War On Women : The Gender War Caused By Radical Feminism

Roxane Gay, author of the article entitled “Bad Feminist”, is a very accomplished American feminist writer. Her publication of “Bad Feminist” in 2012 gained national public attention (1). Feminism, as defined in the dictionary, is “the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes” (2), but Gay explains throughout her article that being a feminist is not just as simple as agreeing with this need for gender equality. The feminist label is too narrow and because of this the feminist movement is breaking apart. In this piece, Gay addresses how our society currently defines feminism and explains why this definition does not encompass everybody that it should.

When thinking about feminism in today’s society we tend to direct our minds and thoughts to a more radical and powerful train of thought. Feminism has been going on for centuries, with two main ideologies at the forefront; liberal and cultural feminism. Someone who identifies as a liberal feminist is someone who believes that women and men are a like and equal in most respects and deserve equal roles and opportunities (Wood & Fixmer-Oraiz, 2017, p. 58). And cultural feminism is someone who identifies as someone who believes that men and women are fundamentally differently; you have different rights, role and opportunities (Wood & Fixmer-Oraiz, 2017, p. 58). The women’s rights movement can be understood and broken down into three “waves”.

The Merriam-Webster definition of feminism is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” In the past century, gender roles have been challenged because of feminism. The very idea has completely flipped households, workplaces, and the general community and changed it for the better. A plethora of women’s movements were initiated in the 1960’s, and it gave people a look at how powerful women are when we stand united. Feminism has gained many followers in the past thirty to forty years as more people are becoming aware of conflicts pertaining to discrimination. However, there are many that were hesitant both in the 1960’s and in the present day, but for very different reasons. Nevertheless, persistence seems to be a beacon in women’s rights movements, thanks to very strong and level-headed role models.

I had never really thought about what it meant to be a feminist, it was just a role I had unquestionably assumed as I consider myself to be an advocate of women empowerment. After last week’s readings, I began to question what exactly does being a feminist entails, and why the label carries very different meanings and connotations to different people. There is a common misconception that feminists are radicals, seeking to be superior to men. This is rooted in the fact that women today do not face the same struggles as its predecessors; namely, the inability to vote, work, study, and own property, to name a few. It is true that I have more rights and privileges than women such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth,

Gloria Steinem has been at the forefront of the feminist movement, speaking out against the gender inequalities in our society since the late 1960’s. While our feminist leaders have accomplished many wins on the battlefield for equality, there are still sectors of our society in which women have not achieved parity. In “Our Revolution Has Just Begun” an article by Gloria Steinem, Steinem (2017) addresses the unfinished goals of the feminist movement and urges us to do whatever we can to change consciousness.

Throughout history, women have been abused, controlled, and belittled by men. Even today there are some subtle differences seen between a man and a woman’s standing, such as pay salary, job promotions, and physical and mental state. Modern feminism tries to solve these types of issues, but typically this only stirs the pot and creates more of a problem than any of it is worth. Lately, modern feminists over exaggerate dilemmas in the country and complain about things that in no way compare to the struggles of the oppressed women in past, specifically in the 1890s to the 1960s, and this is why it is no longer needed in society. Some of the major battles that women faced during this time period can be seen in the book Their Eyes were Watching

IV: Feminist scholarship extensively details how the very tools that allow us to interpret the world can also constitute and reinforce inequalities of power. We are given over form the beginning to structures such as language, identity, law, nation and privilege (among many others) that implicate us in processes of exclusion, devaluation, and commodification. Drawing upon at least one reading from classes 15-21, one from classes 22-27 and another from before the midterm, discuss methods of undermining or subverting this inevitable complicity to forge room for resistance.

The goal of feminism is to achieve equal rights among gender regardless of political, economic, or social status. And yet this can be a difficult goal in a patriarchal society where in most cases males dominate due to the fact that power and authority are in the hands of adult men. (Lee and Shaw 5) Douglass acknowledged that equal rights for women was one in which men and women were interdependent for its success

Before the 1960s, American women were contained within a rut that hindered them from living equally among American men. According to Dixon (1977), women had been without a voice to articulate the injustice and brutality of women’s place and without instrumentality to fight against their exploitation and oppression for nearly forty years. However, “[from] the late 1960s into the 1980s there was a vibrant women’s movement in the United States” (Epstein, 2001). This movement, fueled by feminism, promised drastic improvement in the lives of American women and also promised to “[…] equalize the status of all women” (Dixon, 1977). Due to the uplifting wave of the 1970s women’s movement, females in America anxiously awaited the freedom to live as

Feminism is often used as an umbrella term describing many different strains of similar ideologies and movements. It classifies the Suffragette movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique, to today’s initiatives for equal pay. Considering what “feminism” has represented throughout many different moments in history, it is easy to understand why feminists often disagree about what the ideology actually represents. What is the nature of sexism? What qualifies as injustice against women? What is the most effective method of bringing about social change? To better understand these questions, some scholars classify feminism into several “waves”, representing the main goals of feminists relative to the time period.

Before Civil War a new wave of feminism is raised in America and soon spread out all over the world because in that time women of America was self-employed and they did jobs, face different problems. Therefore, we say the next wave of feminism is the feminism’s second wave.In this wave, they raised topics according to situation of that time but we see it is co incident that these are the same issues that world faced in todays too. These issues are sexuality regarding family and workplace environment, rights of reproduction, inequalities whether it belongs to de facto sideor from official or from legal side (Jacobs, 1861).

Though the media has maligned feminism as a drive for selfish fulfillment by female professionals, those who stand to gain the most are actually those who have the least. The demand for full equality for all women is profoundly radicalizing when it addresses the additional layers of discrimination women experience because of class, race, sexuality, disability, and

Feminism is more than a word, more than an individual, and more than an identity. In the words of Tavi Gevinson, editor-in-chief of Rookie Mag, an online feminist magazine for teen girls, feminism is a discussion, a conversation, and a process. It’s not a set of rules and restrictions, and it’s certainly not an attack targeted on men, but it is a fight, and it’s a long one. Over time, various connotations surrounding the word “feminist” have developed to form an image of angry, misandrist, bra-burning women who shouldn’t be taken seriously as thinkers and agents of social change. A dismissal of feminism that I hear often seems to be that feminists are just looking for things to be angry about, seeking out reasons to complain so we feel

The United States has observed an era of progressive activism for women. But, feminism is by its nature a complex notion and one can’t fully appreciate its effectiveness forgetting the aspect of ethnic discriminations in the country (Collin, p.p 47). Race matters exist in diverse places and at unusual times under extensively unreliable circumstances. It is different from white feminism as they have managed to attain their own freedom in a different way. This was because Black women were hardly seen as an active figure in such movements over the history. Currently, the issues of black feminism are hardly discussed at any forum. One must agree with the fact that black women have now managed to get significant positions in many fields.

“That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” is forever enshrined in our Declaration of Independence. Women’s efforts to realize these words have created a group of second wave Feminists that seem to have created an intolerant and oppressive atmosphere towards women who wish to achieve these goals through more traditional roles and beliefs. These women have been labeled “conservative” and have become “The Other’s” in popular culture. “Anne Marie Slaughter, who embodied the feminist example of a successful woman but decided to pursue a more traditional family role, discusses in her article “Why Women still can’t have it all” how she fell victim to the same ideological scenario that threatens women’s progress today. Furthermore, Sheryl Gay Stolberg’s January 18, 2017, New York Times article, “Views on Abortion Strain Calls for Unity at Women’s March on Washington,” demonstrates the polarization and intolerance of the feminist ideology towards conservative values. Conservative Women, that may choose to pursue happiness by assuming traditional roles are increasingly isolated in American Society because of the expectations to live progressive feminist lifestyles. The oppression of conservative women has become commonplace because of the feminist intolerance of a woman’s right to pursue her own happiness. Additionally, the exclusion of conservative values from the feminist agenda has