Feminists and Women’s Choices

“Many feminists recognize the importance of focusing on and challenging women’s choices in order to change the status quo. However, most feminists hesitate to criticize women’s choices directly or to blame women for playing a role in their social disempowerment. 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐲. Therefore, instead of telling women they are making substantively bad choices, feminists most often challenge women’s choices by pointing out perceived procedural flaws in the conditions under which the choices were made.

Feminists criticize women’s choices most often by arguing that the choices were made under conditions that were illegitimately constrained. Ostensibly at least, feminists argue on behalf of seemingly neutral principles like liberty and equality and remain agnostic about how women should live their lives.1 For example, 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, feminists focus on the conditions under which women make their choices and argue that the conditions are neither sufficiently free nor equal to render the choices worthy of social respect. By advancing less controversial procedural and neutral-sounding arguments, 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚.”

- Kimberly Yuracko, 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐹𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠, p.1 (bold emphasis my own)