User:Ipatriotis/sandbox

 Edit 1: First Impression of Wikipedia Article 

When first seeing the Wikipedia article, there wasn't much detail on what Feminist Sociology is, so Cara and I knew that we needed to really elaborate on the nuances of our topic, and how it relates to issues of intersectionality, and other forms of sociological theory.

Edit 2: Begin editing existing articles
 Feminism and Race Edit: 

Original Article: "Women who suffer from oppression due to race may find themselves in a double bind. The relationship between feminism and race was largely overlooked until the second wave of feminists produced greater literature on the topic of 'black feminism'.[11]

Anna Julia Cooper and Ida Bell Wells-Barnett are African American women who were instrumental in conducting much research and making valuable contributions in the field of black feminism. "Cooper and Wells-Barnett both consciously drew on their lived experiences as African American women to develop a "systematic consciousness of society and social relations." As such, these women foreshadow the development of a feminist sociological theory based in the interests of women of colour."[12]

An instrumental contribution to the field was Kimberlé Crenshaw's seminal 1989 paper, "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex:A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics" (Crenshaw 1989).[13] In it she outlines the manner in which black women have been erased from feminist pedagogy. Black women must be understood as having multiple identities that intersect and reinforce one another, the two key experiences of being black and of being women. Furthermore, black women suffer on both racist and sexist fronts, marginalized not only by larger systems of oppression but by existing feminist discourse that disregards their intersectionality. Crenshaw's work is integral to understanding feminist sociology, as it advocated for black feminist thought and set the building blocks for future feminist sociologists such as Patricia Hill Collins." After reading over the original article, I found that although the original author included some important examples of African American feminist leaders, they neglected to explain why the marriage of feminist sociology and intersectionality has been neglected historically, and how the movement is changing now. I chose to focus on how the idea of feminist sociology is not Western-centric, and that intersectionality and the feminist sociological movement must be joined in order to accurately depict racial experience within feminist sociology. After my edits and contributions, the final section reads, "Many feminist sociologists argue that the intersectionality of women, especially when it comes to race, can no longer be ignored by the growing feminist movement. Due to the increase in popularity of this outlook, there has been a rise of transnational feminists, and greater stress on the idea that feminism is not a Western-centric idea, and must be able to adapt in order to incorporate the context and complications of individual cultures, and their traditions. This intersectionalist approach on feminist sociology allows for a type of “marriage” between the “gender/race/class dynamic,” rather than excluding individuals of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, social classes, gender, sexual orientation, or any other factors. Women who suffer from oppression due to race may find themselves in a double bind. The relationship between feminism and race was largely overlooked until the second wave of feminists produced greater literature on the topic of 'black feminism'.[11]

Historically, the feminist movement, and the sociological feminist movement, has been lead by middle and upper class women from predominantly white backgrounds, causing the social trends of the movement to largely pass over the issues faced by women who do not fit into these tropes. This disregarding of the issues of intersectional women throughout the history of the feminist movement is due largely to the ignorance of the issues that these women face, and the assumption that the problems of white women within middle and upper class homes are the problems of all women.

However, several African American women within the field of feminist theory have been crucial in revolutionizing the field in which they work. An instrumental contribution to the field was Kimberlé Crenshaw's seminal 1989 paper, "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex:A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics" (Crenshaw 1989).[13] In it she outlines the manner in which black women have been erased from feminist pedagogy. Black women must be understood as having multiple identities that intersect and reinforce one another, the two key experiences of being black and of being women. Furthermore, black women suffer on both racist and sexist fronts, marginalized not only by larger systems of oppression but by existing feminist discourse that disregards their intersectionality. Crenshaw's work is integral to understanding feminist sociology, as it advocated for black feminist thought and set the building blocks for future feminist sociologists such as Patricia Hill Collins.

Anna Julia Cooper and Ida Bell Wells-Barnett are African American women who were instrumental in conducting much research and making valuable contributions in the field of black feminism. "Cooper and Wells-Barnett both consciously drew on their lived experiences as African American women to develop a "systematic consciousness of society and social relations." As such, these women foreshadow the development of a feminist sociological theory based in the interests of women of colour."

 Historical Context Edit 

The original section read, "Sociology was mostly androcentric until the 1970s where it began to shift to also focus on women. In the 1960s, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which theoretically outlawed the gender pay gap, was passed (Grady)[2]. This was one of the first ways that the United States began to change its mentality about women’s right and how women should be treated in society and the workplace. In the 1970s, many women fought for rights to dictate what happens to their body, such as making abortions legal as well as making sterilization illegal (Grady)[3]. This shifted how Americans saw women, and the country began changing to allow women to have more control over their bodies.

In the 1990s and on, many women began to come forward with sexual assault complaints against men, which led to a movement of more women taking a stance against sexual violence and a society recognizing there is a fundamental problem with sexual harassment (Grady)[4]. This led to another movement in recent years called the “Me Too Movement” that had many women coming forward and accusing celebrities and men in power of assaulting them in the workplace."

While reviewing this paragraph, I found that most of the information that I found on the history and historical context of feminist sociology was exactly what I had seen, so most of my work within this section had to do with editing sentence structure and punctuation in order to make the paragraph read smoother. After my edits, the section reads, "The study of sociology had been mostly androcentric up until the 1970's, when sociological thinking began to shift to focus on women, as well. In 1963s, the Equal Pay Act, which was signed by John F. Kennedy, outlawed the wage disparity based on sex. (Grady)[2]. The Equal Pay Act was one of the first ways that the United States began to shift its mentality about women’s rights, and how women should be treated in the workplace, and in society. In the 1970s, many women fought for the right to dictate what happens to their body, such as establishing legal abortions, as well as making forced sterilization illegal (Grady)[3]. This shifted how Americans viewed women, and the country began changing to allow women to have more control over their bodies.

This social shift led to a change in attitude over bodily autonomy, and boundaries within the workplace, and throughout life. Beginning in the mid 1990's, women began to come forward with sexual harassment complaints and sexual assault allegations against their male counterparts, which led to a movement of drastically increased amounts of women taking a stance against sexual violence, leading to society recognizing there is a fundamental problem concerning sexual harassment (Grady)[4]. This, in turn, led to another movement in recent years called the “Me Too Movement” that led many women to coming forward with their own stories and encounters, showing the scope that sexual harassment affects women across the world."  Feminism and Queer Theory 

The original section read, "Modern queer theory attempts to unmake the social and contextual elements reinforcing heteronormativity by challenging oppressive institutions on traditional binary distinctions between male and female, among its many other criticisms. In this regard, feminism and queer theory address the same ways social structures violently categorize and erase women and LGBTQIA+ from the social narrative. However, sociological feminism often reinforces the gender binary through the research process "as the gendered subject is made the object of the study" (McCann 2016, 229). Queer theory, by comparison, challenges the traditional ideas of gender through the deconstruction and lack of acceptance of a dichotomy of male and female traits.

In her recent work "Epistemology of the Subject: Queer Theory's Challenge to Feminist Sociology",[14] McCann confronts the theoretical perspective and methodology of feminist sociology:"[the subject] rarely reflects the fluid, unstable, and dynamic realities of bodies and experiences. To “settle” on a subject category, then, is to reinscribe a fixity that excludes some, often in violent ways (for example, those who are literally erased because their bodies do not conform to a discrete binary)" (McCann 2016, 231-232). There can be a refashioning of the field, where extending boundaries to include queer theory would "develop new and innovative theoretical approaches to research...[and] address inequality within society" (McCann 2016, 237)." After reading the section, I found that there was not much that needed to be changed. I thought that the section read fluidly, and the content and sources were relevant to the topic. I was not able to find too many credible and relevant sources on this topic, and thought that this paragraph was informative and well researched. I added a few points in order to emphasize the original author's intent, but I thought that the section stood up pretty well without much editing.

 Types of Feminism 

The original section read,

Types of feminism[edit]
We decided to leave this section the way it was due to the links having the definitions readily available (when rolled over with the mouse, a definition of each type of feminism is shown.)
 * Anarcha-feminism
 * Liberal feminism
 * Cultural feminism
 * Feminist existentialism
 * Radical feminism
 * Marxist feminism
 * Sex-positive feminism
 * Psychoanalytic feminism
 * Postmodern feminism
 * Black feminism