ABSTRACT
Cultural feminism has historically emphasized the unique or special qualities of women’s lives. Cultural feminists have tended to define women’s experiences as distinctly different from men’s experiences, and have sought to change society’s priorities through the introduction of “feminine” strengths and priorities, such as cooperation, relational qualities, and nurturing activities. Cultural feminism has inspired a diverse array of theories relevant to women’s personality and priorities, ethics, and ecological concerns. It has also been the focus of criticism by those who see this tradition as based primarily on white, middle-class women’s experience and as contributing to overgeneralizations about women’s experience. This chapter summarizes the evolution of cultural feminist theory, discusses its strengths and limitations, describes its major influences on feminist personality theories and psychotherapies, and notes ways in which psychological theories embedded in cultural feminist thought have been revised in order to address the diversity among women.
