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By Enomfon Akpan
Editor’s Note: The piece was first published on X
Summary: EnomfonAkpan explained feminist theories in simple terms to her audience. Through relatable examples, she connected these theories to everyday experiences of women, highlighting systemic inequality, societal expectations, and the unequal distribution of labour in both public and private spaces.
Explaining Feminist Theory In Simple Terms
The Personal Is Political: Carol Hanisch, 1969. That tiredness you feel? The one where you are doing everything and nobody is noticing? That is not your personal problem. That is not because you are weak or you are not managing well.
A woman named Carol Hanisch said it in 1969, and she was right: there are systems, real, deliberate systems, that were built to make sure you carry the most and get the least. Your life did not turn out this way by accident. Somebody designed it like this. Feminism just had the nerve to say it out loud.
The Male Gaze: Laura Mulvey, 1975. A woman named Laura Mulvey gave this a name in 1975, but you have been living it your whole life. From the time you were small, you were taught to look at yourself the way a man would look at you.
Is my body okay? Is my face okay? Am I too fat? Am I too loud? Am I too much? You were never taught to just exist. You were taught to perform your existence for an audience that never asked for your opinion in return. That is why, after anything bad happens to a woman, the first question is always what she was wearing. We have been trained to see ourselves as the problem.
Intersectionality: Kimberlé Crenshaw, 1989. A Black American lawyer named Kimberlé Crenshaw came up with this word in 1989, and it simply means this: a Black woman in Nigeria does not have the same experience as a white woman in London, and neither of them has the same experience as a rich woman anywhere.
Feminism that only works for one type of woman, usually the comfortable ones, is not real feminism. It is just the same oppression with a nicer name. If your feminism does not include the woman selling on the roadside and the woman in the big office, it is not finished yet.
The Second Shift: Arlie Hochschild, 1989. A sociologist named Arlie Hochschild wrote a book about this in 1989 and named it The Second Shift. She wakes up early. She goes to work.
She does a full day. She comes home, and then she starts again, cooking, cleaning, helping with homework, sorting out problems, managing everybody’s feelings, and making sure the house does not fall apart. Meanwhile, he comes home, and he rests. Both of them went to work. Only one of them got to stop, and we called this a partnership.
