Choice feminism
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Choice feminism is a critical term for expressions of feminism that emphasize women’s freedom of choice.[1][2] Such expressions seek to be “non-judgmental” and to reach as many allies as possible, which is considered depoliticization by its critics.[1]
Despite its individualistic aspect, choice feminism differs from individualist feminism in that it is not deliberately a movement. It has been associated with neoliberalism and postfeminism.[2][3][4]
Origins
[edit]Linda Hirshman first used the term in Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World (2006) to oppose the alleged free choice of housewives. Her argument centered around the societal harms of women sacrificing their career aspirations to stay at home.[1]
"Choice feminism", the shadowy remnant of the original movement, tells women that their choices, everyone's choices, the incredibly constrained "choices" they made, are good choices.[5]: 1–2
In her essay “Choice Feminism and the Fear of Politics”, gender studies scholar Michaele Ferguson argues that choice feminism emerges in response to the accusations of feminism being too radical, exclusionary and judgemental. It seeks to be the opposite of that, sometimes approaching postfeminism.[1]
Understood as an orientation, choice feminism has three important features. First, it understands freedom as the capacity to make individual choices, and oppression as the inability to choose. Consequently, as long as a woman can say that she has chosen to do something, it is considered by choice feminists to be an expression of her liberation. Second, since the only criterion for evaluating women’s freedom is individual choice, we should abstain from judging the content of the choices women make. It is definitionally impossible for a woman to choose her own oppression; all choices she makes are equally expressions of her freedom, and therefore equally to be supported. Finally, this view of freedom is supported by a particular historical narrative: it is the women’s movement in the past that has made it possible for women to make free choices in the present.[1]: 248
Ferguson identifies a great influence of liberal individualism in choice feminism. She cites Amy Richards, Jennifer Baumgardner, Naomi Wolf, and Rebecca Walker as examples of choice feminists.
According to choice feminism, a stay-at-home mother and a business woman are equally feminist, because they both have exercised the right of choice and therefore expressed their freedom.[6]
Serene J. Khader, who speaks about choice feminism in her book Faux Feminism: Why We Fall for White Feminism and How We Can Stop[7], Serene J. Khader speaks against the idea of focusing entirely on the individual choice in feminist movements. She writes: “It is either a goal of feminism to fight for choice alone or to fight for more.” Serene J. Khader is suggesting that as a feminist, you can focus on a singular choice or a choice in a certain area, or as a feminist, you can fight for more than just a choice. Why and what is affecting people to stereotype a woman into making a certain choice? Why focus on getting the choice when you can attack the main issue, which is the why, what, and how?
Serene J. Khader writes and speaks a lot on the ideas of individual choice in feminism and speaks against it. She believes that the focus of one's individual views and choices should not overshadow the choices and views of others. If the feminist movement fixates on one individual, it will never fix any issues. She writes in an article posted by CUNY, the university where she is a professor currently. "The dilution of feminism into respect for individual freedom is justifying policies and actions that don't actually do anything for the majority of women."[8] Serene J. Khader is expressing that women should fight for the good of all women instead of individuality. Women face many stereotypes, but how does it help all women if you solve the issue for yourself or a few other women? There is still a bigger issue from the structure of society that is nurturing these ideas that women are supposed to be certain things, do certain things, etc. She says in an interview with CUNY her thoughts on how focusing on the past affects feminism today, "...the idea that patriarchy is in the past should feel like a strange idea..."[9] In this quote, she is explaining how if the feminist community dilutes its ideas and values to an individual's views and choices, then it will lose all of its power and change it is trying to create for the majority of women. She also voices her concerns about if you focus on the individualistic ideas, then you ignore the broader social structures that are actually influencing those individual choices. What she is explaining in this interview is that feminist today will say things like "we wont go back" which implies that the issue at hand has been solved already. She references in a previous election one of the main slogans that feminists used in protest for the opposing politicians was "we won't go back" saying that they won't go back to an era where they didn't have the right to different choices. But, the politician they were fighting for was running with multiple sexual abuse accusations as well as appointing other individuals with sexual abuse accusations. This shows that the idea of another man taking away the choice from a woman in an inappropriate way is still prevalent today and isn't an idea just from the past. This is Serene J. Khader's argument that choice feminism doesn't solve an issue, but it almost masks it for the time being or for a certain group of people, but not for women as a whole.
Linda Hirshman, a feminist philosopher who argues that choice feminism doesn't solve the broader issue at hand is summarized saying, "Linda Hirshman coined the phrase “choice feminism” to name the widespread belief in the US that the women's movement has liberated women to make whatever choices they want. While Hirshman focuses on the choices women make about wage work and unpaid labor in the home, choice feminism is a much broader phenomenon."[10]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Ferguson, Michaele L. (March 2010). "Choice Feminism and the Fear of Politics". Perspectives on Politics. 8 (1): 247–253. doi:10.1017/S1537592709992830. ISSN 1541-0986.
- ^ a b Esteve, Gladys (2022). "Beyond 'Choice': Theorizing Women's Agency". Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture. 26 (3).
- ^ Budgeon, Shelley (August 2015). "Individualized femininity and feminist politics of choice". European Journal of Women's Studies. 22 (3): 303–318. doi:10.1177/1350506815576602. ISSN 1350-5068.
- ^ Čakardić, Ankica (4 May 2023). "Down the Neoliberal Path: The Rise of Free Choice Feminism". AM Journal of Art and Media Studies. 14 (14): 33–44. doi:10.25038/am.v0i14.215.
- ^ Hirshman, Linda R. (2006). Get to work: a manifesto for women of the world. New York: Viking. ISBN 978-0670038121.
- ^ "Choice Feminism: New and Hip, but Not Necessarily Good". The F-Word Magazine. 2019-11-04. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
- ^ Khader, Serene (2024). Faux Feminism: Why We Fall for White Feminism and How We Can Stop.
- ^ "'Faux Feminism' Calls for a More Inclusive Women's Movement". www.gc.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
- ^ "'Faux Feminism' Calls for a More Inclusive Women's Movement". www.gc.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
- ^ Ferguson, Michaele L. (March 2010). "Choice Feminism and the Fear of Politics". Perspectives on Politics. 8 (1): 247–253. doi:10.1017/S1537592709992830. ISSN 1541-0986.
