feminism
...nment. Single-sex schools are another controversial debate. The small number of all-male colleges such as Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel are under extreme political upheaval to end their single-sex policy. Despite the feminists’ strong assertion, when a few men were being admitted into an all-female school the feminist group wanted to reverse their decision. These strong feminists claimed the reason for their decision was because of the fact that aggression in male students would disrupt the learning potential in female students. Feminists who believe this also claim that male dominance in the business world is a result of a conspiracy against women. Sheaffer also points out that men could be considered a “victim” class if you include the countless number of men fighting in battle who are subject to injuries and fatalities. Sheaffer questions why men have a higher suicide rate if their life is so great. It is also a known fact that women live seven years longer than men. According to Sheaffer, it would make much more sense to call contemporary American women “privileged” than “oppressed.” The other writer, Chafe, believes that feminism is not a harmful ideology. In his article he emphasizes three different kinds of feminism called liberal feminism, radical feminism, and socialist feminism. These three views are different in analyzing oppression in women such as, the sources of women’s oppression, possibilities of coalition to end oppression, and the goal of reform and revolution. Socialist and radical feminism are closely related. Their views are both collectivistic. Liberal feminism is more individualistic and enforces programs such as NOW (National Organization for Women) and WEAL (Women’s Equity Action League). The liberal organization NOW’s motive in the 1960’s was to get rid of labels in employment newspaper ads that read “Male Only Jobs” or Female Only Jobs.” The idea was that women wanted to be included in a society that did not have a distinction between the sexes. Radical feminism saw men as being the enemy. They believed that it was the male supremacy that caused women’s oppression. Chafe ascertains that it was the New Left organization that brought about the birth of radical feminism. For example, women who participated in the anti-war or civil rights movement wanted to be heard at the meetings of the New Left organization, but they were not treated with respect, so they decided to form their own organization. Socialist-feminism is the opposite of radical feminism. This group does not see men as the enemy. They see capitalism as the enemy and all races and gender as a target to oppression. They felt in order to end oppression all groups should stick together to overthrow capitalism. Chafe also notes that in the 1970’s young college women were sensitive to the idea of women’s liberation. The majority of the college students agreed with “the idea that a woman’s place is in the home is nonsense.” From these articles, I learned about the different views people had about feminism f...