SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Feminism's Challenge: Articulating Alternatives to Unsustainable Hierarchies
"What is the most important challenge facing women in the 21st
century, and why?"
That one isn't easy for anyone to answer, especially in 300 words
or less. But that was the assignment from editors of the University of Texas'
web site for faculty members contributing to the "Many Voices of
Feminism" collection, which is online at https://www.utexas.edu/features/2009/03/09/feminisms/.
Mar 11, 2009
"What is the most important challenge facing women in the 21st
century, and why?"
That one isn't easy for anyone to answer, especially in 300 words
or less. But that was the assignment from editors of the University of Texas'
web site for faculty members contributing to the "Many Voices of
Feminism" collection, which is online at https://www.utexas.edu/features/2009/03/09/feminisms/.
It is an especially tricky question for a man to try to answer. Rather
than pretending to speak for women or for feminism, I wanted to explain why I
embraced feminism as a method for analyzing hierarchy that could be useful in
all social movements. Although men often treat feminism as a threat, in the 20
years I have been involved in feminist projects I have come to recognize it as
a gift to men who want to understand and critique not only gender but other
oppressive systems. For me, feminism is a crucial part of the struggle for
social justice and sustainability.
Below are the 306 words that I came up with, not to answer the question
but to hint at the compelling reasons we all should commit to feminism and the
other progressive social movements that are necessary if there is to be a hope
for a decent future, or any future at all.
Given the disastrous consequences of the human assault on the ecosystem
that makes our lives possible, the most important 21st-century challenge for
women is the same as for men: Can we change the way we organize ourselves socially,
politically, and economically in time to reverse this ecological collapse? Can
we learn to live in sustainable balance with the non-human world so that we
might make it to the end of the 21st century with our humanity intact?In facing these social, political, and economic challenges, I believe
women have a crucial contribution to make through feminism. My own intellectual
and political development is rooted in the feminism I learned from women, both
in the classroom and community. Much of my work has addressed men's use
and abuse of women and their sexuality in the sexual-exploitation industries:
prostitution, stripping, and pornography. But from those women I also learned
that feminism was not merely a concern for "women's issues"
but also a way of understanding power and critiquing the
domination/subordination dynamic that is central to so much of modern life. The
roots of that dynamic are in patriarchy, the system of male dominance that
arose only a few thousand years ago but that has been so destructive to people
and the earth. Patriarchy is incompatible with justice and sustainability.The challenge for feminism is to articulate an alternative to the
illegitimate hierarchies that structure our lives: men over women, white over
non-white, rich over poor, First World over
Third. That isn't "women's work" but
"feminism's work," which we all should undertake, in
conjunction with the many other intellectual and political movements concerned
with real justice. If we can change the way we treat each other, those new
non-hierarchical social arrangements may help us solve the fundamental problem
of the destruction inherent in human domination over the non-human world.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Robert Jensen
Robert Jensen is an emeritus professor in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Texas at Austin and collaborates with the
New Perennials Project at Middlebury College. He is the author of
It’s Debatable: Talking Authentically about Tricky Topics, coming this spring from Olive Branch Press. This essay is adapted from his book An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity, co-authored with Wes Jackson.
"What is the most important challenge facing women in the 21st
century, and why?"
That one isn't easy for anyone to answer, especially in 300 words
or less. But that was the assignment from editors of the University of Texas'
web site for faculty members contributing to the "Many Voices of
Feminism" collection, which is online at https://www.utexas.edu/features/2009/03/09/feminisms/.
It is an especially tricky question for a man to try to answer. Rather
than pretending to speak for women or for feminism, I wanted to explain why I
embraced feminism as a method for analyzing hierarchy that could be useful in
all social movements. Although men often treat feminism as a threat, in the 20
years I have been involved in feminist projects I have come to recognize it as
a gift to men who want to understand and critique not only gender but other
oppressive systems. For me, feminism is a crucial part of the struggle for
social justice and sustainability.
Below are the 306 words that I came up with, not to answer the question
but to hint at the compelling reasons we all should commit to feminism and the
other progressive social movements that are necessary if there is to be a hope
for a decent future, or any future at all.
Given the disastrous consequences of the human assault on the ecosystem
that makes our lives possible, the most important 21st-century challenge for
women is the same as for men: Can we change the way we organize ourselves socially,
politically, and economically in time to reverse this ecological collapse? Can
we learn to live in sustainable balance with the non-human world so that we
might make it to the end of the 21st century with our humanity intact?In facing these social, political, and economic challenges, I believe
women have a crucial contribution to make through feminism. My own intellectual
and political development is rooted in the feminism I learned from women, both
in the classroom and community. Much of my work has addressed men's use
and abuse of women and their sexuality in the sexual-exploitation industries:
prostitution, stripping, and pornography. But from those women I also learned
that feminism was not merely a concern for "women's issues"
but also a way of understanding power and critiquing the
domination/subordination dynamic that is central to so much of modern life. The
roots of that dynamic are in patriarchy, the system of male dominance that
arose only a few thousand years ago but that has been so destructive to people
and the earth. Patriarchy is incompatible with justice and sustainability.The challenge for feminism is to articulate an alternative to the
illegitimate hierarchies that structure our lives: men over women, white over
non-white, rich over poor, First World over
Third. That isn't "women's work" but
"feminism's work," which we all should undertake, in
conjunction with the many other intellectual and political movements concerned
with real justice. If we can change the way we treat each other, those new
non-hierarchical social arrangements may help us solve the fundamental problem
of the destruction inherent in human domination over the non-human world.
Robert Jensen
Robert Jensen is an emeritus professor in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Texas at Austin and collaborates with the
New Perennials Project at Middlebury College. He is the author of
It’s Debatable: Talking Authentically about Tricky Topics, coming this spring from Olive Branch Press. This essay is adapted from his book An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity, co-authored with Wes Jackson.
"What is the most important challenge facing women in the 21st
century, and why?"
That one isn't easy for anyone to answer, especially in 300 words
or less. But that was the assignment from editors of the University of Texas'
web site for faculty members contributing to the "Many Voices of
Feminism" collection, which is online at https://www.utexas.edu/features/2009/03/09/feminisms/.
It is an especially tricky question for a man to try to answer. Rather
than pretending to speak for women or for feminism, I wanted to explain why I
embraced feminism as a method for analyzing hierarchy that could be useful in
all social movements. Although men often treat feminism as a threat, in the 20
years I have been involved in feminist projects I have come to recognize it as
a gift to men who want to understand and critique not only gender but other
oppressive systems. For me, feminism is a crucial part of the struggle for
social justice and sustainability.
Below are the 306 words that I came up with, not to answer the question
but to hint at the compelling reasons we all should commit to feminism and the
other progressive social movements that are necessary if there is to be a hope
for a decent future, or any future at all.
Given the disastrous consequences of the human assault on the ecosystem
that makes our lives possible, the most important 21st-century challenge for
women is the same as for men: Can we change the way we organize ourselves socially,
politically, and economically in time to reverse this ecological collapse? Can
we learn to live in sustainable balance with the non-human world so that we
might make it to the end of the 21st century with our humanity intact?In facing these social, political, and economic challenges, I believe
women have a crucial contribution to make through feminism. My own intellectual
and political development is rooted in the feminism I learned from women, both
in the classroom and community. Much of my work has addressed men's use
and abuse of women and their sexuality in the sexual-exploitation industries:
prostitution, stripping, and pornography. But from those women I also learned
that feminism was not merely a concern for "women's issues"
but also a way of understanding power and critiquing the
domination/subordination dynamic that is central to so much of modern life. The
roots of that dynamic are in patriarchy, the system of male dominance that
arose only a few thousand years ago but that has been so destructive to people
and the earth. Patriarchy is incompatible with justice and sustainability.The challenge for feminism is to articulate an alternative to the
illegitimate hierarchies that structure our lives: men over women, white over
non-white, rich over poor, First World over
Third. That isn't "women's work" but
"feminism's work," which we all should undertake, in
conjunction with the many other intellectual and political movements concerned
with real justice. If we can change the way we treat each other, those new
non-hierarchical social arrangements may help us solve the fundamental problem
of the destruction inherent in human domination over the non-human world.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.