ABSTRACT. Since the publication of the best-selling The Feminine Mystique in 1963, which is associated in popular imagination with the late-twentieth-century women's movement, there has emerged a significant body of feminist commentary. Though feminist texts as a group appear to share a commitment to the critique of society organized around the norms of patriarchy, feminist discourse is far from unitary. Anthologies of feminist texts, indeed, seem at pains to include multiple theoretical and analytical voices, which may not agree. This study aims at developing a framework for assessing the structure of feminist discourse.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS. Attempting to define what feminism is or should be can frustrate one who faces dozens of texts represented as being feminist but dealing with many highly particularistic subjects and/or theories. This is touched on by Jaggar and Rothenberg (vi) when they agree that no "single framework will be adequate for all situations" of commentary and analysis. That suggests that many different frameworks of commentary are available to feminist discourse. On the other hand, Kelly (1) asserts that "Contemporary feminism has added few new ideas to Wollstonecraft's [1792] vision of a just society where women would share equally the responsibilities and rewards of men." Di Leonardo and Lancaster (LL 1) cite the irreversible changes in "Western understandings of gender and sexuality," a reflection of wider changes in the culture. Meanwhile, Jaggar and Rothenberg point to "enormous changes" (xi) in US and international society since the early days of the women's movement, though cautioning that women's social gains are under continual attack.
These descriptions of issue fronts of feminism lead to the question of whether it is possible to sort out feminist texts in a way that gives an organized account of contemporary feminist thought. Can feminist theories with different points of view be reconciled? If they c...