Reading 1: http://www.pacificu.edu/about-us/news-events/four-waves-feminism
So, I found this article very interesting. While I’m very familiar with first wave and second wave feminism, third wave feminism is where the movement starts to lose me. And before I read this, I found the fact that since the fourth wave’s platform wasn’t yet quantified, it weakened the movement.
But I think this might have changed my mind.
I learned that third wave feminism re-adopted high heels, lipstick, and cleavage, among other trends in physical appearance, that their predecessors sought to get rid of. 3rd wavers reasoning was that women should look beautiful for themselves, as the subject, instead of dressing this way to attract attention and belittle themselves into an object. They were also making a statement that no matter how a woman dresses and looks, she can still be intelligent and have a mind of her own, as well as articulated opinions.
Technology and the internet is a large part of the 3rd wave’s identity, and I hope to explore that in more depth.
I also found it interesting that the 3rd wave feminists don’t like the word feminism, because they find it “limiting and exclusionary.” They also find the struggle persisting on an individual level, where women need to grapple with their own position in society because the previous two generations have already given them all the tools they need. 3rd wavers want to be the last wave; they don’t see the need for a wide-scale feminist movement anymore.
I think this is where I have previously seen myself, at the tail end of the third wave. I’m not a fan of the word feminist because I feel it doesn’t address true equality, and I’ve believed that it’s up to women to come to their own terms with their gender and how that may affect their goals and ambitions, as well as how other people treat them (and how they’ll let that affect them also). It’s up to women to shape their own fate, even though antagonists are ever present. They need to rely on themselves, not a movement as a crutch.
Or so I was previously convinced.
But this article kind of puts things in perspective as why we may need a fourth wave. During the third wave, feminism became very academic and resided mostly in universities to be studied and talked about. While women were treated equally for the most part, perennial problems still exist that are crying out for feminism to address it. The fourth wave itself may be the movement from the university back to public discourse, to address problems such as: “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.” I think it’s super important that this dialogue is absorbed by the public and every day people have conversations about it. One thing that rubs me the wrong way about feminism is that some feminists make remarks that women “aren’t feminist enough” for disagreeing with certain principles or beliefs the majority holds. That kind of behavior has turned me off from a forum type discussion. But I realize those type of close-minded people hold true for any political or social discussion, and you have to push past that to get to the heart of the argument. Hence, me opening up to learn about a subject I’ve avoided for too long.
The author of this article addressed fourth wave feminism as women”coming out of the closet” and admitting that they are a feminist, despite all the bad rap the word has received from all sides of the argument. Those joining the fourth wave are realizing that the 3rd wave was perhaps too optimistic, and that feminism is still needed by many women. And I relate to her analogy greatly.
She also makes an interesting point that fourth wave feminism is not a re-incarnation of the previous waves, but a completely unique movement spurred by millennials to treat problems that have been modified by a new age in which we live in.
It’s going to be interesting to see what the fourth wave turns into, and if we’ll be successful in recruiting men to our cause, and if we’ll pierce the heart of all classes, races, sexualities, and cultures.