Feminist Theory

Feminist theory is a diverse body of thought based for the most part on one or more traditional or contemporary political, social, and cultural theories such as liberalism, socialism, and postmodernism. The difference between feminist theory and nonfeminist theory is that the former self-consciously reflects on the experience of women and deliberately uses the lens of gender as its preferred critical perspective. Sometimes nonfeminist theorists fault feminist theorists for not viewing reality through the single lens of the quintessential impartial and objective human being but instead through the multiple lenses of partial and subjective existing women. But feminist theorists are not flummoxed by this harsh critique. They respond that no one can simply be human. Among other feminist theorists, Susan Bordo emphasizes that reality is ...