A question I would need an honest answer to. Has anyone ever made a sexist or stereotypical comment aimed at women to you? How did it make you feel? Angry? Confused? What about the general "why women belong in the kitchen" speech. It was about six months ago when I first was told to get in the kitchen, and I did not understand why I was told that by a man who was my age. I did not know how to react. If I came to stick up for myself, I was afraid I would be called a feminist (otherwise known as a man hater). It wasn't until I decided to further my education in the women's struggle on feminism and the psychology field that I did not quite understand the true meaning and representation of being a woman. By unveiling biased research methods against women, defining the actual term of feminism and what it stands for, and lastly looking at implications of categorizing ourselves as feminists, the field of psychology and I would never be the same. .
One of many purposes and definitions of feminist psychology, that Hilary Lips, author of A New Psychology of Women of feminist psychology is "to focus on understanding women's own experience, rather than on fitting women into traditional, often male centered views of human behavior and social relations" (12). Its existence was brought to people's attention centuries ago when trying to breakthrough gender stereotypes, such as girls being raised as future housewives of America. With the struggle at hand, it would be natural for society to raise ideas and thoughts of a strong women's movement in negative ways. For example, Lips states that "Feminists are sometimes described as man-haters, bitches shrews, even femiNazi's- unlovely, irritating women" (Lips 13). I recently learned that feminist psychology and feminism has every intention in progressing women's status in this world by educating citizens in third world countries, today's college students, and our nations youth.