Feminism+and+Cinderella

 **FEMINISM AND CINDERELLA**  Feminist theory is not a monolithic ideology but an assortment of approaches gathered under an umbrella term. Each approach offers a way of understanding gender and its significance; although the approaches are often complementary, they at times conflict with one another in their basic assumptions.  The so-called **liberal** position is one that even Rush Limbaugh (the coiner of the term 'Feminazis') would agree with. It looks at gender as a matter of individuals //who happen to be women//. Its emphasis, therefore, is on eliminating the obstacles that hold women down (smashing the glass ceiling).  The **essentialist** position is fundamentally different. It sees gender (and, therefore the differences between the genders) as a fundamental biological fact that defines who we are..   A **Socialist (Marxist)** approach consider gender in terms of dominance and submission. While acknowledging the role played by patriarchy, these approaches place the oppression within larger, more encompassing patterns of oppression based on race, class, or colonial exploitation.   Let's consider Cinderella. The following is based on the two most famous versions of the story - the first by Charles Perrault, who was the source for Disney, and the second by the Brothers Grimm. . A **liberal** feminist might argue that Cinderella is an obviously able young woman whose only option, because she lives in a society in which she cannot break the glass ceiling, is to wear the glass slipper. (She might also suggest that the cruelty of the stepssisters is due to their recognition that they lack the only currency - beauty - of any value to women in this society.)  <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">An **essentialist** would see Cinderella as a young woman driven by her biology to defy her step-mother and attend the Prince's ball. <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">A feminist with **psychoanalytical** inclinations would go farther, exploring the Oedipal implications in Cinderella's relationship with her father or the abandonment issues surrounding the early death of her mother and the subsequent death/withdrawal of her father. The story, from this perspective, would show how intra-psychic conflict can be resolved and the individual move on to the next stage of development. <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">An **existential** approach might focus on the depiction of the step-mother and her daughters, whose aggression and self-centeredness makes them too 'mannish.' In contrast, Cinderella - who submits to her cruel step-sisters and flees from the Prince rather than chases after him - conforms to society's idea of female 'otherness.' <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">A **Marxist** would emphasize Cinderella's double oppression - as a woman and as someone forced by her middle-class step family into the proletariat (in fact, the family has made Cinderella a non-person - she is not known to exist). The story from this perspective is a myth intended to ensure subservience: be quiet, do the domestic chores, and you will be rewarded. <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">A **radical** feminist, after noting that the story was transcribed, published, and filmed by men, would probably throw it in the trash and then re-write it. <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">
 * <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Psychoanalytical **<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> and **existentialist** approaches accept the essentialist position that gender differences are rooted in biology, but only as a starting point. A psychoanalytical approach examines how these difference are elaborated through early family practices; an existential approach, in contrast, examines how society develops these difference into its conception of woman as 'other' (that is, 'not-man').
 * <span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Radical **<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">feminism (what Rush Limbaugh has in mind) moves beyond these approaches by positing that women suffer oppression in its deepest, most powerful form. Because this oppression not only shapes how women behave but pervades the way they think, it defines who they are. In a sense, it is essentialism (the belief that gender is the first principle) without the biology.