The Feminist Consciousness

Feminism is more than a philosophy or ideology. It is a "vocabulary of motives" maintained by strong group support. Becoming a feminist leads to a transformation of consciousness and an alteration in the perception and interpretation of everyday life. I focused on "consciousness" as the organization of perceptions of women that included an awareness or self-consciousness of this organization.Seven expected findings were developed comparing feminists and nonfeminists on three dimensions of consciousness: perceptions of women, autonomy and self-control, and overt feminist interpretation. A projective measure consisting of 14 pictures was administered to college women. Respondents wrote stories about the pictures in response to standard TAT questions. A feminist consciousness emerged as a recognizeable and distinct process. Feminists are more likely to use a feminist vocabulary of motives, introduce the general theme of sexism or specific feminist themes such as job discrimination. The stories of the two groups differed significantly in their degree of observable feminism. Women are portrayed by feminists as struggling for autonomy in life situations but are not perceived as having control over their lives in traditional and ambiguous settings. Feminists do not appear to be ideologically oriented; and while the feminist consciousness is distinctive, it is not monolithic or unidimensional. Feminists interject feminism into their interpretation of everyday life and perceive situations differently from nonfeminists leading to the conclusion that their subjective experience is different from that of nonfeminists.