What Does The Word Feminism?

When one closes their eyes and hears the word feminist, one can imagine seeing a mob full of women marching down the street burning their brassieres while chanting anti-male chants, while holding signs that sheds light on the unfair treatment women were exposed to for several decades. On the other hand, if one closes their eyes, and hears the word feminine, one can imagine seeing either a dainty female looking sweet and innocent, something like a princess, or a lady with “tasteful” sex appeal. These images along with other images associated with femininity and feminist comes from how the media, new papers, and stories portray them. Looking on the surface, they seem quite the opposite in nature. In Claire Miye Stanford’s essay “You’ve Got the Wrong Song: Nashville and Country Music Feminism” Stanford poses a question, “Can a show that is so ostensibly interested in the ‘feminine’…also be feminist?” (Stanford 277). At first glance, one would disagree, but more TV shows are portraying their leading women as a feminine feminist. Shows like Nashville, Insecure, and Orange is the New Black are breaking the boundaries and changing the views on what the new feminine feminist looks like.

The women’s liberation movement (or feminism as it is now known) of the 1960s and 1970s touched every home, business, and school (WA, 705). The movement even touched the sports and entertainment industries, in fact, “There are few areas of contemporary life untouched by feminism” (WA, 717). The word feminism in the early 1960’s wasn’t often used and when it was it was used with condescension or hatred. However, in the late sixties that changed thanks to a new group of women. This new diverse group of women included the: young, old, heterosexual, lesbians, working class, and even the privileged. This diverse group came together and collectively created the second wave of feminism.

In the third wave, feminists focused on challenging the second wave’s strategy. The third wave

Feminism is the fight for equality between the sexes. It can be dated back to the mid-19th century with women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The first wave feminist procured the right to vote for American women. The following second and third waves built upon what the founding feminists created. The second wave of feminism was set off by the disenchantment women across America were experiencing. This disenchantment was caused by the nuclear family and the roles that the women in the 1950s were thrust into. The second wave is said to have lasted from the 1960s-1980s. Sometime after the 1980s, most likely the early to mid-1990s, third wave feminists began to rear their heads. The third wave built upon the advancements made

“Today, the average full-time working woman earns just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns…in 2014, that’s an embarrassment. It is wrong” (Kessler). Nearly every American has heard this claim, or at the very least, others like it. So widespread is the sentiment, that even President Obama himself has repeated it. Many contemporaries point to the widespread availability and acceptance of facts such as these as one of the major accomplishments of modern feminism. However, within the apparent shining bastion of social justice lies a dark shadow; a truth that many would prefer go ignored. Third wave feminism, as a movement, in contrast to first and second wave feminism, is a failure because of its lack of a central, uniform, well defined platform, its inability to win popular support, and its focus on social aspects rather than legal or political ones.

This essay examines the question, “To what extent was the second wave of feminism (in the 1960’s and 1970’s) successful in achieving equality for women?” The essay is introduced by describing why the second wave of feminism developed and the aims of this second wave of feminist. The essay is broken into two parts. The first part of the essay discusses the impact of women 's rights activist on legislation. It is argued that the second wave feminist were unsuccessful in gaining equality in terms of obtaining equal wages and opportunities for women in the workplace. They however were successful in obtaining equal rights laws and reproductive laws for women. The feminist of the 1960’s and 70’s were victorious in securing for many american women the right to have easy access to contraceptives and abortion. The second part of the essay focuses on the extent that the second wave feminist were successful in changing the mindset of Americans. These feminist wanted the view of women to be one that portrayed women less as only a housewife and more as a women who can lead a life that could involve a career in any field. Success ranged in this area. On one side there was women becoming more independent and free as they embarked the sexual revolution while in other regards such as film and music women still held an inferior role to men. The second wave of feminism achieved great success in attaining equality for women however this success was not as far ranging as these mid 20th century

Second-wave feminism of the 1960s was successful in obtaining many rights that were otherwise denied to women. However, Scholar Benita Roth asserts that the movement resonated primarily with middle-class white feminists as it focused on issues that were only relevant to their lives (76). By failing to acknowledge class and racial differences, white feminists undermined their white privilege which then gave rise to the third wave, facilitated by women of colour. In the twenty-first century, various initiatives have been taken by feminist organizations such as the National Organization for Women to create a more inclusive environment for black women through an intersectional approach, defined as the recognition of interlocking oppressions (Roth

As Third Wave feminism is currently unfolding before us, and its aims encompass a wide array of complex issues, it is often hard to describe what Third Wave feminism is. The feminist theories, mainly associated with First and Second Wave feminism attempt to describe the power imbalances that are found in society, and while doing so expose other oppressions, such as discrimination based on race or sexual orientation. As this essay attempts to place a clear definition to Third Wave feminism, feminists are concurrently trying to deconstruct old definitions and open it up for women to determine what feminism means to them. In other words, no clear definition on what is meant to be a feminist is sufficient, as the Third Wave is about

Third wave feminists are somewhat different from first and second wave feminists, who were quite rigid in their beliefs about feminism and often alienated women who did not conform to their ideas. One major change is some third wavers enjoy dressing up with makeup and revealing clothing. Karaian & Mitchell (2010) state that The third wave says it is perfectly okay to wear high heels, lipstick and show off your body, if you choose to. This is in opposition to the second wave feminists who believed doing this would be bowing down to oppression. Feminists of today are less interested in rules and more focused on their own identities. These third wave feminists are now women of color, women with disabilities, obese women and trans women and they are complicating the idea of what femininity is They are pushing the envelope with what we perceive as the feminine body. In addition, Karaian & Mitchell report there is a This speaks to being more inclusive and open to a broader scope of “women”. As mentioned

Towards the end of the twentieth century, feminist women in America faced an underlying conflict to find their purpose and true meaning in life. “Is this all?” was often a question whose answer was sought after by numerous women reaching deeper into their minds and souls to find what was missing from their life. The ideal second-wave feminist was defined as a women who puts all of her time into cleaning her home, loving her husband, and caring for her children, but such a belief caused these women to not only lose their identity within her family but society as well. The emotions that feminist women were feeling at this time was the internal conflict that caused for social steps to be taken in hopes of

As stated, “The third wave was made possible by the greater economic and professional power and status achieved by women of the second wave…” (Brunell & Burkett, 2016). The third wave of the women’s movement started in the 1990s and it continues until now, the present, it all began with a mixture of already feminist and feminist being born. As read, “Proponents of third-wave feminism claim that it allows women to define feminism for themselves by incorporating their own identities into their belief system of what feminism is and what it can become” (Fisher, 2013). The second wave that started 30 years before the 90s, the feminist back then focused on laws but not today’s feminist, who focus on their identities. Today, the women's movement occurs daily, everywhere. Recently a march on Washington, on January 21 - 22, 2017, hundreds of women gathered and walked in Washington. The march came to be after a post a Hawaiian grandmother made on how she felt after Donald J. Trump had move. It states, “...led by hundreds of thousands who overwhelmed the nation's capital, protested the first full day of President Trump's tenure Saturday” (Przybyla & Schouten, 2017). Not only do women today march one day, but every day through social media they continue the movement, the women encourage other women to join them and allow them to become a stronger group. As read, “By removing the barriers of distance and geography, sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram have made activism easier than ever, facilitating public dialogues and creating a platform for awareness and change”(Chittal, 2015). The social media now is allowing the women’s movement to grow rapidly by, announcing marches, organizations. (Fisher, 2013) (Przybyla & Schouten,

This third wave recognizes that society is unique politically, economically and culturally in comparison to previous waves of feminism. However, the third wave represents an increase in the variant of attitudes toward gender equity as well as an increase in the number of individuals who are willing to participate actively in the third wave movement.

Her excerpt begins by introducing the “first wave” which according to her was, ‘the designation that was applied to the suffragists retroactively after a second swell of activism by American women which occurred in the 1960s and 1970s’. From there on, she glides in to how Martha Lear coined the term “second feminist wave” in 1968 and women began to prefer the association to the term ‘feminism’. Subsequently, she associates herself to the generation that Rebecca Walker introduces as “the Third wave” in her article that appeared on the New York Times Sunday Magazine in 1990.

In the spring of 1997 Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuted a show that addressed aspects of feminism that were brought to life in society. This was around the same time the third-wave of feminism began. The wave started in the early 1990s and continues through present day and it is responding to the failures of the second wave of feminism and also addressed the backlash that the second created. Although there are many ideas from the second wave that they still used as a fighting tool to keep the wave going. For example, the making domestic-abuse shelters for women and children, acknowledging the abuse of rape on women on public level, and legalizing the right to abortions and many more organizations were created so that women and children would

When one hears the term “Feminism”, she/he may have the idea that it is the urge and