The Feminist Theory

Feminist theory is often misunderstood and considered to focus on an inherent goal to promote superiority of women over men. Instead, feminist theory seeks to magnify forces that support and encourage inequality, oppression and injustice and replace it with equality and justice for all oppressed people, especially women. Historically, women’s point of views has been excluded from social theory and social science, therefore, feminist theorist such as Patricia Collins and Gloria Anzaldúa have focused their work in sharing their experiences and interactions within society to help develop an understanding of social forces, relations and issues that impact women and women of color in a white-male dominant world. I will explore how standpoint theory …show more content…
Second, marginalized groups are socially situated in ways that make it more possible for them to be aware of things and ask questions rather than non-marginalized groups. Lastly, evidenced based research that is focused on power relations, and should begin with the individuals who are marginalized. “Feminist standpoint theory, is a contribution to epistemology, in the social and natural science and to political activism by promoting growth to levels of consciousness of systems that further oppress the oppress. Stand point theory as described by Patricia Collins, places relations between political and social power of knowledge under a magnifying glass challenging conventional male dominant theories. For example, gender roles are a construction of ideas that attaches behavior to genders and labels individuals from an external vantage point. As mentioned in my personal experience, division of labor in the household is divided based on gender from a male dominant …show more content…
Based on feminist standpoint theories, the process of achieving knowledge begins when standpoints beginning to appear. “When the marginalized privileged become conscious of their social situation with respect to socio-political power and oppression, and begin to find a voice of one’s own identity, challenging those identities imposed by conventional stereotypes that form part of hegemonic form of thinking from the point of view of the socially and politically dominant.”( Collins [1990] p.330) The assertion of identity of who am I? adds layers of insight about how my life is and how I experience the world. Those truths debunk myths about me, about my relationship with the world, and about my relationships with others in that world that have been taken to be true. In Black Feminist Epistemology [1990] Self-definition in terms of a standpoint provides a starting point for the self-assertion. Patricia Hill Collins discusses a stereotypical understanding of African American women working as domestic servants, “the Mammy” stereotype which objectifies black women as “loyal and obedient” domestic servants, dedicated to the care for their white family, in contrast to Gloria’s” Mestiza consciousness” which is ambiguous