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Sophia Wiest

Mr. Clark

Honors British Literature

9 March 2018

Feminism Research Paper

I. What is Feminism and the Different Types of Feminism

Feminism is seemingly simple word, but it is misunderstood by so many. Today, so many

people don’t understand feminists, their actions, or their goals. The first thing that people should

know is that there are different kinds of feminists with their own beliefs and goals. The five

different feminists are egalitarian, career-first, sexual-liberation, anti-male, and quasi feminism

(Carlin).

The first type is the egalitarian feminism. Egalitarian feminists want equal rights between

both men and women both socially and legally. They believe that every women should have the

same opportunities as men (Carlin) because for a very long period of time, men and women were

not treated equally. Today, women have a lot more rights than women in the past, but there is still

a long way to go.

The second type is the career-first feminist, which are women whose first goal is to find a

job then get married and have children if they desire to do so (Carlin). These women believe that

having a job is top priority because of the fact that women were originally confined to housework

(Carlin). Career-first feminists are determined to be a part of the workforce.

The third type is sexual-liberation feminists, who fight for women’s freedom and want total

equality between the sexes. These types of feminists have similar beliefs to the Catholic Church

because they believe in only having one significant other and remaining a virgin until the wedding
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day (Carlin). Even though this is what sexual-liberation feminists believe, many of them find this

concept absurd. They think that women should have many sexual partners (Carlin). This being

said, these women believe in the right to abortion and also support of both homosexual and

bisexual relationships (Carlin).

The fourth type is anti-male feminists, who believe that they do not need men in their lives.

They look at society as being split between male dominance and female subordinance. The vast

majority of the feminists that fall under this category are lesbians, and those that are not lesbians

feel shame for their sexuality (Carlin).

The fifth type of feminist is Quasi-religious feminists. Due to the decrease in traditional

religion in the last centuries, people have turned to “quasi-religions” (Carlin). Quasi religion

started in 1970’s and its goal was to either convert people to this faith or provide those who never

had a faith with quasi religion. For example, if someone is Catholic and belongs to a Church, quasi

religion will provide similar things to fill the void and will seem as if you are not missing anything.

Today, quasi religion is not as common, and most feminists that believed in this religion have died

or became septuagenarians or octogenarians (Carlin). According to David Carlin’s statistics, 99%

of women fall in the first category of feminism (Carlin).

II. Church’s view on Feminism

Many people have debated on whether a person can be Catholic and a feminist. Some

studies have shown that Catholicism and feminism are similar in some ways, and a person can be

both a Catholic and a feminist (Fox-Genovese). The Church, however, has a different view on this

subject. From the research performed, it was found that Catholicism and feminism are too adverse

from each other for a person to be both. While both Catholics and feminists agree on a few topics
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such as not having premarital sex prior to being married (Fox-Genovese), there is no other similar

quality that they share.

They do have many differences. From a feminist point of view they are more pro-choice

as opposed to Catholics who are predominately pro-life. The reasoning behind feminists being

mainly pro-choice is due to the fact that they want equal rights across the board (Fox-Genovese).

The feminist stance that since men cannot birth children and will never know that experience,

abortion is the alternative for women. Abortion goes completely against Catholic belief, because

Catholics see this as the killing of an innocent unborn child (Fox-Genovese). Catholics believe

that every life matters from the day of conception, and Catholics turn towards adoption as another

option if the parent cannot care for the child.

Feminists are also open to lesbians, bisexuals, etc. (Fox-Genovese), but Catholicism does

not totally agree with that statement. It is not that the Catholic Church hates homosexuals, and they

do not agree with homosexual sexual intercourse. Homosexual acts go against how God designed

man and woman because they were designed for each other. No two of the same gender can

multiple the earth with life, and that is the reason why the Catholic Church is against it (Fox-

Genovese).

III. An Ideal Feminist

Who is an ideal feminist? This topic is heavily debated because there are so many feminists,

and it is difficult to narrow down to what traits a feminist should have. Obviously, one must have

a pro-choice like mindset and follow the basic rules of what they believe as discussed above. Even

though that today there is no image or person that is the face for feminism today, doesn’t mean

that there was never one at a different time period. In the 1940’s, when World War II started and

the men had to go to war, this was women’s opportunity to have a job in the workforce. These
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women needed some motivation to keep moving forward. These women looked up to Rosie the

Riveter, who was a famous campaign ad known for saying, “We Can Do It!” (History). This

campaign ad’s purpose was to motivate women to join the workforce while their husbands were

off at war. In the 1940’s, the females who were in the workforce went from 27% to 37% (History).

IV. Feminists in the Future

In the future, feminism will only get stronger and more outspoken. Considering where

women started in the 1940’s to where we are today, the progression of feminism will keep getting

stronger. There were three main waves of feminism, the first one started in the 1830’s to early

1900’s, where women were being taken advantage of and had no rights at all, including the right

to vote (Dorey-Stein). This was a time where all women stayed home and taking care of the

children was there main priority while the men went to work. This is when the feminist’s seeds

were planted and from then on out the plant has continued to grow (Dorey-Stein).

The second wave was in 1940’s-1980 when World War II broke out and all the men had to

go back to war. This was women’s chance to finally get a job in the workforce (Dorey-Stein). This

is also when the ad of Rosie the Riveter came out to motivate women going into the workforce

(Dorey-Stein).

Then the third and final wave, 1990’s to present time, which is the topic that was

spent the most time on. Today, women have come a long way endlessly fighting for

their rights that they earn. Today, “women still are fighting for acceptance and

true understanding of the term feminism” (Dorey-Stein). Future plans for feminists would

be to continue what they have always done and continue to fight for what they think is

right. From when they started in the 1830’s to where we are today, there has been a
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huge change in women’s rights. In the future, maybe one day women will finally get what

they have always wanted, equal rights for women.

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Work Cited

David Carlin. “Five Kinds of Feminism.” The Catholic Thing, 29 June 2017,

www.thecatholicthing.org/2017/06/30/five-kinds-of-feminism/.

Dorey-Stein, Caroline, et al. “A Brief History: The Three Waves of Feminism.” Progressive

Women's Leadership, 11 Jan. 2018

Driscoll, Emily. “The Ideal Feminist.” The Spectrum, 11 Sept. 2014, ndsuspectrum.com/the-

ideal-feminist/.

History.com Staff. “Rosie the Riveter.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010,

www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/rosie-the-riveter.

User, Super. “Catholic and Feminist: Can One Be Both?” Catholic Education Resource Center,

30 June 2017.