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The author would like to thank Lynn Sanders, Celeste Montoya, Mario Feit, Michaele Ferguson, Nancy Hirschmann, Jennet Kirkpatrick, Jill Locke, Lori Marso, Laurie Naranch, Mikki Snyder-Hall, and Steve Vanderheiden for helpful comments that greatly improved this essay.
How should feminist theorists respond when women who claim to be feminists make "choices" that seemingly prop up patriarchy? Juliette Fretté poses for Playboy and calls herself a feminist; she says she finds her own buxom, blonde image "sexy as hell."1 "Hip-hop feminist" Joan Morgan confesses her attraction to the trappings of patriarchy, the rituals of chivalry, the thrill of objectification, and the sexiness of male dominance: "Truth be told, men with too many 'feminist' sensibilities have never" turned her on.2 Laura Doyle supports feminism in public but advocates "traditional gender roles" at home because they help her feel "more feminine, and therefore more intimate." She believes women should "surrender" to their husbands and let them be in charge, yet she calls herself a "feminist."3
Women's relationship to their own socially constructed desires has long been a challenge for feminism. In fact, the second-wave of the American feminist movement split over issues related to sexuality. Feminists found themselves on opposite sides of a series of contentious debates about issues such as pornography, sex work, and heterosexuality, with one side seeing evidence of gender oppression and the other opportunities for sexual pleasure and empowerment. Since the mid-1990s, however, a third wave of feminism has developed in the US that seeks to reunite the ideals of gender equality and sexual freedom that came apart during the "sex wars." Because third-wave feminism insists that each woman must decide for herself how to negotiate the often contradictory desires for both gender equality and sexual liberation, it sometimes seems to uncritically endorse behaviors that appear problematic. Despite media caricatures, however, the third-wave approach actually exhibits not a thoughtless endorsement of "choice," but rather a deep respect for pluralism and self-determination.
What's Wrong with "Choice"?
This symposium focuses on debates surrounding what Linda Hirshman has termed "choice feminism"--the idea that feminism should simply give women choices and not pass judgment on what they choose. While the term "choice feminism" may not have made it into...