Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Fire, Water And The Goddess: The Films Of Deepa Mehta And Satyajit Ray As Critiques Of Hindu Patriarchy, David F. Burton

Journal of Religion & Film

This article focuses on Fire (1996) and Water (2005), two films directed by Deepa Mehta that present patriarchal Hindu attitudes to women and sexuality as in need of reform. Mehta’s films have met with hostility from Hindu conservatives and have also been accused of Orientalist misrepresentations. While these objections highlight the contested nature of “authentic” Hindu identity, Fire and Water remain powerful indictments of male hegemony in Hinduism. Mehta has cited Satyajit Ray as a major influence on her work; there are interesting parallels between Mehta’s films and Ray’s film Devi (The Goddess, 1960), which explores the plight …

Women As Victims In Tennessee Williams' First Three Major Plays, Ruth Foley

Masters Theses

Although Tennessee Williams does not openly champion the rights of women in his plays, he presents strong cases against their social alienation in a harsh and brutal world governed by men. Williams' emotional leanings, sensitivity, and intuition enable him to see life through women's eyes. In The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Summer and Smoke, Williams astutely sounds the battle cry for women to fight against male oppression. He shows how Amanda Wingfield, Laura Wingfield, Blanche Dubois, Stella Kowalski, and Alma Winemiller are held hostage to the rules governing patriarchal society and become unhappy marginalized victims. The self-contained …

Who Will Empower The Better Half? Social Dynamics In Operation, Debabrata Lahiri, Santanu Mitra

Journal of International Women's Studies

In a game theoretic framework it can be argued that a gender sensitive institution is an offshoot of certain social conditions, which in most cases need to be acted upon by some anti-establishment catalytic agent. Given the fact that among about half of the population there is a need for such an institution, the main function of a catalytic agent is to engineer a conversion of that need into an active demand. In a society characterized by gender exploitation, catalytic agent can only come exogenously. For a sub-society it is easier to come across such an exogenous catalytic agent. The …

Historical Perspectives On Violence Against Women, Vivian C. Fox

Journal of International Women's Studies

Three great bodies of thought have influenced western society’s views and treatment of women: Judeo-Christian religious ideas, Greek philosophy and the Common Law legal code. All three traditions have, by and large, assumed patriarchy as natural – that is male domination stemming from the view of male superiority. As part of the culture perpetuated by these ideologies, violence towards women was seen as a natural expression of male dominance. This paper contains three main themes. The first establishes patriarchy as an early pattern of military societies and the subsequent emergence of the Judeo-Christian, Greek and legal cultural paradigm as ideological …

Deconstructing Masculinity In A ‘Female Bastion’: Ambiguities, Contradictions And Insights, Charles C. Fonchingong

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article is informed by my experiences teaching women’s studies and specifically feminist theory to predominantly female and male students offering Women’s studies. As a mainstream academic discipline at the University of Buea, housing the only such Department in Cameroon’s Higher Education system, this study uncovers the broader polemics regarding gender and women’s studies.

Against the backdrop of a patriarchal society, this study attempts to account for the shifting strands on masculinity and femininity and gender transgressions as played out by students taking women’s studies. It also analyses the notions, misconceptions and stereotypes that characterise the discipline of women’s studies, …

Dilma Rousseff And The Challenge Of Fighting Patriarchy Through Political Representation In Brazil, Sabrina Fernandes

Journal of International Women's Studies

Dilma Rousseff is the first woman elected head of state of Brazil. Although her election carries symbolism for Brazilian women, claims of women's emancipation through representation must be questioned through an analysis of the Brazilian patriarchal state. This paper examines the claim that Rousseff’s election opens doors for all Brazilian women. The research involves analysis of electoral statistics, media frames, and government documents, which show that, in spite of a woman president, women's representation in Brazilian government is still low in numbers and in the state agenda. The literature suggests that masculine gender hegemony and the presence of a patriarchal …

The Slutwalk Movement: A Study In Transnational Feminist Activism, Joetta L. Carr

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

In the past two years the term "slut" ricocheted through the North American media and showed up on signs and banners on every continent as young feminists and their allies launched a series of demonstrations under the name of SlutWalks. In January 2011, a Toronto police officer told students at York University that if women wanted to avoid rape they should not dress like sluts. This incident sparked international outrage, with protests spreading quickly throughout the world, and revealed the misogyny and victim-blaming vitriol that characterize contemporary patriarchal culture. In the wake of the global SlutWalk movement, important questions have …