Alright, so after deliberating a little bit, I decided to pick a topic I’ve been avoiding for multiple reasons: Feminism. While I’m inherently feminist in the sense of the word and it’s origins (I strongly identify with first wave – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, enough said – and second wave feminism, but third wave kind of starts to lose me, and I’m not entirely sure what the platform of today is), I’ve always preferred to think of myself as a “humanist,” because I want to encompass not just women’s issues, but LGBTQ issues and international issues as well (and I also believe that men, although significantly less than women, but still so, deal with the struggle of breaking performative roles and are limited by the expectations of society as well).
Interestingly enough, I’m not the only one with this view! I found that Sarah Jessica Parker told E! Weekly that she was not a feminist (http://www.ew.com/article/2016/08/04/sarah-jessica-parker-not-feminist). After scrolling further, I learned that she identifies with the word humanist. *cue eerie music and goosebumps* I 110% identify with everything she said. While I identify with the values of feminism (I want myself to have the same rights as men, duh), I’m not entirely sure if it’s still needed today as a label. There are going to be both misogynistic men and female chauvinistic pigs (FCPs) out there, and I believe no matter how much we educate people, they are still going to exist. But I love what SJP said about “If you’re a feminist, you’re just a normal person, and if you’re not, then you’re sexist.”
So I suppose my topic/question for class is: What exactly is the current wave of feminism? And is it still needed? Does dissent from the movement by women prove that we’ve reached a sort of “glass ceiling” on women’s rights, where most women do feel equal to men? How about women’s rights abroad? Shouldn’t feminists be focused on women in third world countries who have very limited rights?
I found a quiz on the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/feminism-project/feminism-typology-quiz/?tid=feminismseries) that would identify what kind of feminist I am, and apparently, I am a “Yes, but” feminist. And honestly, that’s how I feel. Of the 95% of women who identify as feminist, but 16% identify as a “Yes, but” feminist. Some of the qualities of this sub-category include: believing feminism is not “focused on the changes they want,” does not “accurately reflect the view of most women,” “looks down on women without jobs,” and “unfairly blames men for women’s challenges.” While the last one is somewhere where I am personally unsure of where I stand completely on it, I believe the former three things.
So, I want to use this project as a way to educate myself about the historical and current conversations of Feminism, find where I stand, and hopefully contribute some new insight to contemporary feminism.
Interestingly enough, I found two photo banks with women holding up “signs” explaining why they do need feminism (http://whoneedsfeminism.tumblr.com/) and why they do not need feminism (http://womenagainstfeminism.tumblr.com/archive). I think the dichotomy is very interesting, and would like to study what creates this differences in opinion. While I more closely identify with the latter in most cases, there are some points on the other side that I identify with as well.
The personal problem I have with feminism is because I know a lot of people who attack other women for not being “feminist” enough – and I think that’s disgusting! Like, that’s the ANTI-THESIS of feminism! Feminists should believe that women have the capacity and right to make their own decisions, regardless of whether they agree with you or not. I can’t stand FCP’s, but if that’s how they want to uphold themselves, then fine – as a women, you’re allowed to do that.
At the same time, I realize I can’t despise feminism without learning more about it. I don’t want to put the women who support it in a large basket – I want to learn about the platform and if/how it is benefiting women in America, and then study it in an international context.
Okay, enough of my commentary (hopefully). Here is my research:
“Trickle Down Feminism” (https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/trickle-down-feminism). I could honestly annotate this whole article, but I’m going to try really hard not to. It’s saying a lot of things, so I’m going to highlight the main points: First, Feminists shouldn’t be focused on how high women can go in the workforce or if there is a “glass ceiling,” but instead be focused on uplifting the women at the bottom of the workforce (I agree with this; it makes me very mad that Meryl Streep, who makes at least 7 million dollars a year, is complaining about equal pay, when there are women who’s entire, life-long work effort would never even equal half that much). It also argues that people shouldn’t parade the growing numbers of women in the work force as a good thing, since they are primarily entering the poverty sectors. It also notes that how after the Great Recession, many women were displaced by men who lost their jobs in other sectors. This I find a true concern – the Recession could have reverted America back to the mindset that men need work first, not necessarily women. However, in the article, a feminist states “All work is gendered,” and I disagree with that. It talks about women primarily being janitors, but most of the janitors I have encountered in my life have been male – and I certainly do not consider that a gendered career. I believe that just because a career is dominated by someone of a specific gender does not make it gendered. I do agree, however, that it is important for women to advance their opportunities through education, and that they should have access to resources that will help them do so. But I believe this about impoverished men as well. They also make a point that other feminists who are climbing towards that glass-ceiling are doing so on the backs of hardworking women in unfortunate circumstances, who they are not even giving a second glance. I particularly like this excerpt: “But that work still needs to be done, and, Poo notes, the conditions that have long defined domestic work and service work—instability, lack of training, lack of career pathways, low pay—are now increasingly the reality for all American workers, not just women. When we focus on equal access at the top, we miss out the real story, which historian Bethany Moreton points out, “is not ‘Oh wow, women get to be lawyers,’ but that men get to be casualized clerks.” The economy affects women, and perhaps more so than men, as women seem to be going into certain, low-paying professions more than men, but I believe if we help impoverished families as a whole, women’s conditions will improve. (I also eerily remember Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak.” I’m a woman, but this subaltern is the lower-class women. Can I speak for them? Can I formulate opinions on how to help them without being patronizing?)
I’ve already written far too much, so I’m not going to even address the pay gap here, but it’s something I do want to do more research on. Personally, as of right now, I’m not sure if I believe there is a pay gap (Ivanka Trump said something very interesting about there being more a wage gap between “mothers” and working men, rather working women and working men, and I’d like to explore that). You can’t compare men and women in different sectors, different states, or even of different ages, because of seniority. It’s very hard to compare, and I look forward to reaching the numbers for myself.
Next Article: “Betty Friedan to Beyoncé: Today’s generation embraces feminism on its own terms” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/feminism/betty-friedan-to-beyonce-todays-generation-embraces-feminism-on-its-own-terms/2016/01/27/ab480e74-8e19-11e5-ae1f-af46b7df8483_story.html)
Alright, so this article said that the New Wave of Feminism is more focused on broadening it’s membership and ideology rather than with a shared struggle against oppression/identifying narrowly targeted enemies. And I think that’s what most Millennials see as a disconnect. In the beginning, it talks about how a college student doesn’t see Feminism as a political movement. It’s because we’ve already been indoctrinated with these beliefs, for the most part. It seems redundant to reiterate them. And maybe we’re reiterating them to the wrong community. Maybe we shouldn’t just be preaching this ideology at Universities, but instead hold a community outreach to lower-class, working women who may not have access to the ideas and resources that college-educated women do. The article also says that people are more likely to align with the terminology “the women’s movement” rather than “feminism.” People support feminist ideals, but not feminist labels. It is also arguing the definition of feminism has evolved after the past two generations, and women have their own, personal meanings of what feminism is.
But that’s my whole question: If everyone has a fractured, personal meaning of what feminism is, does that mean feminism still exists? Does that mean we can purport it and instill it in future generations, when not everyone is on the same page?
That’s all I’ll say on this one, but it was a really rad article and I hope I can reference it in my essay.
Okay, I swear I have more on my reading list that I have skimmed and topics that I plan on looking further into, but if I continue at this rate I’m going to write an essay, so I’m just going to do a summary (heh, yeah right) of one Academic article and call it a day.
“Girlfight the Power: Teaching Contemporary Feminism and Pop Culture” by Alyson Bardsley featured in Feminist Teacher (accessed through JSTOR)
So, I typed “Contemporary Feminism” into JSTOR and the most recent article was from 2006…not quite sure how to feel about that. I’ll obviously use some different databases to research more recent ones, but I think the article has some pretty good points that I want to delineate.
In the article, Professor Bardsley teaches a course on Third Wave Feminism, and learns that it’s a lot more than the “Riot Grrl” movement (and I’m kind of in the same boat as her before she learned all the different dimensions, that’s the only paramount characteristic I am familiar with). I learned that the Third Wave Movement branched from the second wave, because women found it too “anti-sex/heterosexually based” and frankly, too boring. Third Wave provided an ultimate venue for self-expression, including body art, new clothing styles, do-it-yourself projects, writing, etc. etc. The article mainly gave me a wealth of pop culture to review regarding Third Wave Feminism, including the movie Girl Fight and other gems such as the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, some bands, magazines, and scholarly articles.
I really look forward to the weekly, informal writings, so I can pick an article and just dissect it entirely! This was too much information for me to cover effectively (I don’t know how I passed Communicating Business Info, I’m one of the least concise people I know), but I hope I did you justice, Professor Mason.