Charlotte Bunch and Feminist Theory

Charlotte Bunch created a four-part structure of feminist theory which includes: description, analysis, vision, and strategy. According to Bunch, in order to begin changing people’s perceptions of a problem it is necessary to first describe the problem. However, this is often where feminist works stop and do not continue onto the next three parts of the theory. Once the description process is finished, the theory must then analyze why the described problem exists, how it originated, and why it continues. This part of the theory structure extends further by also examining the groups of people that benefit from the problem in order to understand why the problem continues to exist. Following this analysis, the theory must then create a vision that details what the problem would ideally look like if it were resolved. The final part is to develop a strategy that offers an idea of how to resolve the problem. This also involves utilizing multiple tools that can aid with this change, such as legislative, military, and spiritual.

This theory structure does a good job of ensuring that multiple aspects of a problem are thoroughly addressed. Additionally, it is broken down into four logical parts which reduce the stigma that creating a theory is too complex of a process. Bunch also acknowledges that there may be limitations or difficulties within each part of the structure, which highlights that not every theory is going to be perfect (Kolmar, 14). However, the main downfall of this strategy is that most theory work does not go beyond the first step.

A feminist issue that I identify with and believe should be addressed with more attention is men's violence against women. The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control reported that 4.8 million women experience intimate partner-related physical assaults/rapes annually and that less than twenty percent of battered women sought treatment after an injury. Additionally, the National Crime Victimization Survey reported that in 2006 there were 232,960 women who had been raped or sexually assaulted (“Violence Against Women”).

The reality is that men continue to take advantage of women at an alarming rate and assault stories have often been socially construed to portray the victim as the problem. It is important to acknowledge that not all sexual assaults are only men assaulting women and this theory is not suggesting that other experiences outside of this realm are of less importance. However, the issue of men’s violence against women is continually being revealed, through media outlets and elsewhere, as a major problem within our culture. This problem coexists with the reality that patriarchal ideals are still relevant in today’s society. The continual perpetuation of this problem, in my opinion, also exists due to the lack of support and acknowledgment of victims. This behavior continues to be a norm because many women do not speak out due to fear of rejection. In addition, the consequences for the assaulter are not punitive enough to reduce the normalcy of this behavior (particularly on college campuses). I acknowledge that there are additional contributing factors for the perpetuation of this problem, but for the sake of brevity within this paper, I will limit the focus to these two issues.

My vision for this problem is greater support for victims in both social and legal contexts. The principles that should exist are simple and straightforward – we all need to accept that we play a role in the acceptance of sexual assault. Instead of blaming the victim, we should look deeper into the behavior of the assault and the culture that fostered the acceptance of this behavior. Another step is to move forward with changing the legislature. In 2018, there were 125 pieces of legislation across 32 states regarding sexual harassment and sexual harassment policies (“2018 Legislation on Sexual Harassment”). In combination with this, it is up to the legislators and those in a courtroom to ensure that these policies are enforced and imposed equally upon everyone. Additionally, the narrative in regard to sexual assault needs to shift. The language that is used often makes the woman seem at fault. Instead of expecting women to learn how to prevent an assault, we should also ensure that boys are taught about the consequences of sexual assault. This could easily be implemented in the context of a health class, in which all genders should learn about this topic and engage in the conversation.