Feminist sociology is an interdisciplinary exploration of gender and power throughout society. Here,it uses conflict theory and theoretical perspectives to observe gender in its relation to power,both at the level of face-to-face interaction and reflexivity within social structures at large. Focuses include sexual orientation,race,economic status,and nationality.
Patricia Hill Collins is an American academic specializing in race,class,and gender. She is a distinguished university professor of sociology emerita at the University of Maryland,College Park. She is also the former head of the Department of African-American Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Collins was elected president of the American Sociological Association (ASA),and served in 2009 as the 100th president of the association –the first African-American woman to hold this position.
Fat feminism,often associated with "body-positivity",is a social movement that incorporates feminist themes of equality,social justice,and cultural analysis based on the weight of a woman or a non-binary feminine person. This branch of feminism intersects misogyny and sexism with anti-fat bias. Fat feminists advocate body-positive acceptance for all bodies,regardless of their weight,as well as eliminating biases experienced directly or indirectly by fat people. Fat feminists originated during third-wave feminism and is aligned with the fat acceptance movement. A significant portion of body positivity in the third-wave focused on embracing and reclaiming femininity,such as wearing makeup and high heels,even though the second-wave fought against these things. Contemporary western fat feminism works to dismantle oppressive power structures which disproportionately affect fat,queer,non-white,disabled,and other non-hegemonic bodies. It covers a wide range of topics such as diet culture,fat-phobia,representation in media,ableism,and employment discrimination.
Myra Marx Ferree is a former professor of sociology and director of the Center for German and European Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison,where she was also a member of the Women's Studies Program. In 2005 she was a Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin and in 2004 the Maria-Jahoda Visiting professor at the Ruhr University Bochum. Ferree retired in 2018.
Womyn-born womyn (WBW) is a term developed during second-wave feminism to designate women who were assigned female at birth,were raised as girls,and identify as women. The policy is noted for exclusion of trans women. Third-wave feminism and fourth-wave feminism have generally done away with the idea of WBW.
Patricia McFadden is a radical African feminist,sociologist,writer,educator,and publisher from Eswatini. She is also an activist and scholar who worked in the anti-apartheid movement for more than 20 years. McFadden has worked in the African and global women’s movements as well. As a writer,she has been the target of political persecution. She has worked as editor of the Southern African Feminist Review and African Feminist Perspectives. She currently teaches,and advocates internationally for women's issues. McFadden has served as a professor at Cornell University,Spelman College,Syracuse University and Smith College in the United States. She also works as a "feminist consultant",supporting women in creating institutionally sustainable feminist spaces within Southern Africa.
Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in her book Le Féminisme ou la Mort (1974). Ecofeminist theory asserts a feminist perspective of Green politics that calls for an egalitarian,collaborative society in which there is no one dominant group. Today,there are several branches of ecofeminism,with varying approaches and analyses,including liberal ecofeminism,spiritual/cultural ecofeminism,and social/socialist ecofeminism. Interpretations of ecofeminism and how it might be applied to social thought include ecofeminist art,social justice and political philosophy,religion,contemporary feminism,and poetry.
Lise Vogel is a feminist sociologist and art historian from the United States. An influential Marxist-feminist theoretician,she is recognised for being one of the main founders of the Social Reproduction Theory. She also participated in the civil rights and the women's liberation movements in organisations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Mississippi and Bread &Roses in Boston. In her earlier career as an art historian,she was one of the first to try to develop a feminist perspective on Art History.
Chandra Talpade Mohanty is a Distinguished Professor of Women's and Gender Studies,Sociology,and the Cultural Foundations of Education and Dean's Professor of the Humanities at Syracuse University. Mohanty,a postcolonial and transnational feminist theorist,has argued for the inclusion of a transnational approach in exploring women’s experiences across the world. She is author of Feminism Without Borders:Decolonizing Theory,Practicing Solidarity,and co-editor of Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism,Feminist Genealogies,Colonial Legacies,Democratic Futures,Feminism and War:Confronting U.S. Imperialism,,The Sage Handbook on Identities,and Feminist Freedom Warriors:Genealogies,Justice,Politics,and Hope.
Multiracial feminist theory refers to scholarship written by women of color (WOC) that became prominent during the second-wave feminist movement. This body of scholarship "does not offer a singular or unified feminism but a body of knowledge situating women and men in multiple systems of domination."
Cynthia Cockburn was a British academic,feminist,and peace activist.
Heidi Safia Mirza is a British academic,who is Professor of Race,Faith and Culture at Goldsmiths,University of London,Professor Emerita in Equalities Studies at the UCL Institute of Education,and visiting professor in Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE). She has done pioneering research on race,gender and identity in education,multiculturalism,Islamophobia and gendered violence,and was one of the first black women professors in Britain. Mirza is author and editor of several notable books,including Young,Female and Black (1992),Black British Feminism (1997),Tackling the Roots of Racism:Lessons for Success (2005),Race Gender and Educational Desire:Why Black Women Succeed and Fail (2009),Black and Postcolonial Feminisms in New Times (2012),and Respecting Difference:Race,Faith,and Culture for Teacher Educators (2012).
Feminist rhetoric emphasizes the narratives of all demographics,including women and other marginalized groups,into the consideration or practice of rhetoric. Feminist rhetoric does not focus exclusively on the rhetoric of women or feminists but instead prioritizes the feminist principles of inclusivity,community,and equality over the classic,patriarchal model of persuasion that ultimately separates people from their own experience. Seen as the act of producing or the study of feminist discourses,feminist rhetoric emphasizes and supports the lived experiences and histories of all human beings in all manner of experiences. It also redefines traditional delivery sites to include non-traditional locations such as demonstrations,letter writing,and digital processes,and alternative practices such as rhetorical listening and productive silence. In her book,Rhetorical Feminism and This Thing Called Hope (2018),Cheryl Glenn describes rhetorical feminism as,"a set of tactics that multiplies rhetorical opportunities in terms of who counts as a rhetor,who can inhabit an audience,and what those audiences can do." Rhetorical feminism is a strategy that counters traditional forms of rhetoric,favoring dialogue over monologue and seeking to redefine the way audiences view rhetorical appeals.
DrEsther Ngan-ling Chow is a sociologist and Emerita Professor at the American University,Washington D.C.,United States.
Nancy A. Naples is an American sociologist,and currently Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Women's,Gender,and Sexuality Studies at the University of Connecticut,where she is also director of graduate studies. She has contributed significantly to the study of community activism,poverty in the United States,inequality in rural communities,and methodology in women's studies and feminism.
Lola Olufemi is a British writer. She is an organiser with the London Feminist Library,and her writing has been published in many national and international magazines and newspapers. She is the author of Experiments in Imagining Otherwise and Feminism,Interrupted:Disrupting Power,and the co-editor of A FLY Girl's Guide to University:Being a Woman of Colour at Cambridge and Other Institutions of Power and Elitism.
E. Tendayi Achiume is a Professor of Law and former Faculty Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights at the University of California,Los Angeles. She served as the United Nations special rapporteur on Racism,Racial Discrimination,Xenophobia and Related Intolerance from her appointment in September 2017 until November 2022. She was the first woman appointed to this position since its creation in 1993.
Carrie N. Baker is an American lawyer,Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman Professor of American Studies,and Chair of the Program for the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College in Northampton,Massachusetts. She teaches courses on gender,law,public policy,and feminist activism and is affiliated with the American Studies program,the archives concentration,and the public policy minor. She co-founded and is a former co-director of the certificate in Reproductive Health,Rights,and Justice Program offered by the Five College Consortium.
Gargi Bhattacharyya is a British sociologist. They are professor of sociology at the University of East London (UEL).
Ruth Pearce is a British sociologist who is known for her research in transgender studies. Her work explores issues of inequality,marginalisation,power,and how communities of marginalised peoples can work to transform their lives. She is a senior fellow at the Center for Applied Transgender Studies and a lecturer in community development at the University of Glasgow's School of Education.
