Ecofeminism?

I had never sought out to learn specifics about feminist theories, much less the distinction between the different waves or belief systems, until today. Having read chapter 3 and 4 out of my class textbook, I found that there are many distinct branches of gender-based ideologies associated with various womens and mens movements throughout history. On one end of the spectrum is liberal feminism, an ideology which describes men and women as equal, and deserving of equal opportunities and rights. Cultural feminism, on the other hand, is the belief that women and men are "fundamentally different", and therefore should have different expectations and rights.



Herein lies the reason that I've never researched more into types of feminism prior to this point; I knew that there were different belief systems attatched to each type of feminism, as with any political system, but the extreme views put me off. I believe that all people are fundamentally similar, and without this belief who is to say how far is too far? Different rights for different people sounds like a dangerous direction to go in. Dividing and categorizing people only distracts from the bigger picture, the fact that everything lives together on the earth as part of an interdependent system.


The movement which I identified most closely with was the ecofeminist movement. I appreciate how it emphasizes finding common ground, rather than focusing on differences and oppression of others. Responsible consumption is highlighted, and men and women are believed to be equally important in the grand scheme. My favorite aspect of ecofeminism is the fact that its main intention is essentially to educate. The book talks about bringing "themselves and others to a new conciousness of humans' interdependence with all other life forms", which to my knowledge is a fact... Food web, right? ( I learned it's not food chain anymore). The book describes ecofeminism as a branch of cultural feminism, but the section that i read didn't really explain that. I felt that ecofeminism was more liberal, which is a good reason to look further into it.


Now that I know about the different types of womens and mens movements, I feel more educated. I'm probably going to do more research about ecofeminism, to figure out why it is labeled as cultural. When I find out, I'll come back and let you know.