Gender Studies Paper on Schmidt’s and Ynestra King Principles
Question 1
The identified Schmidt’s principles and practices to follow include; educating and teaching self-defense to women, aiding the battered women’s movement, breaking the silence, telling stories, and creating safety zones. First, educating women leads to their empowering hence they are able to understand their unique value in the society as well as their rights. On the same note, teaching women self-defense techniques helps in dealing with the pathological characters in the society who cannot be argued with. As such, if a woman with knowledge in self-defense is attacked by such a character, she will have a better chance of defending herself. Moreover, different societies have movements which seek to assist the battered women. It is the duty of the society as a whole to assist such women, avoid any stigma and hence help the victims feel that they are understood. Also, it is imperative to break the silence on violence against women and children. Some societies are known to down look such occurrences hoping that things will be better with time. However, seldom do things ever get better hence speaking about an issue/telling stories about an issue and addressing it immediately can help a lot (Comack and Salena 34). Lastly, we can create safety zones for victims of violence whereby they are taken care off as they recuperate. This approach helps in both physical and psychological healing.
The above principles and actions can be used to end violence in Canadian society. The main approach to be taken is the comprehensive enlightening of the society. In this case, women will should be enlightened about their value and rights while their men counterparts should be enlightened on treating women and children non-violently. Additionally, victims of violence should be supported without any stigma and the violence against them should be addressed from a legal perspective. However, care should be taken so as not to address violence with violence (Moore 298).
Question 2
Ynestra King expostulated and advanced the ecofeminism theory clearly. In this theory, Ynestra argues that the ecological crisis is caused by the hatred for everything that is natural and female by the whites, and especially by the white western formulators of philosophy schools of thought and death inventions. As such, systematic denigration of women, people of culture, animals and all the issues connected to dualism lies at the root of western civilization. This leads to a form of hierarchy originating within the human society with its roots in the domination of a human being by another human being and more so, women by men (Hinojosa 178). As such, ecofeminism links peace and ecology that desires for a society which is free of violence with nature-friendly technologies, philosophies and sustainable economies which are respectful of place and culture. Ynestra’s approach takes four steps which include; critiquing modernity and capitalism as well as the relationship between the two, critiquing and redefining ‘reason’ and ‘science’ to encapsulate nonwestern scientific points of view, acknowledge women on their contribution in the provision of revolutionary knowledge and peace and ecology by acknowledging non-violence as a practice of social change (Hinojosa 184).
Lastly, Ynestra King shows connections between misogyny and the militaristic actions of governments and soldiers. Militarism has an adverse effects on the environment surrounding it. This is due to the fact that Militarism devastates the environment and the people around which it takes place. Additionally, the production of weapons and waste as result of war has an adverse effect on the environment (Hinojosa 194). As such, ecofeminism brings visibility to the long-term effects that war has on people and the environment.
Works Cited
Moore, Niamh. Eco/Feminism, Non-Violence and the Future of Feminism. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 10. 3, 282-298, 2008.
Comack, Elizabeth, and Brickey, Salena. Constituting the Violence of Criminalized Women. Canadian Journal of Criminology & Criminal Justice, 49.1, 1-36, 2007.
Hinojosa, Ramon. Doing Hegemony: Military, Men, and Constructing a Hegemonic Masculinity. Journal of Men’s Studies, 18.2, 179-194, 2010.