How Feminism Has Developed Through Many Forms And Transformations

The fight against sexism is not a new fight. Women have been fighting for equal rights, as well as fighting for their lives, culture, and values to be just as important as men's. On August 18, 1920, women were granted the right to vote; but this was only the beginning. From then to now, the role of women in society has significantly changed due to women standing up for their rights at protests and rallies, as well as on social media. While “The Good Wife’s Guide” focused on the promotion of the traditional gender role of women and defined appropriate emotions for women, “The Revolt of ‘Mother,’” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, represents the start of the resistance of the traditional gender role of women that we see in society today.

Whiteness and racism comes from the oppression, colonization and systems of dominance over black people and their feelings. In this case, an intersectional feminist analysis matters because women who are able bodied, cis-gendered, privileged and white are only being considered whereas bell hooks argue that men, women and trans people who oppressed should be fought for. And Peggy McIntosh adds onto this but a white woman who addresses and recognizes her privilege to help other white individuals understand what they have and blacks do not.

Then, she wrote the essay “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” in order to talk about women and those elements that were ignored: race, sexuality, class, and age. By a patriarchal world, women need a freedom, which allows them to be by active, not in order to be used by passive. White feminists have educated themselves in the past many years, and then how about women of color? As women, there are no differences, so those who are differences need to learn how to stand alone in order to seek a world in which we can all flourish. “It is learning how to take our differences and make them strength(112).” However, is the feminist education only by women could change the situation of the patriarchal

Kerber, Linda K., Jane Sherron De Hart, Cornelia Hughes Dayton, and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu. Women's America: Refocusing the Past: Rosalyn Baxandall and Linda Gordon, “The Women’s Liberation Movement”. 8th ed. NY, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Early feminism was typically focused only on white women, likely because racism was still extremely prominent at the time feminism began emerging. It was not until Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced the term “intersectionality” in 1989 that feminism started to look at oppressed group’s needs (Nash, 2008, 2). Intersectionality is a way of thinking that acknowledges that when a person has identities that belong to more than one oppressed group, it impacts their quality of life more negatively. In this paper, I will argue that intersectionality is important in the discussion of feminist theories and activism because it ensures that feminism is for all women, not just a select group of them. Intersectionality has changed the way the feminist movement handles the overlapping of different identities, which has helped feminist theorists understand the experiences of women of colour much more clearly. While intersectionality has a very important role in the conversation and practice of feminism, there are certainly critiques of the concept that should be brought up. These critiques, however, can offer a way to improve the study of intersectionality.

By expressing this with the African American society of women who are continuously torched by the demanding words of men, McLune appeals strongly to all American women’s intellect of equality and respect. Women should not have to be judged by men and expect to be treated as if they owe anyone something, let alone have to be mistreated and belittled, if that were to be the case then men should be treated the same, therefore McLune’s audience, should understand that that is not how you define a black woman in any terms.

Underlying the feminism movement of the 1960s and 1970s was the “white racist ideology.” The women’s movement of the 1960s was in fact the white women’s movement. It was an opportunity for white feminists to raise their voices, but they only spoke about the plight of the white woman and excluded themselves from the collective group of women across all races and social standings. White women assumed that their experience was the experience of all women. When black women proclaimed that the movement was focused on the oppression of white women, the white feminists asserted “common oppression” and retorted with “oppression cannot be measured.” Ironically, feminists in the 1960s compared their oppression to the oppression of African Americans as

For centuries and even today, gender inequality and racial prejudice continue to exist. Throughout time these concepts have overlapped and intertwined, each other creating complex interactions and a negative influence upon society. In the 1980s, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw through her article, named Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, introduced the term “Intersectionality.” Intersectionality, is the theory of how different types of discriminations interact thus, goes hand in hand with Judith Butler, in her article titled “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” which expresses the term “gender acts” and helps decipher a probable cause of the many discriminations faced in contemporary society. Since both gender inequality and racial inequality share a common thread, I believe that what intersectionality represents will help understand Judith Butler’s view on gender classification and the dynamic it’s caused on our social and political formation.

In history, women have always struggled to gain equality, respect, and the same rights as men. Women had had to endure years of sexism and struggle to get to where we are today. The struggle was even more difficult for women of color because not only were they dealing with issues of sexism, but also racism. Many movements have helped black women during the past centuries to overcome sexism, racism, and adversities that were set against them. History tells us that movements such as the Feminist Movement helped empower all women, but this fact is not totally true. In this paper, I will discuss feminism, the movements, and its "minimal" affects on black women.

The definition of feminism is very elusive. Maybe because of its ever-changing historical meaning, it’s not for certain whether there is any coherence to the term feminism or if there is a definition that will live up to the movement’s variety of adherents and ideas. In the book “No Turning Back,” author Estelle Freedman gives an accurate four-part definition of the very active movement: “Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently part of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between women and men, with the understanding that gender always intersects with other social hierarchies” (Freedman 7).

In the Feminist Theory, bell hooks provide vivid examples and assertions on how mainstream feminism exclude the issues of women of color. Mainstream feminism in America pertains to the ideals of “white, middle-class privileged woman” as they “reinforce white supremacy by negating the issue of race and class amongst woman of color” (hooks, 2000, pg. ). Due to not fulfilling the attempt to gain equality, as they may claim to do, it also can be an organization that displays “narcissism, insensitivity, sentimentality, and self-indulgence” (hooks, 2000, pg. 3). As mainstream feminism shuns the needs and interests of African-American women, it allows current social issues and inequalities to persist.

These explanations analyze factors such as fear of dividing the minority community, lack of knowledge of feminism, the focus on male liberation in the black social movement in the 60’s, and the idea of matriarchy (Simons). Overall, black feminist, on the other hand, believe that racism, the major factor, hinders the development of feminist awareness among minority women and other problems that seem to arise within the feminist movement and community (Simons).

Feminism by definition means the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social and economic equality to men. But many a time’s people restrict the boundary of these forgetting the very important element of diversity of women living in different places and in varied situations.

First wave European feminism sought to fight for women's suffrage and the liberal women's rights movements, while the second wave fought for the empowerment of women and differential rights in society, and third wave currently challenges both second wave feminism and patriarchy through a desire to embrace diversity and an idea of universal womanhood. The principal goals in emerging Ukrainian feminist movements was to reveal the conditions that women in Ukrainian society endured. The Ukrainian society held, and still holds, an emphasis on the political view of national solidarity, this was also prevalent through the feminist movements, and dominated over the solidarity of women . In the Ukraine, an exhibitionist feminist protest group

Feminism, in theory, binds women from all over the world. They come together to protect their rights as equal human beings. For such a long time, men have dominated over women, looking down upon them and perceiving them as lesser beings. Feminism has allowed women from all cultures and races, to come together to fight for their rights. However, nothing is ever as simple as one may hope. Feminism constitutes women from all over the world, making it difficult from time to time to understand and empathize with each other due to different cultures, races and religions. Teresa de Lauretis (2014) says that “the identity as a woman of color is one not given but acquired, attained, and developed out of the specific historical experience”.