THE DECONSTRUCTION OF ‘MOTHERHOOD’

Abstract

As the times change, so does feminism. It is of common knowledge that the goals and objectives have changed over the years to reflect the dynamic nature of society. Feminists have succeeded in some ways with women now enjoying more of a role in the political and social sphere, but certain stereotypes and generalisations seem to persist regardless.

But even with the so-called progressiveness that has permeated into society over the years, a problem that exists within feminism as a pertinent movement is its fragmentation. Excessive fragmentation, at that. Now, while you may hear how this fragmentation helps the faction of women who are continually subjugated and shunned by society regardless of how women are perceived on the whole, that doesn’t necessarily hold true.

The scope of the movement has become so vast that we now have sub-groups within the movement fighting amongst themselves. This is seen in areas such as the feminist porn movement, where the two respective groups of feminists for and against the aforementioned subject matter are constantly at each other’s throats. Those critical of pornography argue that the way sex is portrayed in the sex industry depict women as being subservient to male desires and impulses, and no more than a tool for these men to achieve climax. This in turn leads to a situation where men begin to believe that they can sexually do with women as they please (leading to a rape culture amongst other atrocities).