feminist theory
Patriarchy analysis framework
Feminist theory is an intellectual framework analyzing how gender shapes social structures, power relations, and individual experience.
It examines how societies construct and enforce gender roles, often to women's disadvantage.
The field spans multiple disciplines—philosophy, sociology, literary criticism, political science—and encompasses diverse perspectives from liberal feminism to intersectional approaches that consider how gender interacts with race, class, and sexuality.
Power to act
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- liberationRelease from constraint
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
- solidarityUnity among allies
consciousness-raising · collective action · sisterhood · empowerment · voice · representation · visibility · reclamation
Gender-based prejudice
- misogynyHostility toward women
- gender hierarchyRanking people by sex
- male dominanceMen's systemic societal control
- gender biasPrejudice based on sex
discrimination · oppression · marginalization · silencing · erasure · stereotyping · victim-blaming · gaslighting
Male-dominated social order
- intersectionalityInterconnected identity-based discrimination study
- male gazeSexualized viewing of women
- gender binaryStrict two-category sex classification
- feminine mystiqueGlorified female domesticity ideology
objectification · othering · double consciousness · emotional labor · second shift · rape culture · heteronormativity · essentialism
Scholarly analysis of social identities
- intersectionalityInterconnected identity-based discrimination study
- poststructuralismPhilosophy questioning stable meaning
- ecofeminismTheory linking female oppression, ecological destruction
- body politicsPower over physical selves
Bodily autonomy in family planning
- suffrageRight to cast ballots
- equal payMatching compensation regardless of identity
- abortion rightsFreedom to terminate pregnancy
- bodily autonomyControl over one's physique
Title IX · maternity leave · sexual harassment · women's suffrage · voting rights · legal rights · property rights · workplace equality
agency
Power to act
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- liberationRelease from constraint
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
solidarity · consciousness-raising · collective action · sisterhood · empowerment · voice · representation · visibility · reclamation · resistance
sexism
Gender-based prejudice
- misogynyHostility toward women
- gender hierarchyRanking people by sex
- male dominanceMen's systemic societal control
gender bias · discrimination · oppression · marginalization · silencing · erasure · stereotyping · victim-blaming · gaslighting · microaggressions
patriarchy
Male-dominated social order
- intersectionalityInterconnected identity-based discrimination study
- male gazeSexualized viewing of women
- gender binaryStrict two-category sex classification
feminine mystique · objectification · othering · double consciousness · emotional labor · second shift · rape culture · heteronormativity · essentialism · social construction
gender studies
Scholarly analysis of social identities
- intersectionalityInterconnected identity-based discrimination study
- poststructuralismPhilosophy questioning stable meaning
- ecofeminismTheory linking female oppression, ecological destruction
reproductive rights
Bodily autonomy in family planning
- suffrageRight to cast ballots
- equal payMatching compensation regardless of identity
- abortion rightsFreedom to terminate pregnancy
bodily autonomy · Title IX · maternity leave · sexual harassment · women's suffrage · voting rights · legal rights · property rights · workplace equality · childcare
- humanitiesphilosophy, history, literature, philosophy class, novels
- women's historywomen's history, herstory, women's movement, suffrage movement, notable women
- feminismgender equality, women's rights, patriarchy, women's liberation, sisterhood
- sociologysocial structure, social class, social institutions, social norms, social mobility
- education historypublic schooling, education reforms, school reform, educational reforms, one-room school
- Feminist Literaturewomen writers, female authors, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Atwood, Simone de Beauvoir
feminist theorypatriarchy
Male-dominated social order
misogyny · traditionalism · complementarianism · antifeminism · anti-feminism
feminist theoryevolutionary psychology
Study of adapted minds
sociobiology · essentialism · genetic determinism · positivism · objectivism
theory, feminism, femininity, effeminate, feminist, effeminacy, antifeminism, feminize, feminists