A Feminist Aspect Theory of the Self

Abstract

The contemporary Women’s Movement has generated major new theories of the social construction of gender and male power. The feminist attack on the masculinist assumptions of cognitive psychology, psychoanalysis and most of the other academic disciplines has raised questions about some basic assumptions of those fields. For example, feminist economists have questioned the public/private split of much of mainstream economics, that ignores the social necessity of women’s unpaid housework and childcare. Feminist psychologists have challenged cognitive and psychoanalytic categories of human moral and gender development arguing that they are biased toward the development of male children rather than female children. Feminist anthropologists have argued that sex/gender systems, based on the male exchange of women in marriage, have socially produced gender differences in sexuality and parenting skills which have perpetuated different historical and cultural forms of male dominance. Feminist philosophers and theorists have suggested that we must reject the idea of a gender-free epistemological standpoint from which to understand the world. Finally radical feminists have argued that the liberal state permits a pornography industry that sexually objectifies women, thus legitimizing male violence against women.

“And Ain't I a Woman?” Toward a Multicultural Approach to Gender and Morality

“…As Houston (1987) has warned, if some virtues are available only to women, there is a danger in reclaiming the so-called womanly virtues of caring, nurturing, and conciliating without being sensitive to women's relative powerlessness. Ferguson (1987) has argued that both minimizing and maximizing emphases in gender-difference research are too atomistic and static. She presented an aspect theory, which suggested that "conscious self-hood is an ongoing process in which both unique individual priorities and social constraints vie in limiting and defining one's self-identity" (p. 350).…”

Identity Construction, Self Perceptions, and Criminal Behavior of Incarcerated Women

“…Given that identity is an evolving construct in a constant state of change (Barcinski and Kalia 2005;Ferguson 1989;Sands 1996), it is recommended that future identity research be conducted at different points in time. Three examples are before the felony conviction process to better understand the process of how individuals come to identify with being a criminal, which may include factors such as parental neglect, sexual abuse, or substance abuse that may prevent the development of high self esteem (Crocker and Major 1989).…”

“…A second related limitation was that Erikson suggested that women did not possess identities independent of their husbands. This idea has received a great deal of criticism by researchers who argued that women's identities diverged from men (Josselson 1987) and that identity is an evolving construction in a constant state of change (Barcinski and Kalia 2005;Ferguson 1989;Sands 1996).…”

Yaratıcı drama yönteminin kadınların özsaygı düzeyine etkililiği

“…Dahası erkekler sosyal ve ekonomik üstünlükleri nedeniyle kadınları aşağı görür. Birçok feministin kabul ettiği gibi kadınların özsaygı ve sonuç olarak bireysel güçleri, kadınları küçümseyen imajlar sayesinde oluşur ve bunlar kadınlar tarafından da içselleştirilir, dolayısıyla kadınların özsaygıları erkek egemen toplum tarafından zayıflatılmıştır (Ferguson, 1989).…”

“…Bunun için önerilen bir yol kadınların toplum tarafından engellenen beceri eksikliğini telafi için gerekli becerilerin geliştirilmesini teşvik eden feminist eğitim programları düzenlemektir. Başka bir eğitsel ihtiyaçda psikolojik olarak yeniden eğitilmeleri ve bilinç yükseltme içeren eğitimlere katılmalarıdır (Ferguson, 1989). Burns (1982), öz saygının geliştirilmesinde küçük eğitim gruplar, danışan merkezli danışma ve davranışçı yaklaşımın benimsendiği özsaygı geliştirme programlarının en çok kullanıldığını belirtir.…”