. It is characterized by Capital, or the owners of the means of production by those who employ workers to produce goods and services in exchange for wages.

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Feminist Thought by Rosemarie Tong

1. Marxist Feminism - a revisionist theory, "attempting to achieve some kind of synthesis between Marxist theory and feminist accounts of sex/gender systems and sexuality" (Andermahr 125)

2. Classism - "a biased or discriminatory attitude based on distinctions made between social or economic class" (Webster's College 242)

3. Socialist Feminism - "believes that women are second class citizens in patriarchal capitalism which depends for its survival on the exploitation of working people, and on the special exploitation of women" (Humm 270)

4. Capitalism - "an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations" (Webster's College 195)

5. Patriarchy - "A system of male authority which oppresses women through its social, political and economic institutions" (Humm 200)

6. Historical Materialism - A belief from Marx, which states that "the mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life" (Tong 95)

7. Fetishism of Commodities - A concept, according to Marx, wherein "capitalist ideologies lead workers and employers to focus on capitalism's surface structure of exchange relations...[so that] workers gradually convince themselves that even though their money is very hard earned, there
is nothing inherently wrong with the specific exchange relationships into which they have entered because life, in all its dimensions, is simply one colossal system of exchange relations" (Tong 97)

8. Alienation - "A state of estrangement from oneself, or society" (Humm 6). In Marxist theory, "the condition of labour in capitalism which can be altered by social and economic changes" (Humm 7)

9. "Promiscuous Intercourse" - a system wherein "every woman was fair game for every man and vice versa" (Tong 101)

10. Production - "a way of organising labour" (Humm 220) According to Marxist feminism, MUST include both the production of "things" as well as the production of "people" (reproduction) (Tong 105)

11. Wages-For-Housework - A movement which began in the early 1970's, arguing that "wages for housework would recognize the value of work that all women perform" which can "contribute to a redefinition of concepts of ‘work' and ‘domesticity'" (Humm 295)

12. Feminization of Poverty - "the growing proportion of the US poor comprised of women and their children...due to marital instability and women's inability to successfully participate in the labor market while fulfilling the responsibilities of raising children." (Boles 132)

13. Communitarian - "an advocate of [a communist] community" (Webster's College266)

14. Division-of-Labor - "an exploitative relation in society and in economic production...[which] structures women's work, confining women to ‘female' jobs and to working for men irrespective of technical or education differentials" (Humm 67-68)

15. Marginalization of Women - "range of practices and discourses including employment law and academic disciplines" whereby women are "rendered marginal to the centre through the exercise of power" (Andermahr 124)

"The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism," by Heidi Hartmann

1. "Feminist Question" - "the causes of sexual inequality between women and men, of male dominance over women" (Kolmar 321)

2. "Sex/Gender Systems" - According to Rubin, "the set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed sexual needs are satisfied" (Kolmar 323)

3. "Family Wage" - "Men's income, paid on the assumption that men are the only or major economic support of families" (Humm 88)

"The origin of the family: Born out of scarcity not wealth," by Jane Humphries

1. Socialization - "the process by which human beings are invested with the willingness to work, bear children, and generally support the social relations characteristic of the existing society" (Sayers 14)

2. Social Reproduction - "the reproduction of existing social relations"
(Sayers 14)

3. Materialist Feminism - "attempts to identify the material interests which are satisfied by the systematic oppression of women, and to point out the benefits men derive from it, as a necessary first step toward a feminist revolution" (Tuttle 199)
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1)Polymorphous perverse ... According to Freud, children engage in all kinds of sexual behavior; their whole body (especially their orifices and appendages) are sexual terrain (Tong, 132)

2) Psychosexual development...Stages of sexual development, from infancy to adulthood ("perverse sexuality" to "normal" heterosexuality) (Tong, 140); Behavior that is motivated by sexual energy (libido) that is focused on areas sensitive to pleasurable stimulation; with development, these pleasure zones change their locus in a series of stages (Tierney, 1164-1165)

3) Oral stage... Stage of psychosexual development in which an infant receives pleasure from sucking his or her mother's breast or thumb (Tong, 132, & Tierney, 1165)

4) Anal stage... Stge of psychosexual development in which a 2 or 3 year old enjoys sensations that are associated with controlling or expelling his or her feces (Tong, 132, & Tierney, 1165)

5) Phallic stage... Stage of psychosexual development in which a 3 or 4 year old discovers pleasure potential of genitals; resolves or fails to resolve Oedipus and castration complexes
(Tong, 132, & Tierney 1165)

6) Latency... Stage of psychosexual development in which a 6 year old ceases to display overt sexuality; ends at puberty (Tong, 132, & Tierney 1166)

7) Genital... Stage of psychosexual development in which pubescent child experiences a resurgence of sexual impulses (Tong, 132, & Tierney 1166)

8) Id... A division of the human psyche; present at birth; the libido, or asocial impulses (Tierney, 1162)

9) Ego... A division of the human psyche; one's sense of self; socially enlightened defenses against asocial impulses (Tierney, 1162)

10) Superego... A division of the human psyche; the patriarchal social conscience that emerges in later psychosexual stages (Tong, 133)

11) Narcissism... Women seek not to love but to be loved as they switch from active to passive sexual aims (Tong, 134); according to Freud, primary narcissism occurs when a child's libido is focused entirely on itself, and secondary narcissism occurs when the libido is disinterested in others and returned to its own ego; narcissistic women cannot love others and the men who love them transfer their own primary narcissism onto their love objects (Andermahr, 144); a core element of the female personality (Tierney, 1160); according to Sandra Bartky, the organization of contemporary heterosexuality encourages narcissism, which separates a woman's mind from her body, creating a duality in the feminine consciousness (Humm, 185)

12) Vain... A woman focuses on her total physical appearance to compensate for her lack of a penis (Tong, 134); the result of a sense of morality (Tierney, 1160)

13) Neurotic... According to Alfred Adler, a woman whom patriarchy has thwarted in her struggle to overcome her feelings of infantile helplessness (Tong, 138)

14) Prolonged symbiosis (narcissistic over-identification)... Because mother and daughter are both women, an infant's sense of gender and self is continuous with her mother's; in Oedipal stage, the symbiosis is weakened as the girl desires what her father symbolizes (Tong, 145-146)

15) Feminist psychoanalysis... "...focuses on how prevailing norms of gender are imposed on infants and how these come to structure the human mind" (Humm, 223)

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1) Psychoanalysis: "Feminist psychoanalysis focuses on how prevailing norms of gender are imposed on infants and how these come to structure the human mind...the application of object relations theory by Chodorow is a significant feminist reconceptualisation of the psychoanalytic concept of gender identity"(Humm, 222-223).

2) Oedipal: "Resulting from the Oedipal complex" which is "libidinous feelings toward the parent of the opposite sex, often also involving rivalry with the parent of the same sex: especially applied to males and considered normal in young children"(Webster's College 938).

3) Gender Role: "A term that refers to stereotypical behavior prescribed on the basis of apparent or assigned male or female sex...The individual's appearance is the basis for prescribing role" (Boles & Hoeveler 141).

4) Salient: "Prominent or conspicuous, projecting" (Webster's College 1185).

5) Masculinity: "Masculinity is not constructed on the basis of man's real identity and difference but not an ideal difference constituted most essentially in the cultural differentiation of Man from his Other...Chodorow argues, because men learn to define themselves as not woman, not the mother, so that masculinity is inevitably negative identity" (Humm 16).

6) Instrumental Role: "Useful" (Webster's College 698). According to Talcott Parsons, the instrumental role is portrayed by the man, it is a position that requires leadership and task orientation. It is .
impossible for a person to occupy both this role and it's opposite "expressive". "In our opinion, the fundamental explanation of the allocation of the roles between the biological sexes lies in the fact that the bearing and early nursing of children establish a strong presumptive primacy of the relation of a mother to a small child and this in turn establishes a presumption that the man, who is exempted from these biological functions, should specialize in the alternative instrumental direction" (Parsons 23).

7) Capitalism: "A capitalist economy or society is characterized by the pervasive commodification of property, labour (sic), and knowledge...Feminists have recognized the positive role capitalism has played in the emergence of feminism, for the replacement of notions of kinship-based rights and obligations by the liberal concept of human rights based in the individual is central to the early history of Western feminist thought" (Andermahr, Lovell, and Wotkowitz, 23).

from In a Different Voice by Carol Gilligan:
1) Morality: Feminists argue that moral theory is based on male experience because morality is defined as a public realm rather than as private or concrete and particular;...Carol Gilligan claims that males and females also differ in forms of moral reasoning. She argues that women have a moral development distinct from, but parallel to, that of men and distinctly different life experiences of each sex". Feminist psychoanalysts (Chodorow, Gilligan etc) say "female perception of morality is connected with responsibilities to others, while male perceptions relate primarily to the balancing of rights" (Humm 177).

2) Autonomy: Women who retain a sense of self-direction and self-determination that grows with the help of affiliation and connection with others rather than in competition against them, are autonomous...Feminism places autonomy as a struggle concept in the context of sexual politics" (Humm 18).

3) Metaethics: "The branch of ethics dealing with the meaning of ethical terms, the nature of moral discourse, and the foundations of morality" (Webster's 851). "Mary Daly describes feminist metaethics as a deeper, ‘intuitive' type of ethics than male metaethics...Feminist metaethics functions to affirm the deep dynamics of ‘female be-ing'" (Humm 169).

4) Femininity: "A term which describes the contruction of ‘femaleness' of society and which connotes sexual attraction to women...Marxist and socialist feminism identifies ‘femininity' more as a particular tendency of capitalist development of pointing out that the meanings of femininity and masculinity have varied historically and cannot be treated as static or unified" (Humm 93-94). "Theories of the feminine tend to present it in one of two ways: as something basically imposed on women from the outside either through direct or indirect means, or as a psychosexual process involving the female unconscious" (Andermahr, Lovell, & Wotkowitz).

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1. Phallocracy- "Social, political, ideological system which perpetuates the domination of men and the subordination of women. Another term for PATRIARCHY, it literally means ‘rule of the phallus', thus emphasizing that, far from being natural or rational, patriarchy is based on penis worship" (Tuttle, 247) Forms of word used in text: phallocratism, phallomorphism.

2 Autoeroticism- "1: sexual gratification obtained through one's own organism without the participation or stimulus of another individual 2: sexual feeling or desire arising endogenously without known external stimulation" (*Webster's, 147).

3. Proletarianization- a change or shift to the status or level of the proletariat" (*Webster's 1814).
Form of word used in text: proletarization.

4. Proletariat- "2: the lowest social or economic class of a community 3: the laboring class: wage earners" (*Webster's, 1814).

"Psychoanalytic Theory: Another Look"

1. Libido- "1: psychoanal . All of the instructual energies and desires that are derived from the id. 2: sexual instinct or drive" (Websters, 757).

2. Masochism- "1: gratification, esp. of a sexual nature, derived from pain, degredation, etc., inflicted by another on oneself" (Webster's, 806). "Freud calls masochism the ‘expression of the feminine essence'" (Humm, 248).

3. Sadomasochism- "The use of interpersonal psychic and physical violence as a source of sexual pleasure which feminism customarily defines as part of patriarchy..." (Humm, 248).

4. Oedipus Complex- " n. libidinous feeling toward the parnet of the opposite sex, often also involving rivalry with the parent of the same sex: esp. applied to males and considered normal in young children" (Webster's 906).

5. Pre-Oedipal- "In Freudian thought the pre-oedipal is the phase preceding the Oedipal stage of the child's psychosexual development prior to the full acquisition of an ego and super-ego" "Freud's work scarcely mentions the little girl's pre-oedipal development until his late essay of ‘Female sexuality' (1931) in which he acknowledges that the girl's pre-oedipal attachment to the mother is more protracted and significant that he had previously thought..." (Andermahr, 174).

6. Penis Envy- "Freud's theory that a girl's biological lack of a penis leads her to penis envy and to her subsequent need for children as penis substitutes" (Humm, 203).

7. Phallus- " see phallocentrism" (Andermahr, 174)
Phallocentrism- "A term derived from Lacanian PSYCHOANALYSIS, it designates the PATRIARCHAL SYMBOLIC order in which the phallus is positioned as the primary SIGNIFIER, privleging MASCULINITY at the expense of FEMININITY..." (Andermahr, 174).

8. Castration complex- "A central concept in PSYCHOANALYSIS, the castration complex occurs during the PRE-OEDIPAL stage of infantile development and is closely connected to the OEDIPAL COMPLEX which follows and signals its resolution. According to Freud, ‘castration' function's differently for girls and boys: the girl must accept her absolute inferiority because she lacks a penis, while the boy must accept his relative inferiority, the father's castrating injunction against his incestuous DESIRE for the mother, and the possible loss of his organ..." (Andermahr, 24).

9. Aphanisis- Irigaray defines it within the text as representing "the complete and permanent disappearance of all sexual pleasure" (Irigaray, 56).

10. Hysteria- "Characterized in the nineteenth century as a female disorder," (Hamm, 126). "Freud redefined it as a ‘psychic' rather than a neurological disease with sexual disturbance in its aetiology. Hysterical behavior is therefore a symptom of a disturbance in the psyche" (Andermahl, 100).

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From Linda Alcoff: "Cultural Feminisms Versus Post-Structuralism: The Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory"

1. Parasitism: the typical mode of existence or behavior of a parasite (Webster 797)
Parasite: a person who continually eats at the expense of another; a person who habitually exploits or takes advantage of the generosity of others (Webster 797)

2. Haeccaity: scholastic philosophy; that quality or mode of being in virtue of which a thing is or becomes a definite individual (OED VI 1005)

3. Physicality: physical condition; the quality that pertains to physical sensation or of the body as distinct from the mind (OED XI 746)

4. [Female] essence: the indispensable or intrinsic properties that characterize or identify [female] (Webster 384)

5. Manichean ontology: the philosophical study of the nature of being following the philosophical thought of Manichaeism (Webster 765)
Manichaeism: a dualistic philosophy originating in the 3rd century A.D., taught by the Persian prophet Manes, combining elements of Zoroastrian, Christian and Gnostic thought, today regarded as a heresy by the Roman Catholic Church (Webster 665)

6. Logocentrism: the primacy of spoken word. A belief in definitive truth, reality or word of the transcendental signifier (such as God) which provides foundation for all languages, thought and experience. Feminists have expended this meaning to describe the influence of masculine language and sexuality on meaning and knowledge (Humm 154)
Logocentric: the term appropriated by feminists to identify the fact that knowledge is not neutral but produced under conditions of patriarchy (Humm 154)

7. Nominalism: the doctrine that abstract concepts, general terms, or universals are without objective reference and exist solely as names (Webster 742)

8. Subjectivity: the quality or condition of viewing things exclusively through the medium of one's own mind or individuality; the condition of being dominated by or absorbed in one's personal feelings, thoughts, concerns, etc. (OED XVII, 33); subjective experience [of being a woman] (Alcoff 410)

9. Positionality: a concept of defining [a person] not by a particular set of attributes but by a particular position, ... by the external context in which a person is situated (Alcoff 412)

10. Poststructuralist: believer of, follower of, related to poststructuralism
Poststructuralism: goes beyond (post) structuralism's faith that linguistic systems/structures can be measured in isolation from the power systems that control the structures. Feminist poststructuralists attack the notion of fixed and unitary cultural identities, by recovering, for example, hitherto underrepresented forms of the feminine (Humm 216)

From Norma Alarcon: "The Theoretical Subject(s) of This Bridge Called My Back and Anglo-American Feminism"

1. Althusserian: derived from Althusser, Louis Pierre. The most influential philosopher to emerge in the revival of Marxist theory occasioned by the radical movements of the 1960s. According to him, Marx, along with Freud, was responsible for a ‘decentering' of the human subject. (Routledge 192)

2. Interpellation: questioning formally about government policy or action or about personal behavior (Webster 579)

3. Concatenation: connecting in a series or chain (Webster 232)

4. Counter-identification: oppositional thinking (Alarcon 291)

5. Standpoint epistemology: theory of knowledge that has as its base the idea that subordinate or less powerful members of society have a more complete view of the world than the dominant groups. This is because they have to see both their own subordinate and the dominant perspectives. Feminist standpoint theorists reject the notion that there are universal truths or universal answers to social questions by pointing out that gender, class and race will always shape any individual understanding of the world (Humm 276)

6. Tautology: a statement composed of simpler statements in a fashion that makes it true whether the simpler statements are true or false (Webster 1130)

7. Vertical relations: being organized according to a certain hierarchy, compared to vertical union: a labor union, the members of which are organized according to the industry for which they work instead of by their particular skill or craft (Webster 1227)

8. Mestiza: a mixed-race woman; a term used in Chicana theory (Andermahr 25)

from Donna Haraway: "A Manifesto for Cyborgs"

1. Cyborg: blend of cyb(ernetic) and org(anism); a person whose physical tolerancies or capabilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by a machine or other external agency that modifies the body's functioning (OED IV, 188)

2. Cybernetics: the theory or study of communication and control in living organisms or machines. Cybernetic: pertaining or relating to cybernetics (OED IV, 188)

3. Hybrid: something of mixed origin and composition (Webster 540)

4. Biopolitics: the use of ecological models and data in political analysis (Shafritz 91)

5. Ergonomics: the applied science of equipment design in order to reduce operator fatigue and discomfort (Webster 382)

6. Ecosystem: an ecological community with its physical environment, regarded as a unit (Webster 357)

7. Cryptography: a secret manner of writing; the art of writing or solving ciphers (OED IV, 97)

8. Mutant: an organism or individual differing from the parental strain or strains as a result of mutation [an act or process of being altered or changed](Webster 721)

9. Organismic: of or pertaining to an organism; relating to interdependence or organic unity (OED X, 922)

10. Holistic: related to holism: an important term in radical feminist theory. It involves the rejection and abolition of dualistic divisions and the creation of nonexploitive, nonhierarchical, reciprocal relationships between parts of our bodies and between women and nature (Humm 123)

11. Biotic: relating to life or specific life conditions (Webster 112)
12. Oikos: house, dwelling, household in Greek (Friedrich 119ff)

13. Telos: an ultimate end or object in Greek (Gove 2352)

1) Epistemology - The theory of knowledge. Epistemology emphasizes holism and harmonious relationships with nature. It has five characteristics including: the principles of the contextualization of knowledge, of necessary human agency, of predominant causality, intersubjective process and interaction process, and the principle of scientific diversity or multiformed regularities (Humm 78-79). It is the final principal that is most relevant to Harding's analysis.

2) Totemism - This is the belief in kinship through common "totemic affiliation" or the identification of a group or individual with a totem (AHD 1281). Harding uses this term in the context of gender symbolism.

3) Emancipatory Epistemologies - Struggles concerning emancipation need to recognize the agendas of other struggles as integral parts of their own in order to succeed. "For each struggle, epistemologies and politics grounded in solidarities could replace the problematic ones that appeal to essentialized identities"(Kolmar 391).

4) Androcentrism - "Male centeredness". A culture based on male norms which accounts women's lives as deviant (Humm 9-10). Harding sees feminist empiricism shifting the focus from androcentricity to a frame of reference in which women's thoughts and experiences are validated.

5) Metaphysical Feminism - A feminist theory which believes that "one woman's experience can be all women's experience"(Humm 170). This is a woman-centered perspective encouraging spiritual journeys. Harding makes an indirect reference to this train of logic in relationship to epistemology.

6) Feminist Epistemologies - Imply a relationship between knowing and being. According to Harding they are used to describe the "paradoxical situation" of applying politicized research to objective inquiry (Kolmar 393).

7) Empiricism - "The view that experience, especially of the senses, is the only source of knowledge" (AHD 449).

8) Feminist Empiricism - "Sexism and androcentrism are social biases correctable by stricter adherence to the existing methodological norms of scientific inquiry"(Kolmar 394). This method "identifies only bad science as the problem, not science-as-usual"(394). It argues that women are more likely to produce unbiased and objective results than are men.

9)Standpoint Theory - "Subordinate..members of society have a more complete view of the world than the dominant groups"(Humm 276). Subordinate members have to see both perspectives and in this sense they are unique.

10) Feminist Standpoint Theory - Argues that women's experience of marginality and the activities of production and reproduction, and the feminist refusal of dualisms provides these women with an understanding of social life distinct from, and possible superior to man's (Humm 276). Harding says that "Men's dominant position in social life results in partial and perverse understandings, whereas women's subjugated position provides the possibility of more complete and less perverse understandings" (Kolmar 394).

11) Feminist Postmodernism - As a self-reflexive critique, feminist postmodernism opposes esssentialism and instead believes in a plural kind of knowledge(Humm 215-216). Harding attacks the rationality and objectivity of contemporary natural sciences as universalizing the human condition to that only of man. This logic also challenges feminist empiricism and standpoint. It is a grounding in solidarity between modern fractured identities and the politics they create (Kolmar 395).

12) Relativism - The belief that there is no "absolute criterion of true or false"(Humm 236). "The theory that truth is an ethical relative to the individual or group that holds it"(AHD 1043).

Gloria Anzaldua - La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness

1) Cosmic Race - The 5th race coined by Mexican philosopher, Jose Vasconcelos. This race embraces the four major races of the world producing a hybrid progeny and rich gene pool (Kolmar 398).

2) La Mestiza - "An Aztec word meaning between the ways"(Kolmar 399). It is diffusion of cultural and spiritual values from one group to another. According to the American Heritage Spanish Dictionary the word translates to mean of mixed parentage.

3) Mythos - A change in the way we see reality, ourselves, and the way we behave. The creation of a new consciousness (Kolmar 399).

4) Mestiza consciousness - Is created to break down new paradigms. It deconstructs the "subject-object duality" that keeps the Mestiza a "prisoner". It is an end to dualistic thinking (Kolmar 399).

5) Morphogenesis - "An inevitable unfolding"(Kolmar 400). Or the "evolutionary development of the structure of an organism or part"(AHD 815).

6) Macho - According to the American Heritage Spanish Dictionary Macho is manly, male, strong or tough. Anzaldua defines it twice. The first definition is used to describe men who are strong enough to "protect and support" mothers and families but, also able to "show love"(Kolmar 400). The second definition defines the term applied to today's machismo as having low self-esteem, an adaptation to oppression and poverty. This leads to him developing a "false machismo" which allows him to put women down(Kolmar 401). Macho has been redefined in terms of the Anglo male.

Elizabeth Minnich - From Transforming Knowledge

1) Faulty Generalization - The "root problem" of universalization which is perpetuated by "privileging central singular terms", notably "man". This in turn leads to "singular abstract notions"(Kolmar 450). Problems are created by pluralistic thinking.

2) Partial Knowledge - When whole systems of knowledge are built around concepts that are mystified or "made to appear what is not"(Kolmar 451). These concepts "masquerade" as general or universal knowledge. The knowledge of a particular group situated in the context of their own standpoint.

3) Pluralism - "The doctrine that reality is composed of many ultimate substances" (AHD 955). It is the belief that no single explanatory system can account for all the realities in life. Minnich calls for a truly egalitarian pluralism that cannot be reached through democratic pluralistic thinking (Kolmar 450).

4) Reverse Discrimination - Discriminating against members of the dominant group (AHD 1057).

5) Intimacy - "A mode of relation that refuses generalizations"(Kolmar 452). To experience someone as themselves, not as they seem to be when filtered through pre-judgements.

6) Universality - "A creation of thought that moves through all limitations, all particular definition, in recognition of profound connectedness"(Kolmar 452).

Pat Hill Collins - From Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment

1) Afrocentric Feminist Epistemology - Represents a subjugated knowledge however, Collins claims that "subjugation is not the grounds for an epistemology"(Kolmar 476).

2) Black Women's Standpoint - Is "situated in knowledge...embedded in the communities in which African-American women find themselves" (Kolmar 476). The particular standpoint of a black women, the experience of being black and a woman.

3) Positivism - "A philosophical doctrine contending that sense perceptions are the only admissible basis of human knowledge and precise thought" applied to logic, epistemology, and ethics (AHD 967).

4) Relativism - Collin's definition of relativism is it is the "antithesis of positivist science". All groups produce equally valid specialized thought. (Kolmar 476).

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FSH – follicle stimulating hormone. FHS is released by the anterior pituitary gland. In women, the "follicle stimulating hormone stimulates the development of ovarian follicles (eggs) and stimulates the release of oestrogen. In men, follicle stimulating hormone stimulates the production of sperm" (Online Medical Dictionary).

LH: Luteinizing hormone. LH is a hormone released by the anterior pituitary gland. It helps control ovulation and the regulation of hormones in the ovaries and testes. (Online Medical Dictionary).

apraxia: a clinical expression for paralysis. "Inability to execute a skilled or learned motor act, not related to paralysis or lack of comprehension, caused by a cortical lesion" (AMA Glossary)

menstruation: when the lining of the uterus sheds, usually every four weeks. It's also referred to as "the cyclic, physiologic discharge through the vagina of blood and mucosal tissues from the nonpregnant uterus, it is under hormonal control and normally recurs, usually at approximately four week intervals, in the absence of pregnancy during the reproductive period (puberty through menopause)" (Online Medical Dictionary).

menopause: the termination of menstruation, which usually occurs around age 50 (AMA Glossary).

epithelium: the inside lining of the body. The epithelium is "the covering of internal and external surfaces of the body, including the lining of vessels and other small cavities" (AMA Glossary).

ATP: form of energy in the human body. It "serves as an energy source for many metabolic processes and is required for ribonucleic acid synthesis" (Online Medical Dictionary).

pituitary gland: a small gland at the base of the brain that secrets hormones that "control other glands and body processes" (Online Medical Dictionary).

hypothalamus: a part of the brain that releases metabolic hormones, which control pituitary gland function. The hypothalamus is "also involved in the regulation of body temperature, water balance, blood sugar and fat metabolism. The hypothalamus also regulates other glands such as the ovaries, parathyroid and thyroid" (Online Medical Dictionary).

estrogen: female sex hormone. Estrogen is "responsible for the development of the female secondary sex characteristics and during the menstrual cycle it acts on the female genitalia to produce an environment suitable for the fertilization, implantation and nutrition of the early embryo" (AMA Glossary). In addition to its functions in the reproduction estrogen is used in "oral contraceptives and as a palliative in cancer of the breast after menopause and cancer of the prostate, other uses include the relief of the discomforts of menopause, inhibition of lactation and treatment of osteoporosis, threatened abortion and various functional ovarian disorders" ().

progesterone: hormone produced during pregnancy. It promotes "proliferation of uterine mucosa and the implantation of the blastocyst (a fertilized egg), prevents further follicular development" (AMA Glossary).

Helene Cixous – "The Laugh of Medusa"

signifier: In the process of signification, a signifier is the part of a symbol that represents its underlying meaning (van Zoonen).

signified: The signified, in a symbol, is the actual underlying meaning, as distinguished from the sign (van Zoonen).

neologism: a new word or phrase (Webster)

unthink: depense. derived from the verb penser, which means to think (Kolmar 218).
praxis: to do or practice (Webster).

narcissism and antinarcissism: narcissism is egotism, or "love or sexual desire for one's own body" (Webster). As antinarcissism, women hate themselves and their bodies. They are entrenched in a "narcissism which loves itself only to be loved for what women haven't got!" (Kolmar 212).

erotogeneity: erotogenic means erogenous, which refers to an item that produces or stimulates sexual excitement; sexually sensitive (Webster). Cixous suggests that an "interrogation" of "erogeneity" includes masturbation (Kolmar 213). Works Cited

Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam Webster Incorporated, 1994.

Kolmar, Wendy, and Frances Bartkowski, eds. Feminist Theory Reader. Toronto: Mayfield Publishing Company, 2000.

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1. Exhibitionism- (p.98) According to the American Psychiatric Association, it is also called, "indecent exposure" (Crooks and Baur 568). "A tendency to display one's abilities or act in such a way as to attract attention" (Webster's 457). Brumberg refers to exhibitionism by "some degree" therefore implying what she describes as "unveiling of the female body, which meant that certain body parts–such as arms and legs–were bared and displayed in ways they had never been before" which was shocking at the time and thus can be considered exhibitionistic.

2. Adolescent- (p.98) one who is growing to adulthood; youthful (Webster's 18). A teenager, and according to Brumberg's analysis, she is describing an American girl.

3. Svelte- (p. 99) slender, slim, trim (WordPerfect Dictionary). Not curvaceous, thus implying the boy-like body ideal for females in the 1920s.

4. Sylph- (as in "Sylph-like," p. 99) "a slender, graceful woman or girl; (orig. In the writings of Paracelsus) any of a group of elemental beings, female and mortal, but soulless, that inhabit the air" (Webster's 1304). Brumberg describes "sylph-like" as preferable to "haggard faces and dull listless eyes" which result from "strenuous dieting."

5. Flapper- (p.99) "a young woman flouting conventional behavior esp. in the 1920s" (Webster's 493). The "Song of the times" praising the flapper lifestyle was called "Tea for Two" and it appeared in the musical "No, No, Nanette" by Vincent Youmans. The lyrics which express the creed of flappers are:
"Flappers are we/ Flappers are we/ Flappers and fly and free.
Never too slow/ All on the go/ Petting parties with the smarties.
Dizzy with dangerous glee/ Puritans knock us/ Because the way we're clad.
Preachers all mock us/ Because we're not bad.
Most flippant young flappers are we!" (Fadmag.com)

6. Corset- (p.99) A woman's clothing item, which to modern people consider it to represent the "constraints Victorian society imposed on women" (Brumberg xxii). Described as a "close-fitting undergarment stiffened with whalebone or the like and often adjustable by lacing, worn esp. by women to shape and support the torso" (Webster's 298).

7. Bob- (p.101) "short, caplike haircut" (Webster's 146). "Bobbing one's hair was a symbol of freedom. Women claimed the right's of men. No longer would they have to bind their hair back and control it. Short was daring and sexy and created a whole new attitude that went far beyond a hairstyle" (Fadmag.com)

8. Difficult Patch- (p.102) In reference to Simone de Beauvoir's analysis of "The Young Girl" who, "throughout her childhood the little girl suffered bullying curtailment of activity; but none the less she felt herself to be an autonomous individual..." and "with puberty, the future not only approaches: it takes residence in her body it assumes the most concrete reality" (de Beauvoir 328).

9. Precocity- (p.118) The "unusually advanced or mature in mental development or talent; prematurely developed" such as the decreasing age of girls wearing their fist bras (Webster's 1025; Brumberg 118).

10. "Normative Obsession" (p.122) Term coined by Judith Rodin referring to a normal, or standard conforming preoccupation. Brumberg is specifically referring to female adolescents who in the late twentieth century" are commonly "fearful of fat" causing them to be "a restrictive eater,–that, is someone who habitually monitors food consumption" (Brumberg 122).

11. Hyperbolic- (as in "hyperbolic bodies, p. 124) Hyperbolic is the adjective form of hyperbole meaning, "extravagant exaggeration" (Webster's). Brumberg uses this term to refer to surgery-enhanced bodies prevalent in the media and therefore causing "young women today" to worry "about specific body parts as well as their weight" (Brumberg 124).

12. Gams- (p.125) A slang-term for women's legs which emerged from the fast-talking thirties movies of Buzby Berkeley. Imagine kaleidoscopes of women's legs and Betty Grable.

The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory- Carol J. Adams

1. Vegetarianism- A relatively new naming to "describe those who did not eat animals" which was previously known as "Pythagorean...The word ‘vegetarian' represents the intersection of a historic moment with centuries of protest against the killing of animals" (Adams, Tenth 89). It refers to both philosophical and moral ideals for how to live.

2. Herbivores- A diet consisting solely of vegetables. Adams quotes Ovid's Metamorphoses, "Content with Food, which Nature freely bred,/On Wildings, and on Strawberries they fed;
Cornels and Bramble-berries gave the rest,/And falling Acorns furnisht out a Feast" (Adams, Tenth 126).

3. Carnivores- Adams describes them as meat-eaters who are not included in the animal order of Carnivora because she believes that the human body was not intended to eat and digest meat. "An animal that eats flesh; a flesh-eating mammal of the order Carnivora, comprising the dogs, cats, bears, seals and weasels" (Webster's 200).

4. Masticatory- To chew food (Webster's 808). Therefore, leaving marks on teeth of hominids (upright walking primates).

5. First-Stage Bodies- In terms of Frugi ideology, the only things which should be eaten are plants which are not harmed in the process of gaining food. Therefore, "from the ethical point of view, not dietetic, we will be able in a first stage to consume all the fruits that they could be gathered without killing to the plants or to the trees that produce them, between those which are included the dry fruits (cereals, nuts, etc.) and, of course, all kinds of fruits as oranges, apples, etc." (Frugi ideology, www.ctv.es). Adams alludes to her belief that the human body is intended to adhere to such a frugi ideology.

7. Fourth-Stage Diet- Eating food including meat which the body is not equipped to digest (Adams 148).

8. Gestalt- Adams refers to this in the ways in which "vegetarians see meat as death and meat eaters see meat as life" and therefore, it impacts the ways in which these people have different understandings of the relation between meat and health problems (Adams 161).

11. Body-Mediated Knowledge- Adams believes that the "word the human body speaks is vegetarian" meaning that the body itself, knows what is right for it, and according to the book, the human body is not intended to consume meat (Adams 152).

14. Soul Food- A ritual food which connects people with their ancestors. It is often believed that soul food needs to include meat, but Adams disagrees saying that "the knowledge of enslaved and oppressed ancestors need not be at the expense of the enslaved oppressed animals" (Adams 153).

15. Parturition- Childbirth. Adams refers to the belief many hold that a vegetarian diet makes labor easier (Adams 159).

Works Cited



Steinmetz, S. et al. (1997). Random House Webster's College Dictionary. New York: Random House.

Susan Faludi, Stiffed
Spur Posse — Gang of high school boys from L.A. suburb that had a competition of how many virgins they could sleep with. In 1993, nine of them were accused of rape.

Promise Keepers — Christian male support group that advocates "taking" family leadership roles away from women, among other premises.

New masculinity — "A growing discourse which treats patriarchy as the social and institutional oppression of both women and men," the main tenet being that patriarchy controls the predetermined roles of men just as it does for women.

Ornamental — adorning, adding luster to one's surrounding by a show of character or talent.

Avoirdupois — Weight, especially of a person.

Feminine Mystique — The term invented by Betty Friedan "to describe the discrepancy she found between the reality of the women's lives she investigated and the images to which women were trying to conform." The "mystique" is the highest value for a woman, the "fulfillment of her femininity."

Rocky — 1976 movie about a struggling boxer who wants to make it big. Extolling the idea of "nobody" becoming a "somebody," Rocky Balboa is the workingman who becomes superman.

High Noon — 1952 Gary Cooper movie about a retiring lawman ready to leave town with his new bride when an outlaw he puts in prison returns with his gang, ready for revenge. Considered a classic Western; also perfectly epitomizes the "loner" male figure.

Gaslighting — eating away at the foundation of logic on which one has based their decisions and actions.

Male menopause — The same symptoms of female menopause (nervousness, poor concentration, loss of libido, hot flashes), but occurring in men. Some argue there is hormonal evidence of such a phenomenon, while others say it is just part of aging.

Patrimony — Property inherited from one's father.

"Second Wave" — formation of women's groups in the late 1960s, modeled after the Civil Rights movements, focusing on making the "personal" into the "political."

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, "‘Gosh, Boy George, You Must be Awfully Secure in Your Masculinity!'"
Boy George — Lead singer of The Culture Club, known for his cross-dressing and ambiguous sexuality

Masculinity — A "mode of conceptualism" that emphasizes "mutually exclusive dualities," constructed on the "ideal differentiation of Man from his Other." The "other" is Woman.

Effeminate — Showing qualities attributed to women, implying weakness.

Amicus Curiae — A Latin term meaning "friend of the court;" the name for a brief filed with the court by someone who is not a party to the case.

Butch — Manly; said of a lesbian.

Castrate — To remove the testicles of; emasculate

Ablation — Wearing away, eroding.

Female Eunuch — coined by Germaine Greer, the term to describe the "castration of women by aspects of patriarchy."

Androgyny — The "psychological and psychic mixture of traditional masculine and feminine virtues."

Notional — Coming from a belief, an opinion.

Feedback mechanism — The transfer of the output back to the input, the creation of a "vicious cycle."

Discourse "For women, this usually means conversation, not the written work." Kramarae 125

"The relation between language and social reality." Humm 66

Gender "A culturally shaped group of attributes and behaviors given to the female or to the male. Contemporary feminist theory is careful to distinguish between sex and gender. Building on the work of Margaret Mead in Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935), such theory takes the view that sex is biological and that gender behavior is a social construction." Humm 106

"Early second-wave feminists adopted the distinction formulated by the psychologist Robert Stoller (1968) between sex and gender to differentiate the socio-cultural meanings (‘masculinity' and ‘femininity') from the base of biological sex differences (‘male' and
‘female') on which they were erected (Oakley 1972).

Within feminist thought in the early period of the second wave the dominant tendency was (and largely remains) one which minimizes the differences between the sexes and privileges gender over sex." Andermahr 84

Heterosexism "the unconscious or explicit assumption that heterosexuality is the only ‘normal' mode
of sexual and social relation. [...] heterosexism implies the suppression and denial of
homosexuality and assumes that everyone is, or should be, heterosexual. [...]heterosexism
relies on the fallacious superiority of the dominant male, passive female pattern." Humm 119

"a system of social relations in which heterosexuality is institutionally and ideologically privileged at the expense of homosexuality." Andermahr 95

Homophobia "‘The fear of feelings of love for one's own sex and therefore the hatred of those feelings
in others,' (Audre Lorde, 1978). Heterosexual fear of homosexuals. ‘The straight
person's anger at being so confused,' (Jeanne Cordova 1981)" Kramarae 195

"The fear of homosexuality in onself or others. Lesbian theorists suggest that
aspects of white feminism are homophobic because early ‘second wave' writings referred exclusively to heterosexual feminist women." Humm 123

Misogyny "Woman-hating. ‘Includes the beliefs that women are stupid, petty, manipulative, dishonest, silly, gossipy, irrational, incompetent, undependable, narcissistic, castrating, dirty, over-emotional, unable to make altruistic or moral judgements, oversexed, undersexed.... Such beliefs culminate in attitudes that demean our bodies, our abilities, our characters, and our efforts, and imply that we must be controlled, dominated, subdued, abused, and used, not only for male benefit but for our own.' (Sheila Ruth 1980, 89)" Kramarae 275

"The fear or hatred of women. [...] the term is unfashionable in contemporary feminist theory and has given way in second-wave feminism to the concepts of sexism and phallocentrism." Andermahr 138

Motherhood sometimes seen as the cause of women's oppression; other times seen as a source of
power and strength for women. During the 1970s women began to lobby for
reproductive freedom, which would change motherhood from destiny to choice.
(Kramarae 281, Tuttle 209)

Patriarchy "a political, social, and economic system that has bound women historically to an inferior status." Pérez in Kolmar, 490

Phallocracy "Social, political, ideological system which perpetuates the domination of men and the
subordination of women. Another term for patriarchy, it literally means ‘rule of the phallus', thus emphasizing that, far from being natural or rational, patriarchy is based on penis worship." Tuttle 247

Psychoanalysis "‘Contains a unique set of concepts for understanding men, women, and sexuality.
It is a theory of sexuality in human society. Most importantly, psychoanalysis provides a description of the mechanisms by which the sexes are divided and deformed, of
how bisexual, androgynous infants are transformed into boys and girls. Psychoanalysis is a feminist theory manque.' (Gayle Rubin 1975, 184-5) [...] Psychoanalytic theory ‘invariably finds women guilty for the failure of sexual intercourse.... As in the animistic thinking of primitive society, in which every bush, tree, and animal possesses a spirit of its own, psychoanalytic thought transforms sexual organs into bearers of independent will.' (Marielouise Janssen-Jurreit 1982, 240)" Kramarae 365

Spanish Terms from
Collins Spanish-English, English-Spanish Dictionary

corrido 2 nm (a) (Andalusia, And, Méx: balada) ballad. (b) (And: fugitive) fugitive from justice. (p177)

chingar 1 vt (a) (CAm) animal to dock, cut off the tail of. (b) (LAm: joder) to fuck, screw. [...] (c) (Méx etc) (fastidiar) to annoy, upset; (arruinar) to fuck up. (p200)

indio/a Indian (of India, of West Indies, of America) (p373)

mestizo/a half-caste, half-breed, mixed-race (p442)

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from Katie Rophie, The Morning After "The Rape Crisis, or ‘Is Dating Dangerous?"

Agency "the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power"(Webster, 40); "women's self-determination ... as actors in the world on their own terms" (CGFT, 11 )

"... in the Ms. One of the questions used to define rape was "Have you ever had sexual intercourse when you didn't want to because a man gave you alcohol or drugs?" The strange phrasing of this question itself raises the issue of agency. Whay aren't college women responsible for their own intake of alcohol or drugs?" (53).

cultural representation "[cultural] processes by which meanings are produced. Feminists argue that representation continually creates, endorses or alters ideas of gender identity." (DFT, 238).

"In a dramatic description of the rape crisis,Naomi Wolf writes in The Beauty Myth, "Cultural representation of glamorized degradation has created a situation among the young in which boys rape and girls get raped as a normal course of events [Wolf'sitalics]." (55)

Date rape/acquaintance rape "sexual intercourse forced by an acquaintance. Often the incident occurs during a regular social engagement such as a ‘date' ... in which the victim is coerced or manipulated into sexual intercourse" (HDF, 98-99)

"Everyone agrees that rape is a terrible thing,but we don't agree on what rape is. There is a gray area in which someone's rape may be another person's bad night." (54)

post traumatic stress syndrome post traumatic - "following or resulting from trauma" (Webster, 1773)

"Of course, sophisticated modern-day feminists don't use words like ‘honor'or ‘virtue' anymore. They know better than to say rape victims have been ‘defiled.' Instead, they call it posttraumatic stress syndrome. They tell the victimshe should not feel ‘shame,' she should feel ‘traumatized.' ... date rape resonates through a woman's entire life... remains with the victim... necessarily cripples her..." (76)

from Elizabeth Minnick, Review Essay, "Feminist Attacks on Feminisms: Patriarchy's Prodigal Daughters" in Feminist Studies, vol. 24, no. 1, pp 159-175.

IDPOL identity politics, "the practice of basing one's politics on a sense of personal identity...
an organizing tool to buikd cohesive and vocal political communities" (GCFT, 103)

BIODENIAL "repudiation of the sciences" (161)

TOTALREJ "feminist critique" (161)

Sisterhood "Includes the idea and experience of female bonding, and the self-affirmation and identity discovered in woman-centered vision and definition of womanhood" (DFT, 288); "Above all [sisterhood] pointed towars a political project of alliances which might be forged, rather than a definition of ‘WOMAN' in her essence..." (CGFT, 202)

"They occasionally adopt a tone of calm, saddened devotion to a presently distorted but perhaps still salvageable sisterhood." (161)

resentment a feeling of indignant displeasure because of something regarded as a wrong, insult or other injury (Webster, 1930)

"Sommers, for whom ‘resentment feminism' is a main target, characterizes ‘resentment':
Resentment is ‘harbored' or ‘nurtured'; it ‘takes root' in a subject (the victim) and remains directed at another (the culprit)." (170)

gender feminists sometimes referred to as cultural feminists and tend to think there may be biological as well as cultural explanations for men's masculinity and women's femininity. They also stress the values traditionally associated with women... are better virtues than the values traditionally associated with men (Tong, 131)

from Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge, Professing Feminism

backlash "Anti-feminist rebound of the 1980s and 1990s... [backlash] signals attempts to limit women's advances in employment, family law and reproductive rights or to narrow feminism to issues of equity" (GCFT, 16); "a sudden, often violent backward movement or recoil" (Webster, 158).

"When we told colleagues in Women's Studies that we were doing research about problems within contemporary feminism, some assumed we were referring to ‘the backlash' – a perjorative that is slapped onto any and every criticism of feminism and whose main function seems to be to shut down discussion." (xv)

horizontal hostitlity "women criticizing other women" (xvi)

political correctness Politically correct (PC) "a term originally used within US feminist movement to refer to acceptable behaviors and opinions. Deviations by movement particiapants from these official doctrines were subject to sanctions and even expulsion. In the 1990s the term was appropriated by political conservatives to discredit feminists as well as others who challenged the staus quo and attempted to make society more inclusive. In particular, university policies to diversify the curriculum andto enact codes of unacceptable behavior toward women, gays, and racial and religious minorities have drawn charges of "political correctness." (HDF, 234)

"Long before the term ‘political correctness' gained currency in its present conservative/ironic sense, ideological policing was a common feature of Women's Studies programs. (2)

thumos the Greek concept of thumos, variously translated as Anger, Spirit, and Honor... a valuable source of courage and moral indignation." (95)

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Adams, C. J. The Sexual Politics of Meat. cited as (Adams) refers to the original edition, reader packet.

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Boles, Janet K. and Diane Lang Hoeveler. Historical Dictionary of Feminism. London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996.

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Craig, Edward, ed. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge, 1998.

Crooks, R. and Baur, K. (1996). Our Sexuality. (6th ed.). New York: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

De Beauvoir, S. (1989). The Second Sex. (September 1989 ed.). New York: Vintage Books.

"Deo Frugi Gratias" www.ctv.es:80/users/frugideogratias/
November 11, 2000

"Flaming Youth: A Liberal Dose of the 20's" www.fadmag.com/items/flmingy/flmgyth.htm
November 11, 2000

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