Feminism in Post-war United States

The construction of a vindicatory and humane society, just like other kind and institutional facts is a long and verbose process, nevertheless, the task needs to be done. Within the United States, the construction of such(prenominal) a society stands as a solution of the various historic changes in spite of appearance the hoidenish, an standard of which can be seen in the changes within the country after its participation in the Second World War. The countrys participation in Second World War proved to be beneficial for its citizens on certain aspects as it enabled what Reinhold Niebuhr would state as the outlet of the children of light.In line with Niehburs argu ment in his book The Children of heat and the Children of Darkness, the children of light emerged within the post-World War II United States as the conditions within the country enabled the development of a society which opted for unity within the conditions of independence and order (20-21). An example of this is evident in the development of the feminist driving force in post-World War II United States. The feminist movement in the United States stands as a result of the nationalist and cultural movements in post-World War II United States.Feminist movements within the United States during this period took the division of either socialist womens lib, radical womens liberation movement, or liberal feminism. Each of these strands of feminism focuses on issues pertaining to womens exclusion from the political sphere they differ still in their view as to what enables such an exclusion. Socialist feminists argue that such an exclusion stands as a result of the moral order of social organizations.Radical feminists, on the other hand, argue that such an exclusion stands as a result of the prevalent sex or gender system in society. Finally, liberal feminists argue that such an exclusion stands as a result of the inequality amongst the sexes. Despite the differences of these three strands of f eminism mentioned above, the development of these three strands shows the elbow room in which post-World War II United States opted for the development of equality mingled with the sexes through the ascription not only of rationality but too agency upon women.Amongst the strands of feminism mentioned above, it is the initial strand radical feminism which proved to be prodigious for the development of the feminist movement during the initial period of post-World War II America as it highlighted the development of the arcminute wave of feminism in the United States. Betty Friedan (1968), in her book The Feminine Mystique, specifies the difference between the offset printing and second wave of feminism.She argues that as opposed to the first wave of feminism which was characterized by the creation of the feminine mystique which enabled the discovery of womens selves within the context of use of their initial roles in their careers, families, and relationships the second wave of feminism was characterized by the deconstruction of the feminine mystique as a result of womens recognition of the constantly oppressive character of their initial freed position in society (33-34). Since the second wave was influenced by the civil-rights protests and peace protests, it became more activist in character.An example of this activist character of the second wave of feminism is apparent in Kate Millets radical strand of feminism in her book informal Politics. Kate Millet (2000), in her book informal Politics, discusses one of the main issues of the feminist movement in post-World War II United States. Within her book, Millet argues that inequality between the sexes stands as a result of the unequal distribution of power amongst the sexes in society. She argues that womens subordination stands as a result of the ideological indoctrination of women by a time-worn society.She states that the essence of politics as power involves pursuit to prove that however muted i ts present appearance whitethorn be, sexual dominion obtains nevertheless as perhaps the most pervasive political orientation of our culture and provides its most fundamental concepts of power (Millet 25). The title of her book intimate Politics thereby aims to present her view of how womens subordination stands as a result of the continuation of patriarchal politics within twain the private and public spheres of life.Millet divides her book into three parts. The first part entitle Sexual Politics presents Millets thesis regarding the nature of power relations between the sexes. The second part entitled Historical Background presents a survey of the feminist struggle within the United States during the nineteenth and ordinal centuries. Finally, the third part entitled The Literary Reflection presents Millets views as to how the power relations between the sexes are visible in the literary works of D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, and Jean Genet. Millets argument that t he kernel of literary works mirrors the power relations between the sexes is based on the assumption that literature has a mimetic character. In other words, for Millet the gist of literary works mirror reality and hence the content of literary works may be used as a office of gauging how women have been continuously subordinated by men through their indoctrination of a patriarchal ideology.Within this context, the importance of Millets aforementioned book may thereby be ascribed to its existence as a socio-historical text which takes literature as a source material for a hypothesis about the relationships between men and women in the non-literary world from the late nineteenth century to the present time. In addition to this, Millets book stands as the first text which uses a feminist approach in reading or interpreting literary works.In line with Niehburs claim regarding the emergence of the children of light, one may note that the development of the feminist movement in post-W orld War II United States showed an example of the emergence of the children of light since the movement enabled the development of a United States which opted for the equality between the sexes thereby creating a free and nifty society through the emergence of works that not only subverted the prevailing ideology in society during that period but also created a new perspective in understanding reality.In the case of Kate Millets Sexual Politics, this is evident in her creation of a feminist standpoint for assessing literary works.