Editing Difference feminism (section)

== Criticism ==
Some have argued that the thought of certain prominent second-wave feminists, like psychologist [[Carol Gilligan]] and radical feminist theologian [[Mary Daly]], is essentialist. In philosophy, essentialism is the belief that "(at least some) objects have (at least some) essential properties".<ref>{{cite web|title=Accidental vs Essential Properties|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/essential-accidental/|website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=21 March 2017}}</ref> In the case of sexual politics, essentialism is taken to mean that "women" and "men" have fixed essences or essential properties (e.g. behavioral or personality traits) that cannot be changed. However, essentialist interpretations of Daly and Gilligan have been questioned by some feminist scholars, who argue that charges of "essentialism" are often used more as terms of abuse than as theoretical critiques based on evidence,<ref name="auto3">{{cite journal|last1=Heyes|first1=Cressida J.|title=Anti-Essentialism in Practice: Carol Gilligan and Feminist Philosophy|journal=Hypatia|date=1997|volume=13|issue=3|doi=10.1111/j.1527-2001.1997.tb00009.x|pages=142–163|s2cid=143747304 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Braidotti|first1=Rosi|author-link=Rosi Braidotti |title="Essentialism" in Feminism and Psychoanalysis: A Critical Dictionary|date=1992}}</ref> and do not accurately reflect Gilligan or Daly's views.<ref name="auto3"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Suhonen|first1=Marja|title="Toward Biophilic Be-ing: Mary Daly's Feminist Metaethics and the Question of Essentialism" in Feminist Interpretations of Mary Daly|date=2000|publisher=Penn State University Press|page=112}}</ref>