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Research Articles (Psychology)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/6480

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Browsing Research Articles (Psychology) by Author "Nadar, Sarojini."

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    "Don't touch me on my psychology and religion!" : feminist backlash in a wearable cloak and different voice.
    (Agenda., 2010) Potgieter, Cheryl.; Nadar, Sarojini.
    In this article it is argued that feminist successes in South Africa are being ‘overshadowed’ by movements which are essentially anti-feminist and brazenly patriarchal, but which go unchallenged because these movements are protected by the freedom of religion clause in the Constitution. Further, these movements and the messages they preach are drawing large numbers of educated men and women of all ages under the guise of what Nadar (2009) has labeled Palatable Patriarchy and what Nadar and Potgieter (2010) have labeled Formenism. This article draws on the online advice column run by Gretha Wiid (one of the many ‘services’ offered by her) as material for a feminist rhetorical discursive textual analysis, and illustrates how these growing movements are challenging and negating feminist successes with very little (if any) challenge from feminist intellectuals, feminist organisations and especially the State. Two rhetorical discourses emanating from the movement are identified – termed psychologisation and pastoralisation. These movements are offering a space whereby everyday challenges (bankruptcy, global economic crisis, unemployment, marriage problems, crime) of persons from a range of backgrounds are being addressed in “ways” and by people who they identify with and aspire to. In conclusion the article engages with how feminists could respond to these challenges.
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    Liberated through submission? The Worthy Woman's Conference as a case study of Formenism.
    (Indiana University Press, 2010) Nadar, Sarojini.; Potgieter, Cheryl.
    In this article, Nadar and Potgieter use the Worthy Women’s Conference as a case study, describing and analyzing how this movement creates and maintains what they call the formenist position. Formenism, like masculinism, subscribes to a belief in the inherent superiority of men over women, but unlike masculinism it is not an ideology developed and sustained by men, but an ideology designed, constructed, and sustained by women. Like its phonetics suggests, this is a concept for men—that is to say, men are the chief beneficiaries of the hierarchical social positioning that it advocates. They conduct their evaluation of the movement through a feminist analysis of the discourses presented in various sources. Nadar and Potgieter argue that the complementarian “liberation through submission” discourse created through the formenist position seems palatable for at least three reasons: (1) because it relies on a power that is not forceful (sovereign) but disciplinary à la Michel Foucault’s notion of power, (2) because patriarchal bargaining pays a dividend of increased responsibility for men that ultimately reduces the burdens of family life that women have traditionally carried, and (3) because it aids in the reduction of existential anxiety caused by radical changes in South Africa. Nadar and Potgieter assert that while the formenist discourse might seem liberatory and harmless, when one views it through a feminist lens, a number of drawbacks come into focus—drawbacks that can ultimately put women’s well-being and fundamental freedoms at risk.