Four Waves of Feminism
Four Waves of Feminism
By
Martha Rampton
This piece was originally published online in
conjunction with the Fall 2008 issue of Pacific magazine.
Martha Rampton is a professor of history and director of the Center for Gender Equity at Pacific
University. Her specialty is the early medieval period with an emphasis on
social history and the activities and roles of women. She holds an MA in
medieval history from the University of Utah and a doctorate in medieval
history from the University of Virginia.
תקציר (המאמר המלא בסוף התקציר)
It was not until the late nineteenth century that the efforts
for women's equal rights coalesced into a clearly identifiable and
self-conscious movement, or rather a series of movements.
The first wave of feminism took place in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries, emerging out of an environment of urban
industrialism and liberal, socialist politics. The goal of this wave was to
open up opportunities for women, with a focus on suffrage. The wave formally
began at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 when three hundred men and women
rallied to the cause of equality for women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (d.1902)
drafted the Seneca Falls Declaration outlining the new movement's ideology and
political strategies. propelled by middle class, Western,
cisgender, white women
The second wave began in the 1960s and continued into the
90s. This wave unfolded in the context of the anti-war and civil rights
movements and the growing self-consciousness of a variety of minority groups
around the world. The New Left was on the rise, and the voice of the second
wave was increasingly radical. In this phase, sexuality and reproductive rights
were dominant issues, and much of the movement's energy was focused on passing
the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing social equality
regardless of sex. the second phase drew in women of color and
developing nations, seeking sisterhood and solidarity, claiming "Women's
struggle is class struggle." Feminists spoke of women as a social class
and coined phrases such as "the personal is political" and
"identity politics" in an effort to demonstrate that race, class, and
gender oppression are all related
the second wave of feminism ought not be characterized
as having failed, nor was glitter all that it generated. Quite the contrary;
many goals of the second wave were met: more women in positions of leadership
in higher education, business and politics; abortion rights; access to the pill
that increased women’s control over their bodies; more expression and
acceptance of female sexuality; general public awareness of the concept of and
need for the “rights of women” (though never fully achieved); a solid academic
field in feminism, gender and sexuality studies; greater access to education;
organizations and legislation for the protection of battered women; women’s
support groups and organizations (like NOW and AAUW); an industry in the
publication of books by and about women/feminism; public forums for the
discussion of women’s rights; and a societal discourse at the popular level
about women’s suppression, efforts for reform, and a critique of patriarchy.
So, in a sense, if the second wave seemed to have “dialed down,” the lull was
in many ways due more to the success of the movement than to any
ineffectiveness. In addition to the sense that many women’s needs had been met,
feminism’s perceived silence in the 1990s was a response to the successful backlash
campaign by the conservative press and media, especially against the word
feminism and its purported association with male-bashing and extremism.
However, the second wave only quieted down in the public
forum; it did not disappear but retreated into the academic world where it is
alive and well—incubating in the academy. However, generally
those programs have generated theorists rather than activists.
The third wave of feminism began in the mid-90's and was
informed by post-colonial and post-modern thinking. In this phase many
constructs were destabilized, including the notions of "universal
womanhood," body, gender, sexuality and heteronormativity. An aspect of
third wave feminism that mystified the mothers of the earlier feminist movement
was the readoption by young feminists of the very lip-stick, high-heels, and
cleavage proudly exposed by low cut necklines that the first two phases of the
movement identified with male oppression. Pinkfloor expressed this new position
when she said that it's possible to have a push-up bra and a brain at the same
time.
The "grrls" of the third wave stepped onto the
stage as strong and empowered, eschewing victimization and defining feminine
beauty for themselves as subjects, not as objects of a sexist patriarchy.
This is in keeping with the third wave's celebration of ambiguity and refusal
to think in terms of "us-them." Most third-wavers refuse to identify
as "feminists" and reject the word that they find limiting and
exclusionary.
Third wave feminism breaks boundaries.
The third wave does not acknowledge a collective “movement”
and does not define itself as a group with common grievances. This
wave supports equal rights, but does not have a term like feminism to
articulate that notion.
The fourth wave of feminism is emerging because
(mostly) young women and men realize that the third wave is either overly
optimistic or hampered by blinders. Feminism is now moving from the academy and
back into the realm of public discourse. Issues that were central to the
earliest phases of the women’s movement are receiving national and
international attention by mainstream press and politicians: problems
like sexual abuse, rape, violence against women, unequal pay, slut-shaming, the
pressure on women to conform to a single and unrealistic body-type and the
realization that gains in female representation in politics and business, for
example, are very slight. It is no longer considered “extreme,” nor is it
considered the purview of rarified intellectuals to talk about societal abuse
of women, rape on college campus, Title IX, homo and transphobia, unfair pay
and work conditions, and the fact that the US has one of the worst records for
legally-mandated parental leave and maternity benefits in the world. Feminism
no longer just refers to the struggles of women; it is a clarion call for
gender equity. feminism is part of a larger consciousness of oppression
along with racism, ageism, classism, abelism, and sexual orientation. The
beauty of the fourth wave is that there is a place in it for all –together.
המאמר המלא
It is common to speak of three phases of modern feminism; however,
there is little consensus as to how to characterize these three waves or what
to do with women's movements before the late nineteenth century. Making the
landscape even harder to navigate, a new silhouette is emerging on the horizon
and taking the shape of a fourth wave of feminism.
Some
thinkers have sought to locate the roots of feminism in ancient Greece with
Sappho (d. c. 570 BCE), or the medieval world with Hildegard of Bingen (d.
1179) or Christine de Pisan (d. 1434). Certainly Olympes de Gouge (d. 1791),
Mary Wollstonecraft (d. 1797) and Jane Austen (d. 1817) are foremothers of the
modern women's movement. All of these people advocated for the dignity,
intelligence, and basic human potential of the female sex. However, it was not
until the late nineteenth century that the efforts for women's equal rights
coalesced into a clearly identifiable and self-conscious movement, or rather a
series of movements.
The
first wave of feminism took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, emerging out of an environment of urban industrialism and liberal,
socialist politics. The goal of this wave was to open up opportunities for
women, with a focus on suffrage. The wave formally began at the Seneca Falls
Convention in 1848 when three hundred men and women rallied to the cause of
equality for women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (d.1902) drafted the Seneca Falls
Declaration outlining the new movement's ideology and political strategies.
In
its early stages, feminism was interrelated with the temperance and
abolitionist movements and gave voice to now-famous activists like the
African-American Sojourner Truth (d. 1883), who demanded: "Ain't I a
woman?" Victorian America saw women acting in very "un-ladylike"
ways (public speaking, demonstrating, stints in jail), which challenged the
"cult of domesticity." Discussions about the vote and women's
participation in politics led to an examination of the differences between men
and women as they were then viewed. Some claimed that women were morally
superior to men, and so their presence in the civic sphere would improve public
behavior and the political process.
The
second wave began in the 1960s and continued into the 90s. This wave unfolded
in the context of the anti-war and civil rights movements and the growing
self-consciousness of a variety of minority groups around the world. The New
Left was on the rise, and the voice of the second wave was increasingly
radical. In this phase, sexuality and reproductive rights were dominant issues,
and much of the movement's energy was focused on passing the Equal Rights
Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing social equality regardless of sex.
This
phase began with protests against the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City in
1968 and 1969. Feminists parodied what they held to be a degrading "cattle
parade" that reduced women to objects of beauty dominated by a patriarchy
that sought to keep them in the home or in dull, low-paying jobs. The radical
New York group called the Redstockings staged a counter pageant in which they
crowned a sheep as Miss America and threw "oppressive" feminine
artifacts such as bras, girdles, high-heels, makeup and false eyelashes into
the trashcan.
Because
the second wave of feminism found voice amid so many other social movements, it
was easily marginalized and viewed as less pressing than, for example, Black
Power or efforts to end the war in Vietnam. Feminists reacted by forming
women-only organizations (such as NOW) and "consciousness raising"
groups. In publications like "The BITCH Manifesto" and
"Sisterhood is Powerful," feminists advocated for their place in the
sun. The second wave was increasingly theoretical, based on a fusion of
neo-Marxism and psycho-analytical theory, and began to associate the subjugation
of women with broader critiques of patriarchy, capitalism, normative
heterosexuality, and the woman's role as wife and mother. Sex and gender were
differentiated—the former being biological, and the later a social construct
that varies culture-to-culture and over time.
Whereas
the first wave of feminism was generally propelled by middle class, Western,
cisgender, white women, the second phase drew in women of color and developing
nations, seeking sisterhood and solidarity, claiming "Women's struggle is
class struggle." Feminists spoke of women as a social class and coined
phrases such as "the personal is political" and "identity
politics" in an effort to demonstrate that race, class, and gender
oppression are all related. They initiated a concentrated effort to rid society
top-to-bottom of sexism, from children's cartoons to the highest levels of
government.
One
of the strains of this complex and diverse "wave" was the development
of women-only spaces and the notion that women working together create a special
dynamic that is not possible in mixed-groups, which would ultimately work for
the betterment of the entire planet. Women, due whether to their long
"subjugation" or to their biology, were thought by some to be more
humane, collaborative, inclusive, peaceful, nurturing, democratic, and holistic
in their approach to problem solving than men. The term eco-feminism was coined
to capture the sense that because of their biological connection to earth and
lunar cycles, women were natural advocates of environmentalism.
The
third wave of feminism began in the mid-90's and was informed by post-colonial
and post-modern thinking. In this phase many constructs were destabilized,
including the notions of "universal womanhood," body, gender,
sexuality and heteronormativity. An aspect of third wave feminism that
mystified the mothers of the earlier feminist movement was the readoption by
young feminists of the very lip-stick, high-heels, and cleavage proudly exposed
by low cut necklines that the first two phases of the movement identified with
male oppression. Pinkfloor expressed this new position when she said that it's
possible to have a push-up bra and a brain at the same time.
The
"grrls" of the third wave stepped onto the stage as strong and
empowered, eschewing victimization and defining feminine beauty for themselves
as subjects, not as objects of a sexist patriarchy. They developed a rhetoric
of mimicry, which appropriated derogatory terms like "slut" and
"bitch" in order to subvert sexist culture and deprive it of verbal
weapons. The web is an important tool of "girlie feminism." E-zines
have provided "cybergrrls" and "netgrrls" another kind of
women-only space. At the same time — rife with the irony of third-wave feminism
because cyberspace is disembodied — it permits all users the opportunity to
cross gender boundaries, and so the very notion of gender has been unbalanced
in a way that encourages experimentation and creative thought.
This
is in keeping with the third wave's celebration of ambiguity and refusal to
think in terms of "us-them." Most third-wavers refuse to identify as
"feminists" and reject the word that they find limiting and
exclusionary. Grrl-feminism tends to be global, multi-cultural, and it shuns
simple answers or artificial categories of identity, gender, and sexuality. Its
transversal politics means that differences such as those of ethnicity, class,
sexual orientation, etc. are celebrated and recognized as dynamic, situational,
and provisional. Reality is conceived not so much in terms of fixed structures
and power relations, but in terms of performance within contingencies. Third
wave feminism breaks boundaries.
The
fourth wave of feminism is still a captivating silhouette. A writer for Elle Magazine recently
interviewed me about the waves of feminism and asked if the second and third
waves may have “failed or dialed down” because the social and economic gains
had been mostly sparkle, little substance, and whether at some point women
substituted equal rights for career and the atomic self. I replied that the
second wave of feminism ought not be characterized as having failed, nor was
glitter all that it generated. Quite the contrary; many goals of the second
wave were met: more women in positions of leadership in higher education,
business and politics; abortion rights; access to the pill that increased
women’s control over their bodies; more expression and acceptance of female
sexuality; general public awareness of the concept of and need for the “rights
of women” (though never fully achieved); a solid academic field in feminism,
gender and sexuality studies; greater access to education; organizations and
legislation for the protection of battered women; women’s support groups and
organizations (like NOW and AAUW); an industry in the publication of books by
and about women/feminism; public forums for the discussion of women’s rights;
and a societal discourse at the popular level about women’s suppression,
efforts for reform, and a critique of patriarchy. So, in a sense, if the second
wave seemed to have “dialed down,” the lull was in many ways due more to the
success of the movement than to any ineffectiveness. In addition to the sense
that many women’s needs had been met, feminism’s perceived silence in the 1990s
was a response to the successful backlash campaign by the conservative press
and media, especially against the word feminism and its purported association
with male-bashing and extremism.
However,
the second wave only quieted down in the public forum; it did not disappear but
retreated into the academic world where it is alive and well—incubating in the
academy. Women’s centers and women’s/gender studies have became a staple of
virtually all universities and most colleges in the US and Canada (and in many
other nations around the word). Scholarship on women’s studies, feminist
studies, masculinity studies, and queer studies is prolific, institutionalized,
and thriving in virtually all scholarly fields, including the sciences.
Academic majors and minors in women’s, feminist, masculinity and queer studies
have produced thousands of students with degrees in the subjects.
However, generally those programs have generated theorists rather than
activists.
Returning
to the question the Elle
Magazine columnist asked about the third wave and the success
or failure of its goals. It is hard to talk about the aims of the third wave
because a characteristic of that wave is the rejection of communal,
standardized objectives. The third wave does not acknowledge a collective
“movement” and does not define itself as a group with common grievances.
Third wave women and men are concerned about equal rights, but tend to
think the genders have achieved parity or that society is well on its way to
delivering it to them. The third wave pushed back against their “mothers”
(with grudging gratitude) the way children push away from their parents in
order to achieve much needed independence. This wave supports equal
rights, but does not have a term like feminism to articulate that notion.
For third wavers, struggles are more individual: “We don’t need feminism
anymore.”
But
the times are changing, and a fourth wave is in the air. A few months ago, a
high school student approached one of the staff of the Center for
Gender Equity at Pacific University and revealed in a somewhat
confessional tone, “I think I’m a feminist!” It was like she was coming out of
the closet. Well, perhaps that is the way to view the fourth wave of
feminism.
The
aims of the second feminist movement were never cemented to the extent that
they could survive the complacency of third wavers. The fourth wave of
feminism is emerging because (mostly) young women and men realize that the
third wave is either overly optimistic or hampered by blinders. Feminism is now
moving from the academy and back into the realm of public discourse. Issues
that were central to the earliest phases of the women’s movement are receiving
national and international attention by mainstream press and politicians:
problems like sexual abuse, rape, violence against women, unequal pay,
slut-shaming, the pressure on women to conform to a single and unrealistic
body-type and the realization that gains in female representation in politics
and business, for example, are very slight. It is no longer considered
“extreme,” nor is it considered the purview of rarified intellectuals to talk
about societal abuse of women, rape on college campus, Title IX, homo and
transphobia, unfair pay and work conditions, and the fact that the US has one
of the worst records for legally-mandated parental leave and maternity benefits
in the world.
Some
people who wish to ride this new fourth wave have trouble with the word
“feminism,” not just because of its older connotations of radicalism, but
because the word feels like it is underpinned by assumptions of a gender binary
and an exclusionary subtext: “for women only.” Many fourth wavers who are
completely on-board with the movement’s tenants find the term “feminism”
sticking in their craws and worry that it is hard to get their message out with
a label that raises hackles for a broader audience. Yet the word is winning the
day. The generation now coming of age sees that we face serious problems
because of the way society genders and is gendered, and we need a strong
“in-your-face” word to combat those problems. Feminism no longer just refers to
the struggles of women; it is a clarion call for gender equity.
The
emerging fourth wavers are not just reincarnations of their second wave
grandmothers; they bring to the discussion important perspectives taught by
third wave feminism. They speak in terms of intersectionality whereby
women’s suppression can only fully be understood in a context of the
marginalization of other groups and genders—feminism is part of a larger
consciousness of oppression along with racism, ageism, classism, abelism, and
sexual orientation (no “ism” to go with that). Among the third wave’s
bequests is the importance of inclusion, an acceptance of the sexualized human
body as non-threatening, and the role the internet can play in gender-bending
and leveling hierarchies. Part of the reason a fourth wave can emerge is
because these millennials’ articulation of themselves as “feminists” is their
own: not a hand-me-down from grandma. The beauty of the fourth wave is that
there is a place in it for all –together. The academic and theoretical
apparatus is extensive and well-honed in the academy, ready to support a new
broad-based activism in the home, in the workplace, in the sphere of social
media, and in the streets.
At
this point we are still not sure how feminism will mutate. Will the
fourth wave fully materialize and in what direction? There have always
been many feminisms in the movement, not just one ideology, and there have
always been tensions, points and counter-points. The political, social and
intellectual feminist movements have always been chaotic, multivalenced, and
disconcerting; and let's hope they continue to be so; it's a sign that they are
thriving. ■
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