HOMOSEXUAL, bisexual, and transsexual movements).
Other variants include developing-world feminism
(which insists that neocolonial women are more
oppressed than Northern Hemisphere, Eurocentric
women) and ecofeminism (which combines women’s
rights with ENVIRONMENTALISM). All these forms of fem-
inism are premised on giving women more power.
Further Readings
Beauvoir, S. de. The Second Sex,H. M. Parshley, transl. and ed.
New York: Vintage Books, 1953, 1968.
Fuller, M. The Writings of Margaret Fuller,New York: Viking,
1941.
Leach, W. True Love and Perfect Union: The Feminist Reform of
Sex and Society.New York: Basic Books, 1980.
Mill, J. S. “The Subjection of Women” (1869). In The Collected
Works of John Stuart Mill,J. M. Robson, ed., vol. XXI. 1984.
Mitchell, J. Woman’s Estate.New York: Pantheon Books, 1973.
Richards, J. R. The Sceptical Feminist: A Philosophical Inquiry.
London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.
Taylor, B. Eve and the New Jerusalem. New York: Pantheon
Books, 1983.
Wollstonecraft, M. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,
New York: Penguin, 1993.feudalism/feudal
A political and economic system and culture in Europe
during the MIDDLE AGES(roughly 800–1600).
Developed during CHARLEMAGNE’s empire, feudalism
was essentially a military system to protect Europeans
from the invading Magyars and Vikings. This protec-
tion was provided by the king by dividing his territory
among knights or nobility who usually resided in a
walled castle. The nobleman (or prince) ruled the agri-
cultural district around him and provided military pro-
tection to the agrarian peasants, who, in return, gave a
portion of their agricultural produce and service to
this landlord.
The social and political relations that developed in
this feudal system, then, involved mutual OBLIGATIONS
and honor. Over the years, they became traditions and
customs, often accompanied by festivals and religious
observances. Because Europe was CHRISTIAN by this
time, this medieval social order was integrated into
the CATHOLICfaith and even regarded as a holy Roman
empire. Social conduct was highly personal (as
opposed to formal or legal), and individual or family
loyalty duties and TRADITIONS took precedence over
purely legal codes. Separate regions were distin-
guished by often complex social practices and con-
ventions. Society was HIERARCHICAL (by strict order
and rank), with the higher ranks (aristocracy, clergy,
patriarchs) showing paternalistic authority and care
over their subjects and those of lower rank showing
respect and deference to their superiors. Thus, feudal
society was not marked by INDIVIDUALISM, EQUALITY,or
DEMOCRACY. Subjects had no natural rightsor mobility.
This kind of society is often called organic and is
compared to the human body (the king as head, the
church as heart, peasants and guilds members as
hands and feet). MODERN REPUBLICANISM, CAPITALISM,
and Protestant Christianity radically altered this feu-
dal system, and by the 19th century, it was supplanted
by modernity. The rise of CORPORATISMand fascism in
the 20th century was an attempt to restore some
aspects of feudalism, but except for a period in Spain,
it was unsuccessful. European feudalism is often
romanticized (as in the English legends of King
Arthur and the knights of the Round Table), but its
social unity often masked severe injustices, cruelty,106 feudalism/feudal
Poster from the Battered Women’s Directory Project; Betsy Warrior,
artist.(LIBRARY OFCONGRESS)