Women’s Spatial Predicament And Resistance: An Analysis Of The Notorious RBG From The Perspective Of Feminist Geography

The Notorious RBG is a biography of Ruth Bader Ginsburg written by Irin Carmon and Shana Kaniznik.On June 14,1993,Ruth Bader Ginsburg was nominated by then-President Bill Clinton for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.She became the second female justice in American history after Sandra Day O’Connor.Before that,Ginsburg,a women’s rights litigator,founded the American Civil Liberties Union’s Women’s Rights Project.She is the architect of the legal strategy for the women’s rights movement in the 1960 s and 1970 s.She fights for women’s basic rights to equality under the law and tirelessly promotes the women’s rights movement.She is considered one of the most influential and greatest women in the United States.In growing from a young Jewish girl born in Brooklyn,New York City to a Justice standing at the top of the legal profession pyramid,like most American women,Ginsburg is bounded and oppressed by social space,but she subverts the traditional genderdetermined power relationship and establishes herself as a leader in a male-dominated occupation.Feminist geographers apply spatial theory to women’s studies.They try to reproduce and reconstruct the interaction of gender,identity,and power,and expose the gender inequalities in various spaces and the social relations behind them.Fluidity and mobility in space make it possible to rebel against traditional male authority and reconfigure established social power relations.Mainly under the guidance of Linda Mc Dowell’s feminist geography theory,this thesis attempts to expose the predicaments faced by women in body space,private space,and public space in The Notorious RBG and social factors,and to explore the possibilities and effective strategies for women to break the traditional spatial division and resist the traditional gender power relations.Through the analysis,it is first argued that women’s bodies are under the male’s control and are bounded by conventionally constructed femininity in body space.Secondly,women are often confined to the homeplace and subordinated in marital relationships.Finally,women are disadvantaged in public space due to the gendered higher education system,workplace,and political arena.However,the body,gender,and space and the relationships between them are not stable,but fluid,which makes female resistance possible.To conduct effective spatial resistance,women first need to take control of their bodies and break the shackles of traditionally constructed femininity.In the second place,establish equal and unconventional marital relationships.Lastly,actively enter into the public space and participate in public activities.