Feminist Theory

Feminism is a set of theories that identify and analyze the devaluation of femininity and the status and privileges associated with masculinity in a sexist/patriarchal/male-dominated society.

Things stereotypically associated with masculinity in male-dominated cultures, such as Eastern and Western ones, tend to carry more status and prestige than things stereotypically associated with femininity.

This means that individuals who identify as male may earn status simply by virtue of their gender identification (this is sometimes called "male privilege").

Komter, in her study of heterosexual married couples, for example, found that wives held husbands in higher esteem than husbands held wives. Moreover, husbands held themselves in higher esteem than wives held themselves, suggesting that wives had lower self-esteem than husbands.

Feminist perspectives on intimate partner violence put gender at the centre of the analysis.

Put simply: they see the abuse of women at the hands of men to be an expression of male dominance.

They point to a long history in which wives were (or are) the property of husbands and in which husbands were allowed legally to beat and rape wives (and, in some instances, even encouraged to do so to ensure wives’ obedience).

Feminist theories also reject the idea that violence in families is the result of an individual aberration or deviance or pathology (see Family violence perspective wiki page) but they argue that gender, rather than family, should be the primary unit of analysis.

Feminists consider the idea of dividing public and private sector is created in order to differentiate social classes based on gender. During the industrial revolution, women were not given jobs in the paid labour force and were almost forced to stay home (private sphere). They were removed from the public sphere and put under less regulated sphere where men could easily conceal the family violence (White & Klein, 2002).

White, J. M., & Klein, D. M. (2002). Family Theories (2nd Ed.). California: Sage Publications, Inc.