What Exactly is Ecofeminism?
Ecofeminism is known by many names: “ecological feminism,” “feminist environmentalism,” or even “gender and the environment" [1]. No matter what label is applied, it all comes back to the root: women and the world. Ecofeminism argues that above all things, women and the world are tied by their experiences. Society as a whole is male-dominated, leading to the exploitation of the environment and women. Ecofeminists maintain that patriarchy views nature as feminine, and sees all things feminine, namely women, as closer to the environment, therefore seeking to diminish both. Throughout history, nature or the Earth has been viewed as feminine. The world was originally thought of as “Gaea” in Greek times, meaning “Mother Earth.” The term “Mother Nature” is also a common one. Ancient poetry and story-telling always viewed the Earth as living, not in the way that it grew, but in that it was alive, and had thoughts and free will like any human being. Over hundreds of years, the concept of a living Earth changed, especially in the 1600s, as science gained support. This change was most prominently seen in the destructive witch hunts that killed roughly eight to eleven million women [2]. Witches were women who were in tune with nature and who used its natural medicines to heal, and new-found science deemed it unholy and cut the witches down. As time progressed, the notion of the Earth as female has withered until its only use is to be used as raw materials, no longer worshipped or understood.
Ecofeminism is a widely glossed-over part of the Second Wave, with its movement remaining unknown to most. This dismissal proves a great disservice to the many who were part of this movement, as ecofeminism did not come from merely two movements, but four or more; namely, the environmental movement, the feminist movement, the anti-war or peace movement, and the anti-nuclear movement [3]. Since the ecofeminist movement came from so many others, it displayed several different types of ecofeminist thought, although all are tied together, the three most prominent ones being socialist, cultural, and radical.
At its core, socialist ecofeminism “seeks to disrupt oppression among multiple axes, not just the axes of gender or gender and class” [4]. Socialist ecofeminists believe that systems of domination are ecologically destructive, and are anticapitalist and nonstatist, linking capitalism and the patriarchy. Cultural ecofeminism celebrates women and the qualities they have been associated with, such as nurture and intuition. Cultural ecofeminists seek to create female-based cultures and renew interest and understanding in women’s history. Radical ecofeminism is simply radical feminism, adopted by ecofeminists. It seeks to highlight a woman’s relationship with her body, and further remove the patriarchy from women’s lives [5].
References
[1] Gaard, Greta. "Ecofeminism Revisited: Rejecting Essentialism and Re-Placing Species in a Material Feminist Environmentalism." Feminist Formations 23, no. 2 (2011): 26-53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41301655.
[2] Hay, Peter. "ECOFEMINISM." In A Companion to Environmental Thought, 72-93. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002. doi:10.3366/j.ctvxcr9jk.6.
[3] Gaard, Greta. "Ecofeminism Revisited: Rejecting Essentialism and Re-Placing Species in a Material Feminist Environmentalism."
[4] Carlassare, Elizabeth. "Socialist and Cultural Ecofeminism: Allies in Resistance." Ethics and the Environment 5, no. 1 (2000): 89-106. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27766057.
[5] Chen, Ling. “The Background and Theoretical Origin of Ecofeminism.” Cross-Cultural Communication 10, no. 4 (2014): 104–8. https://doi.org/10.3968/4916.