Date of Award
4-21-2008
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Christie J. Hartley - Co-Chair
Second Advisor
Andrew I. Cohen - Co-Chair
Third Advisor
Andrew Altman
Abstract
Although feminists resist accounts that define women as having certain features that are essential to their being women, feminists are also guilty of giving essentialist definitions. Because women are extremely diverse in their experiences, the essentialist critics question whether a universal (non-essentialist) account of women can be given. I argue that it is possible to formulate a valuable category of woman, despite potential essentialist challenges. Even with diversity among women, women are oppressed as women by patriarchal structures such as rape, pornography, and sexual harassment that regulate women’s sexuality and construct women as beings whose main role is to service men’s sexual needs.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/1059770
Recommended Citation
Fulfer, Katherine Nicole, "The Concept of "Woman": Feminism after the Essentialism Critique." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2008.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1059770