Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study from 1981 to the present. The movement arose as a response to the failures of and backlash against initiatives and movements created by second-wave feminism of c. 1960s through the 1970s and the realization that "women" are of "many colors, ethnicities, nationalities, religions and cultural backgrounds".[1] The third wave embraces contradictions and conflict, and accommodates diversity and change.[1] There is, in this wave, no all-encompassing single feminist idea.[1] Third-wave feminism seeks to challenge or avoid what it deems the second wave's "essentialist" definitions of femininity, which often assumed a universal female identity and over-emphasized experiences of upper-middle-class white women. A post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality is central to third wave ideology. Emphasizing discursive power and the ambiguity of gender, third-wave theory usually incorporates elements of queer theory; anti-racism and women-of-color consciousness; womanism; post-colonial theory; critical theory; postmodernism; transnationalism; ecofeminism; libertarian feminism; new feminist theory, transgender politics and a rejection of the gender binary. Also considered part of the third wave is sex-positivity, a celebration of sexuality as a positive aspect of life, with broader definitions of what sex means and what oppression and empowerment may imply in the context of sex. For example, many third-wave feminists have reconsidered opposition to pornography and to sex work of the second wave and challenge existing beliefs that participants in pornography and in sex work cannot be empowered.[2]
Third-wave feminists such as Elle Green often focus on "micro-politics" and challenge the second wave's paradigm as to what is, or is not, good for women.[3][4][5][6]
Proponents of third-wave feminism claim that it allows women to define feminism for themselves by incorporating their own identities into the belief system of what feminism is and what it can become through one's own perspective. In their introduction to the idea of third-wave feminism in Manifesta, authors Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards suggest that feminism can change with every generation and individual:
"The fact that feminism is no longer limited to arenas where we expect to see it-- NOW, Ms., women's studies, and redsuited 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. We're not doing feminism the same way that the seventies feminists did it; being liberated doesn't mean copying what came before but finding one's own way-- a way that is genuine to one's own generation." [7]
[edit] History Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, arising as a response to perceived failures of the second wave and also as a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second wave. Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave like Gloria Anzaldúa, bell hooks, Kerry Ann Kane, Cherríe Moraga, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many other feminists of colour, sought to negotiate a space within feminist thought for consideration of subjects related to race.[5][8]
In 1981, Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa published the anthology This Bridge Called My Back, which along with All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies in 1982 critiqued second-wave feminism, which focused primarily on the problems and political positions of white women.
In 1991, Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas, a man nominated to the United States Supreme Court, of sexual harassment. Thomas denied the accusations and, after extensive debate, the United States Senate voted 52–48 in favor of Thomas.[5][8][9] In response to this case, Rebecca Walker published an article entitled "Becoming the Third Wave" in which she stated, "I am not a post-feminism feminist. I am the third-wave."[10]
In 1992, the "Year of the Woman" saw four women enter the United States Senate to join the two already there. The following year another woman won a special election, bringing the number to seven. The 1990s also saw the first female United States Attorney General and Secretary of State, as well as the second woman on the Supreme Court, and the first US First Lady (Hillary Rodham Clinton) to have an independent political, legal, corporate executive, activist, and public service career. However, the Equal Rights Amendment, which is supported by second- and third-wave feminists, remains a work in progress.
The roots of the third wave had begun, however, in the mid 1980s. Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave called for a new subjectivity in feminist voice. They sought to negotiate prominent space within feminist thought for consideration of race-related subjectivities. This focus on the intersection between race and gender remained prominent through the Hill-Thomas hearings, but was perceived[by whom?] to shift with the Freedom Ride 1992, the first project of the Walker-led Third Wave Direct Action Corporation. This drive to register voters in poor minority communities was surrounded with rhetoric that focused on rallying young women.[11]
The fundamental rights and programs gained by feminist activists of the second wave - including the creation of domestic-abuse shelters for women and children and the acknowledgment of abuse and rape of women on a public level, access to contraception and other reproductive services (including the legalization of abortion), the creation and enforcement of sexual-harassment policies for women in the workplace, child-care services, equal or greater educational and extracurricular funding for young women, women's studies programs, and much more — have served as a foundation and a tool for third-wave feminists.[citation needed]
Some third-wave feminists prefer not to call themselves feminists, as the word feminist can be misinterpreted as insensitive to the fluid notion of gender and the potential oppressions inherent in all gender roles, or perhaps misconstrued as exclusive or elitist by critics. Others have kept and redefined the term to include these ideas. Third-wave feminism seeks to challenge any universal definition of femininity. In the introduction of To Be Real, the Third Wave founder and leader writes:
"Whether the young women who refuse the feminist label realize it or not, on some level they recognize that an ideal woman born of prevalent notions of how empowered women look, act, or think is simply another impossible contrivance of perfect womanhood, another scripted role to perform in the name of biology and virtue."[9]
Third-wave feminism deals with issues that seem to limit or oppress women, as well as other marginalized identities. Consciousness-raising activism and widespread education is often the first step that feminists take toward social change.[citation needed] In their book Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future, Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards write:
"Consciousness among women is what caused this [change], and consciousness, one's ability to open their mind to the fact that male domination does affect the women of our generation, is what we need... The presence of feminism in our lives is taken for granted. For our generation, feminism is like fluoride. We scarcely notice we have it—it's simply in the water."[7]
[edit] Activism and the third-wave agenda [edit] Reproductive rights Main article: Reproductive rights One of feminism's primary concerns is reproductive rights, such as access to contraception and abortion. According to Baumgardner and Richards, "It is not feminism's goal to control any woman's fertility, only to free each woman to control her own".[7] South Dakota's 2006 attempt to ban abortion in all cases, except when necessary to protect the mother's life,[12] and the US Supreme Court's recent vote to uphold the partial birth abortion ban are viewed by many feminists as restrictions on women's civil and reproductive rights.[13][14] Restrictions on the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States, are becoming more and more common in states around the country; such restrictions include mandatory waiting periods,[15] parental-consent laws,[16] and spousal-consent laws.[17] Many feminists oppose these and other legislative attempts to restrict abortion.
[edit] Reclaiming derogatory terms Words such as spinster, bitch, whore, and cunt continue to be used in derogatory ways about women. Inga Muscio writes, "I posit that we’re free to seize a word that was kidnapped and co-opted in a pain-filled, distant, past, with a ransom that cost our grandmothers’ freedom, children, traditions, pride, and land." Third-wave feminists believe it is better to change the meaning of a sexist word than to censor it from speech.
Part of taking back the word bitch was fueled by the 1992 single, "All Women Are Bitches" by the all woman band Fifth Column and, later, by the 1999 book Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel. In the successful declaration of the word bitch, Wurtzel introduces her philosophy: "I intend to scream, shout, race the engine, call when I feel like it, throw tantrums in Bloomingdale's if I feel like it and confess intimate details about my life to complete strangers. I intend to do what I want to do and be whom I want to be and answer only to myself: that is, quite simply, the bitch philosophy." [18]
[edit] Other areas of concern Third-wave feminism's central issues are that of race, social class and sexuality. However, they are also concerns of workplace issues such as the glass ceiling, sexual harassment, unfair maternity leave policies,[19] motherhood—support for single mothers by means of welfare and child care and respect for working mothers and mothers who decide to leave their careers to raise their children full-time.
Third-wave feminists want women to be seen as intelligent, political beings with intelligent, political minds; some claim that there is a lack of diverse, positive female representatives in pop culture. They also bring attention to alleged unhealthy standards for women in media; the glamorization of eating disorders; the portrayal of women as sexualized objects catering solely to the man's needs, and anti-intellectualism.[citation needed]
[edit] The riot grrrl movement Main article: Riot Grrrl
Kathleen Hanna was the lead singer of Bikini Kill: a riot grrrl band formed in 1990.Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that started in the 1990s and is often associated with third-wave feminism. It was grounded in the DIY philosophy of punk values, riot grrls took an anti-corporate stance of self-sufficiency and self-reliance.[20] Riot grrrl's emphasis on universal female identity and separatism often appears more closely allied with second-wave feminism than with the third wave.[21] Riot grrrl bands often address issues such as rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, and female empowerment. Some bands associated with the movement are: Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Excuse 17, Jack Off Jill, Free Kitten, Heavens to Betsy, Huggy Bear, L7, Fifth Column and Team Dresch. In addition to a music scene, riot grrrl is also a subculture: zines, the DIY ethic, art, political action, and activism are part of the movement. Riot grrrls hold meetings, start chapters, and support and organize women in music.[22] The term "Riot Grrl" uses a "growling" double or triple r, placing it in the word girl as an appropriation of the perceived derogatory use of the term.[20]
The movement sprang out of Olympia, Washington and Washington, D.C. in the early 1990s. It sought to give women the power to control their voices and artistic expressions.[20] Its links to social and political issues are where the beginning rumblings of the third-wave feminism can be seen. The music and zine writings produced are strong examples of "cultural politics in action, with strong women giving voice to important social issues though an empowered, female oriented community, many people link the emergence of the third-wave feminism to this time".[20] The movement encouraged and made "adolescent girls’ standpoints central", allowing them to express themselves fully.[23]
[edit] Criticism of the third wave One issue raised by critics is the lack of a single cause for third-wave feminism. The first wave fought and gained the right for women to vote. The second wave struggled to obtain the right for women to have access and equal opportunity to the workforce, as well as ending of legal sex discrimination.[20]
The third wave of feminism lacks a cohesive goal, and it is often seen as an extension of the second wave.[20] Also, third-wave feminism does not have a set definition that can distinguish itself from second-wave feminism. Some argue the third wave can be dubbed the "Second Wave, Part Two" when it comes to the politics of feminism, and "only young feminist culture as truly third wave".[7]
Richards defines the feminist culture for this generation as "third wave because it's an expression of having grown up with feminism".[20] Second-wave feminists grew up where the politics intertwined within the culture, such as "Kennedy, the Vietnam War, civil rights, and women's rights;" while the Third Wave sprang from a culture of "punk-rock, hip-hop, 'zines, products, consumerism and the Internet".[7]
There continues to be tension between second-wave and third-wave feminists. In an essay entitled "Generations, Academic Feminists in dialogue" Diane Elam writes:
This problem manifests itself when senior feminists insist that junior feminists be good daughters, defending the same kind of feminism their mothers advocated. Questions and criticisms are allowed, but only if they proceed from the approved brand of feminism. Daughters are not allowed to invent new ways of thinking and doing feminism for themselves; feminists’ politics should take the same shape that it has always assumed.[7]
Walker, in To Be Real, writes about her fear of rejection by her mother, author Alice Walker, and godmother, Gloria Steinem, for challenging their views:
Young Women feminists find themselves watching their speech and tone in their works so as not to upset their elder feminist mothers. There is a definite gap among feminists who consider themselves to be second wave and those who would label themselves as third wave. Although, the age criteria for second wave feminists and third wave feminists is murky, younger feminists definitely have a hard time proving themselves worthy as feminist scholars and activists.[9]
[edit] Applied liberal equity discourse Egalitarian feminist principles are applied to find ways to more closely identify and redress alleged gender imbalance in the field of technology. Liberal equity feminism addresses the role of women in computer technology to dispute how they are perceived and contrasted with males when viewed through the lens of traditional social constructs or "roles".
[edit] Women, technology and progress According to Jane Abbis,[24] liberal equity discourse has long stated that the problem of the under-representation of women in computer-related technological careers is a result of gender differences in attitudes, desires and competencies in computers. However, the changing dynamics of computer interests have led to further debate[25] challenging previously held beliefs of essentialist differences and exploring ways of examining the issue, presenting a new dynamic to the problem of women's participation in technology and progress.
Traditional research focuses on the notion that boys are predominant users of computers for playing games, mathematical analysis, and the Internet, whereas girls focus more on word processing type applications.[citation needed] Moreover, males are alleged to exhibit "hard" computer mastery, machine oriented where the computer is a toy for manipulation on its own, and females as "soft" masters,[26] thus focusing more on the end result. An example of bias is held to be Nintendo's Game Boy as a cultural symbol that alienates girls and further associates feminine identity as ill-suited for technological pursuits.[27][neutrality is disputed]
Poster Comment:
The one thing I see from women today, over and over, are hostile unmarried/never married middle-aged women who blame their problems on men.