Expanding the Feminist Toolboxby Sonja Foss and Karen Foss - Article Example

This paper provides a summary of the main issues discussed by the authors with regard to feminism in the article. The article was written in 2009, as a response by the authors to a call for papers on power feminism by the women’s studies in communication journal. The authors revisit the journey of the evolution of feminism to clarify the new understanding of feminism. The authors begin by discussing the rhetorical notion suggested by Bitzer as a foundation to their conception of feminism.

According, to the authors, Bitzer describes a rhetorical situation based on exigency, a set of constraints, and a fitting response regarding feminism. As an offshoot, of this rhetorical situation by Bitzer, authors Sonja Foss and Kate Foss discuss two conceptions of this rhetoric including oppression and feminist group thinking, to explain their conception of feminism (Foss & Foss, 2009). Throughout the article, the authors discuss what counts as a definition of feminism by examining the key weaknesses of the earlier conceptions.

Accordingly, the authors suggest a new definition of feminism by incorporating the three elements of rhetoric suggested by Bitzer, including exigency, constraint, and fitting response. Consequently, the authors define feminism as the conscious application of the ability for infinite and resourceful analysis to engage demands in order to craft a preferred world. Additionally, the article discusses other definitions of repowered feminism such as the one suggested by Naomi Wolf in order to establish similarities to their own definition (Foss & Foss, 2009).

In conclusion, the authors suggest that no feminist position is more feminist than the other and that all perspectives presented by power feminists, victim feminists, nonfeminists, women, and womanists are of significance to the understanding of feminism (Foss & Foss, 2009). This recollection and redefinition by the authors provide an illumination of the evolution process being witnessed in the society and how it has brought out varied definitions of feminism and neo-feminism, all of which are worth pursuing in the future.