생태파괴 시대의 페미니즘

Abstract

Despite differences among feminists, feminism can be generally defined as a movement committed to the eradication of male-dominated power in all spheres of life. In theory and practice, it pursues the equal rights of women against patriarchal sexism and also promotes the liberation of women from all forms of social oppression. However, with the advent of neo-liberalism, the feminist movement has discovered new manifestations of patriarchal structures--new transformations of the patriarchal socioeconomic system in which male domination of women generates a more pervasive capitalist domination of third world Others and nature. As all oppressions are interrelated and reinforce one another, ecofeminism focuses its attention on the interconnections between the exploitation of women encompassing race, class, and nation, and the exploitation of nature. For this reason, ecofeminism can be defined as a wide-ranging counter-movement against Western society's modernity and post-modernity, as it challenges all forms of domination that now extend beyond sex to nature. This paper examines the main arguments of ecofeminism on the timely and urgent matters of female subordination and nature degradation by exploring four central issues: the essentialist debate on sex/gender identity of women and nature; the hegemony of science and technology over women and nature; the increase in colonial exploitation of the South by the North; and lastly, the ecofeminist perspective on subsistence for the recovery of community. Ecofeminism proposes a new paradigm of feminism and subsistence in order to replace the destructive relations between humans and nature with one that respects the plurality and coexistence of human and nonhuman creatures on earth. This perspective can serve as a radical alternative to the current globalized industrial system and become a source of female empowerment and independence in battling systematized patriarchy and forging a more egalitarian society.