1. Liberal Feminism: Enlightenment, rights, (supported the Equal Rights Amendment or E.R.A.); sometimes called equity feminism, individualist feminism, moderate feminism, or libertarian feminism
2. Marxist Feminism: capitalism oppresses both genders - but especially women due to their lower occupational statuses
3. Radical Feminism: eliminating patriarchy; Shulamith Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex, and Valerie Solanas's SCUM (the Society for Cutting Up Men), have argued (perhaps less than seriously) that all men should be killed
4. Socialist Feminism: blend of Marxist and radical feminisms (akin to Sylvia Walby's dual systems theory, i.e., patriarchy and capitalism)
5. Anarcha-feminism: anarchist approach to feminism; advocates the elimination of hierarchies, including patriarchy and capitalism (similar to the more Marxian socialist feminism)
6. Ecofeminism: environment/ecology and women - the wombs of humanity - both oppressed by male-dominated capitalism
7. Constructionist Feminism: numerous anti-essentialist, poststructural, and postmodern approaches which, like the one utilized by Donna Haraway, challenge essentialist views of gender; for instance, Judith Butler's take on queer theory, with "queer" referring to "different" (partly inspired by Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida); also various takes on gender (and perhaps even sex) as principally social or psychological, but not biological, categories (susceptible to deconstruction); and psychological androgyny (Sandra L. Bem, 1974)
8. Sex-positive Feminism; a social constructionist (postmodern) approach which regards sexual freedom (as constructed) to be an important component of feminism; often defends prostitution
9. Cross-cultural Feminism: various approaches (including transnational feminism, post-colonial feminism, and third-world feminism) which focus on the importance of contextualizing feminism in diverse societies; can be seen as specialized types of constructionist, or sometimes Marxist, feminism
10. Lesbian Feminism: focuses on lesbianism as a feminist criticism of male-dominated sexuality and as a means for women to bond with one another
11. Transfeminism: specialized type of constructionist feminism (focusing on gender as socially constructed) with special reference to transgendered persons
12. Existential Feminism: regards the problems of women as stemming from a lack of meaning due to domestic activities (seen as a "confinement")
13. Womanism: African-American perspectives on feminism (seen as distinct from many other feminisms which focus on middle-class white women)
14. Cultural Feminism, also called "difference feminism," believes in the existence of a feminine essence (essentialism) which differs from the masculine essence; often mythopoeic, i.e., story-telling and myth-making; includes the "new feminism" (emphasizing equality with men as well as difference); an important book in this area was Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique (1963)
15. Spiritual Feminism: specialized form of essentialism which centers on the worship of the Goddess (sometimes called "Diana"); often sees all women as manifesting the Goddess; related to Dianic Wicca and connected with "thealogy" (word derived from theology or "God talk" - interested in Goddess talk, concerned with the sacred feminine, or focused on women's theological perspectives); mythopoeic
16. Amazon Feminism: the physically strong woman as liberated; sometimes inspired by the syndicated television show, Xena (1995-2001); frequently mythopoeic
17. Psychoanalytic Feminism: regards the oppression of women as a result of psychological and sexual development in early childhood

1. Feminist Men: refers to men who support one or more species of feminism and often included (1970s) an advocacy for the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.)
2. Non-Feminist Men: approaches to masculism which focus on men's rights and which tend to adopt a more confrontational, sometimes legal, approach to issues such as fathers' rights; in its most extreme form, it is misogynistic and bashing, as in the man who used to appear on daytime talk shows wearing a dress (mocking women)
3. Free Men: a moderate, egalitarian perspective on masculism which supports one or more types of feminism and advocates men's rights, as well; includes Steven Dixon's Masculinism®
4. Constructionist Masculism: deconstruction of gender roles; androgyny; includes Herb Goldberg's The New Male and his references to "macho-psychotic behavior"
5. Marxist Masculism: capitalism encourages men to be oppressors
6. Mythopoeic Masculism: essentialist views; going to the mountains (as warriors), putting on minimal clothing (i.e., loin cloth), beating drums, and proclaiming one's role as protector (story-telling and myth-making); the counterpart in the men's movement to spiritual feminism
7. Promise Keepers: essentialist and traditionalist (moral and ethical purity)

Copyright © 2001-2008 Mark A. Foster, Ph.D.