There Is No Longer a Need for a Feminist Movement - Coursework Example

Introduction Feminism can be broadly defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes, and the organized pro-women activity in the pursuit of these goals. Feminism can be broken up according to timeline and also according to particular theories of different feminists. Feminism The history of feminism can be divided into three waves. (Humm 1990)The first-wave lasted through the 1840’s to 1920, second-wave feminist movement began in the early 1960s and lasted till the 1980s, and the third-wave started in the early 1990s, and is still continuing. Feminism can also be divided in terms of theories or concepts; Liberal and social feminism (first-wave), radical and identity feminism (second-wave) and post-modern feminism (third-wave). The first-wave of feminism The first-wave of feminism began in the United Kingdom and the United States. The main focus of this movement at this time was on officially mandated inequalities. There were many feminists who fought for women’s emancipation both in the US and Britain; Mary Wollstonecraft, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Olympia Brown, and others. Wollstonecraft is considered as the grandmother of British feminism and her views shaped the thinking of the suffragettes, who fought for the womens vote. This was eventually granted; to some women in 1918, and equally with men in 1928. The first-wave ended when the women gained the right to vote. This major victory of the feminist movement also included reforms in education, healthcare, professions, and in the workplace. After the vote was finally won, the organized Womens Rights Movement continued on in several directions. The second-wave of feminism Beginning in the early 1960s and extending through the late 1980s the second-wave of feminism focused on the unofficial inequalities of the sexes. This wave encouraged women to recognize and reject deeply politicized sexists structures of power. In The second wave of feminism, Womens Rights Movement worked together and separately on a wide range of issues. Women’s newspapers, bookstores and cafes were established. Battered womens shelters and rape crisis hotlines to care for victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence were also set up for the first time. Issues of women getting equal pay and job opportunities were the most prominent issue of the second wave. Well known feminist of this age are - Bella Abzug, Charlotte Bunch, Angela Davis, Andrea Dworkin, Jo Freeman, Betty Friedan, and Ann Simonton. The third-wave of feminism Today’s feminist issues are not straightforward as in the past .Should businesses accommodate a womens family responsibilities? Should they be treated under affirmative action? Would not that negate gender equality? Sexual harassment is also a burning issue. Just where does flirting leave off and harassment begin? (Eisenberg & Ruthsdotter 1998). Third-wave feminism seeks to dispute or avoid the second waves definitions of femininity, which frequently assumed a universal female identity and stressed on experiences of middle class white women. A post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality is central to third wave ideology. Born with the constitutional rights that first- and second-wave feminists fought for, third-wave feminists usually see themselves as competent, strong, and forceful social agents: “The Third Wave is buoyed by the confidence of having more opportunities and less sexism” (Baumgardner & Richards, 2000, p. 83). Liberal and social feminism Liberal feminism was the first wave of feminism to sweep the world. Liberal feminists advocated the women’s right to vote. Lead by people such as John Mills, Mary Wollstonecraft, Susan B. Anthony liberal feminism was the birth of women’s rights activism. Wollstonecraft published one of the first feminist theses, ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’, in which she promoted the social and moral equality of men and women. As Mary Wollstonecraft said “The woman who strengthens her body and exercises her mind will, by managing her family and practicing various virtues, become the friend, and not the humble dependent of her husband.” Her unfinished work ‘Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman’ produced considerable criticism as she discussed womens sexual desire which was a great taboo in those times. John Mill another famous British feminist campaigned most strongly for womens rights, womens suffrage, and education for women. His essay on the Subjection of Women (1869) is an enduring defense of gender equality. In a letter to Florence Nightingale, Mill says “political power is the only security against every form of political oppression.” (Later Letters, p. 1343-44 Liberal and socialist feminism shared a fundamental belief in equity and equal opportunities for women and men, but the social feminism focused particularly on working-class women and their contribution in the class struggle and revolution. Socialist feminists such as Rosa Luxemburg, Kollontai and Emma Goldman, fought both politically and in their own personal lives for women’s right to abortion, divorce, living together and against sexism in capitalist societies and within the socialist movements. Radical and Identity feminism Radical feminist theory was based on a combination of neo-Marxism and psychoanalysis, outlined by feminist scholars who claimed that patriarchy is inherent to capitalist societies and that sexual inequality is more elemental than class and race inequality. Inspired by the tactics of the more activist parts of liberal feminism, radical feminists used performance (e.g., underground theater) to shed light on what was now termed “women’s oppression.” Radical feminists staged several types of theatrical activism: crowning a sheep Miss America and throwing ‘oppressive’ gender specific objects, such as bras, girdles, high etc., into a trash can in front of reporters. Feminists made their meaning loud and clear i.e. Women were victims of a patriarchal, commercialized, tyrannical beauty culture (Freeman, 1975) Identity feminism was manifest by a growing disparagement from Black, working-class, and lesbian feminists. This is out-lined by Bell Hooks in ‘Ain’t I A Woman? Black Woman and Feminism’, among many discourses in the same vein. In the background of the complex power relations of a post slavery but capitalist world, they questioned what they saw as a largely racist, middle-class, and hetero-sexual feminist program and raised the subject of a differentiated-identity politics, based on the conditional and diversified but no less important intersections of gender, class, race, and sexuality. Post-modern feminism “It’s possible to have a push-up bra and a brain at the same time”-Pinkfloor A universal American term for post modern feminism is ‘grrl feminism,’ and in Europe it is known as ‘new feminism.’ This new feminism is typified by local, national, and transnational activism, in areas such as violence against women, trafficking, body surgery, self-mutilation, and the overall “pornofication” of the media. While concerned with new threats to women’s rights in the wake of the new global world order, it disapproves of earlier feminist waves for presenting universal definitions of womanhood and for developing their particular benefit into somewhat stagnant identity politics. Postmodern expressions of feminism, on one hand, seem to duplicate gender stereotypes and, on the other, ridicule them through imitation and subversion. Young feminists now repossess the term ‘girl’ while engaging in a new, more self-assertive, sometimes aggressive yet playful and less pretentious kind of feminism. The movement has concurrently censured sexist language, appropriated belittling terms for girls and women, and created new self-celebrating words and styles of communication. Instead of reproving the stereotypes used against them, they embellish them, starting with the very word ‘grrl’. (Chideya, Rossi, & Hannah, 1992) An example of this new feminist thinking is this statement in a feminist magazine, “When it’s being used as an insult, “bitch” is most often hurled at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and don’t shy away from expressing them. If being an outspoken woman means being a bitch, we’ll take that as a compliment, thanks”-Bitch Magazine Conclusion “The fact that feminism is no longer limited to arenas where we expect to see it-- NOW, Ms., womens studies, and Congresswomen-- perhaps means that young women today have really reaped what feminism has sown. Raised after Title IX and "William Wants a Doll," young women emerged from college or high school or two years of marriage or their first job and began challenging some of the received wisdom of the past ten or twenty years of feminism. Were not doing feminism the same way that the seventies feminists did it; being liberated doesnt mean copying what came before but finding ones own way-- a way that is genuine to ones own generation”. (Baumgardner & Richards 2000) This is the gist of feminism today. We still need feminist movements to address the new needs and pressures of a rapidly evolving tecchie generation. Feminism is not obsolete but it definitely has a new face today. Go Grrl! Bibliography: 1. Baumgardner, Jennifer; Amy Richards (2000). ManifestA: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2. Chideya, Farai, Melissa Rossi and Dogen Hannah, “Revolution, Girl Style,” Newsweek, Vol. 120, No. 21, Nov. 23, 1992, p. 84-86 3. Eisenberg, Bonnie & Ruthsdotter, Mary, “Legacy’98: A short history of the movement”, National women’s history project, 1998 4. Editor: Freeman, Jo, Women, a feminist perspective Mayfield Pub. Co., 1975 5. Humm, Maggie. The dictionary of feminist theory. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1990, pp. 278 6. Later Letters, CW, v. 14-17, p. 1343-44 (Mills correspondence after 1848) Read More