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THE ALERT COLLECTOR

Writings of the Third Wave Young Feminists in Conversation

Jennifer Gilley, Guest Columnist

As someone who came of age during feminism’s second 1990s as represented by McBeal, a ditzy, self-obsessed wave, I was intrigued when guest columnist Jennifer lawyer with a penchant for miniskirts. Waxing nostal- Gilley approached me with the idea of developing a col- gic for her feminist foremothers, Bellafante argued that umn around the subject of third-wave feminism. The while “feminism of the ’60s and ’70s was steeped in result is an insightful review of the major themes of research and obsessed with social change, feminism third-wave feminism, and practical suggestions that today is wed to the culture of celebrity and self-obses- academic and public librarians can use to develop a col- sion.”1 However, one need only look at the cover lection of books and magazines on this topic. images to see what is wrong with Bellafante’s picture. Gilley considers herself a part of this third wave. She McBeal, lest we forget, is not a real person. While Betty has an academic background in the subject: she holds a Friedan and Gloria Steinem were real feminists who master’s degree in women’s studies from The Ohio State were singled out by the media as spokespeople for a University as well as a master’s degree in library and grassroots movement, McBeal was entirely a media cre- information science from the University of Illinois. She ation—a TV character on the Fox network, no less. For is an active member of the Women’s Studies Section of the popular media to decry young feminism based on the Association of College and Research Libraries. She popular media depictions of it is truly a postmodern has published several articles relating to gender and example of pop culture eating itself. technology in College and Research Libraries News, Tech Is feminism alive and well? Do young feminists Trends, and the Women’s Studies Section Newsletter. She exist? What issues are of central importance to young also served as a discussion leader for a session on this feminists? To explore these questions, it is necessary to topic at the 2003 Annual Conference of the American look to the writings of young feminists themselves. Library Association.—Editor Such a body of work was launched throughout the 1990s and has rapidly proliferated in the early 2000s. hile the popular press has declared feminism These writers, while not following any unified stance, Wdead, unnecessary, or trivial since its inception, define themselves as the third wave, an appellation that the June 29, 1998 Time cover story took a fresh stab at an old topic. Under the headline “Is Feminism Dead?” Correspondence concerning this column should be addressed to Time printed a montage of four individual photo- Diane Zabel, Endowed Librarian for Business, Schreyer Business graphs: Susan B. Anthony, Betty Friedan, Gloria Library, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; Steinem, and actress Calista Flockhart as television e-mail: [email protected]. Jennifer Gilley is Head Librarian at the character Ally McBeal. Inside, writer Ginia Bellafante Elisabeth S. Blissel Library, Penn State New Kensington, bemoaned the frivolousness of young feminism in the Upper Burrell, Pennsylvania.

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serves to distinguish them from the the culture. This led to the phenome- weak argument of someone who first and second waves of feminism non of “I’m not a feminist, but . . . ” syn- enjoys being a victim. Nearly every while simultaneously marking them drome, beginning in the late ’80s, in third-wave book critically engages and as a continuation thereof. The first which young women refused to iden- debunks as reactionary or anti-femi- wave of feminism is considered to have tify themselves as “feminist” even nist all three of these writers; yet their begun at the Seneca Falls Convention though they agreed with feminist polit- construction of a rigid, self-righteous in 1848 and ended with the passage of ical views. Some young women who victim feminism versus a fun and liber- women’s suffrage in 1920. The second were coming to feminism during this ating power feminism is a caricatured wave, which arose in the 1960s and time, most commonly as a part of the version of themes that resonate in 1970s as women involved in the civil women’s studies departments that sec- much of third-wave writing. Thus, rights struggle began to recognize their ond-wave feminism had fought for and although they are not considered part own oppression, has, as yet, no official won inside academia, felt pressure to of the third wave, they are part of the ending date. The “waves” metaphor is conform to some standard of “good” historical and cultural milieu third- used to denote continuity of move- feminism and began to resent feminists wavers have to negotiate in construct- ment containing swells and troughs they saw as ideologues. ing contemporary feminism. rather than discrete, isolated periods Several books published in the The third stone in the bedrock of of political involvement. early 1990s by women who proclaimed third-wave feminism is that, contrary themselves feminists tapped into this to being unnecessary or having gone ambivalence by demonizing the femi- too far, the movement had not gone far nist movement and setting themselves enough, limiting itself to the narrow Origins of the up as the new arbiters of fun and interests of its white, liberal majority. Third Wave power: Katie Roiphe’s The Morning Third-wave feminism had stumbled After: Sex, Fear and Feminism on Cam- against the limits of its possibilities by The defining characteristic of the third pus; Naomi Wolf’s Fire with Fire: The not taking the viewpoints of women of wave is coming of age in the 1980s and New Female Power and How It Will color seriously and failing to become a 1990s. The theoretical underpinnings Change the Twenty-First Century; and movement on behalf of all women. of the third wave, therefore, come Camille Paglia’s Sex, Art, and American While external messages indicated that from three widely divergent streams of Culture. These three books claimed feminism was no longer culturally rele- thought that coexisted during this that contemporary feminism had vant or necessary, a revolution had time. First, both popular culture and devolved into what they called victim been brewing inside the movement. personal experience gave young feminism, in which women derived all Women of color argued the need for a women the notion that contemporary of their rhetorical power from claim- feminism that could take into account feminism was unnecessary because ing to be victims, particularly of sexual multiplicity and expand to join forces equality had been achieved. They grew violence. Roiphe argued that feminists against multiple oppressions, rather up knowing about feminism and bene- had greatly exaggerated date rape sta- than close in on itself. This revolution fiting from its gains, such as Title IX tistics in order to instill sexual fear in began in 1981 with the publication of access to sports programs, entrance to young women. After all, she con- This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by higher education, and access to repro- cluded, if she was not personally aware Radical Women of Color, edited by ductive health care. Many third-wave that any of her friends had been date- Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua. writers talk about how their feminist raped, then surely it must not be that In the preface, Moraga asks, “Do I dare mothers or fathers gave them the common. Paglia likewise argued that speak of the boredom setting in among sense of entitlement that made them women should use their sexuality as a the white sector of the feminist move- feel feminist struggle might no longer power source to control men, and bear ment?”2 Having made gains in their be necessary. This prevailing notion personal responsibility for any vio- political agenda, white feminists had led to the idea that we were in a post- lence that came about as part of that not made the step toward a more feminist age. effort. Wolf, along with Roiphe and thorough understanding of the inter- However, despite some feminist Paglia, argued for power feminism, a sections of race, class, and gender gains, the 1980s were also a time of cul- worldview in which women are still oppression, nor considered what a tural backlash. A second predominant being oppressed simply because we are movement to end all three simultane- message of the time was that feminism allowing it to happen. According to ously might look like. Responding to had gone too far and, in fact, was to this view, women must simply stop one movement within feminism, blame for the exhaustion of women try- being oppressed, seize money and Moraga asks and answers: “The lesbian ing to do double duty as career women power, and take control of things. Any separatist utopia? No thank you, sis- and wives and mothers. Media stereo- analysis of a political, cultural, or eco- ters.”3 Although a lesbian, Moraga did types of the hairy-legged, bra-burning, nomic system that might interfere not want to take up alliances against the anti-male, strident feminist permeated with this happening is seen as the men in her community with whom she

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must work to end racial oppression. The ends her article with the declaration: “I the embrace of contradiction is a rebel- multiplicity of identity that women of am not a postfeminism feminist. I am lion against the existence of strict rules color embody (often experiencing the Third Wave.”5 As Astrid Henry for what defines “good” feminism or racial, gender, and class oppression in points out in her book Not My Mother’s who is a “good” feminist. For example, addition to any others) belies any easy Sister: Generational Conflict and Third- is a lesbian more feminist than a het- solutions or simplistic alliances. This Wave Feminism, “In calling for a new erosexual woman? Does wearing lip- Bridge and the spate of anthologies by wave, Walker does not speak in a collec- stick make you a “bad” feminist? women of color that followed in its tive voice. . . . An early expression of Rebecca Walker places this rebellion at wake (Barbara Smith’s Home Girls and what was to become a common theme the heart of her anthology, To Be Real: Anzaldua’s Making Face, Making Soul are within third-wave discourse, Walker’s Telling the Truth and Changing the Face two of many) served as a clarion call to essay does not attempt to speak in the of Feminism: the feminist movement to examine its name of other women.”6 Her use of the own racism and classism in order to word “I” highlights the third wave’s My hope is that this book can help us rebuild as a powerful movement fight- focus on individualism, but also its to see how the people in the world who ing for the interests of all women. This reluctance to speak in an assumed— are facing and embracing their contra- theorizing, along with the postmodern and potentially false—solidarity. dictions and complexities and creating deconstruction of the unified self, is at The central issues of third-wave something new and empowering from the heart of third-wave theory, yet it is writing reflect the background influ- them are important voices leading us too often unrecognized. ences outlined above: An awareness of away from divisiveness and dualism. I The phrase “third wave” as applied and respect for multiplicity even hope that in accepting contradiction to a new strain of feminism first within one’s self has combined with and ambiguity . . . these voices can appeared in the late 1980s; women of the popular perception of rigidity help us continue to shape a political color used the term to describe a femi- within the second wave to create a the- force more concerned with mandating nist movement engaged in analyzing ory that celebrates contradiction, and cultivating freedom than with and eschewing its internalized racism. complexity, and individual freedom of policing morality.8 Barbara Smith, of Kitchen Table: choice. The theoretical underpinnings Women of Color Press (which pub- of the third wave, therefore, are by def- For others, the existence of contra- lished This Bridge), planned to publish inition difficult to pin down in any diction within and among third-wave an anthology titled The Third Wave: unified, grand manner. However, sev- feminists and feminism is merely a con- Feminist Perspectives on Racism. Telling- eral themes are recurrent throughout tinuation of how it has always been. ly, this anthology never made it to pub- the literature. Barbara Findlen points out that the lication, but the phrase survived, albeit essays in her anthology Listen Up: Voices largely without common knowledge of From the Next Feminist Generation make its antiracist roots. Instead, the popular it clear that “there’s no single ‘young connotation of third wave is as an age Characteristics of the feminist’ perspective. But more to the marker, an indication of specifically Third Wave point, there’s no one ‘feminist’ perspec- young feminist activity. tive, and there never has been.”9 One Rebecca Walker officially launched Celebration of Contradiction side effect of this third-wave embrace of the third wave as an identifiable entity the contradictory or hybrid has been in her 1992 Ms. article, “Becoming the The celebration of the power and pos- the subsequent celebration of the Third Wave.” While discussing her sibilities of contradiction is a central power to choose as an end in itself, anger regarding the Clarence Thomas tenet of third-wave feminism. Leslie regardless of the choice made. hearings, she calls out to other young Heywood and Jennifer Drake, in their women who may feel ambiguity about introduction to Third Wave Agenda, the feminist label: “I write this as a plea Being Feminist, Doing Feminism, root Pro-Choice, Any Choice to all women, especially the women of this phenomenon in the sociohistori- my generation: Let Thomas’ confirma- cal moment at which young feminists The predominant third-wave vision of tion serve to remind you, as it did me, came of age: “Because our lives have past feminist success is that its main that the fight is far from over. . . . Turn been shaped by struggles between var- function has been to allow women that outrage into political power.”4 ious feminisms as well as by cultural today to make whatever choices they Fighting popular images and percep- backlash against feminism and want, choices they did not have the tions of feminism as elite and obsolete, activism, we argue that contradic- freedom to make in the past. and wanting to distinguish herself from tion—or what looks like contradiction Comedienne Aisha Tyler provides a the Roiphe and Paglia types whose if one doesn’t shift one’s point of vivid description of this point of view media popularity went hand-in-hand view—marks the desires and strategies in her book Swerve: Reckless Observations with the idea of postfeminism, Walker of third wave feminists.”7 For some, of a Postmodern Girl: “Because, honestly,

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why did all those other generations go ments turned the girly-equals-power- sex is rape took feminist arguments through all that marching and demon- less paradigm inside out and led to the about the power of the phallus too far strating and Kombucha tea drinking if pervasive pop culture presence of girls and instigated a near-riot (philosophi- not so that we can get what we want in feminine trappings who none- cally speaking) known as the “Sex and have a kick-ass time doing it?”10 theless enjoy power (often super- Wars” in feminism. Third-wavers place Third-wavers Jennifer Baumgardner power, in the case of the television themselves solidly on the pro-sex side and Amy Richards get to the heart of programs Kim Possible and Buffy the of this war, and argue vehemently the matter in “The Number One Ques- Vampire Slayer). against the policing of desire, includ- tion about Feminism” when they reas- Young feminists, in addition to ing feminist analyses that condemn sure a young woman that yes, she can including trappings of girlhood in their the politics of sadomasochistic sex be a hardcore feminist and still wear personal style, also began to reclaim play. In addition to refusing to limit thong underwear. They argue, “Femin- other traditional female arenas as a their sexual desires based on political ism isn’t about what choice you make, political act. The explosive resurgence analysis, many third-wavers believe in but the freedom to make that choice.”11 of knitting among young women in the the use of female sexuality as a power Ultimately, however, their hope is that 1990s is one example. Debbie Stoller, tool. That is, if dancing on a pole helps the political change brought about by editor of Bust (a third-wave staple), improve your body image because men feminist activism will eclipse the helped popularize knitting with Stitch are whistling at you, it can be empow- importance of what underwear anyone ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook, in ering. Or if wearing a low-cut shirt is wearing. For some, however, the trap- which she argues that it is time to helps you win an argument, so be it. pings of femininity are a feminist rethink the position that girls doing tra- The use of sexuality as a form of power choice in themselves. ditionally male activities is feminist, is highly controversial and not endor- but girls doing traditionally female sed by all (or perhaps even most) of the activities is not. Likewise, Tyler states in third wave, but it is included in the dis- Reclamation of Swerve that dismissing cooking as a cussion. (Remember that the contra- All Things Girly nonliberated, oppressive activity for dictory nature of the third wave is its women is an attitude whose time has defining element.) Believing that the battle fought by come and gone. Cooking because one Finally, Walker’s essay “Lusting for women and girls against being forced likes to is the new, empowering order of Freedom” in Listen Up creates a power- into traditionally gendered modes of the day. The reclamation of both knit- ful and unique argument for the need dress, behavior, and occupation has ting and cooking as activities one for girls to receive sexual education at been won, many young feminists are chooses to do, of course, is sorely lack- a young age, not just for precaution- now exercising their right to freely ing in class analysis. Only women of ary purposes, but to facilitate pleas- choose these traditionally gendered some privilege have the option not to ure. “The question is not whether modes. In 1991, a group of young do activities like these as a necessity but young women are going to have sex, women in the punk scene in Olympia, for pleasure. for this is far beyond any parental or Washington, and Washington D.C., Finally, the reclamation of public societal control. The question is organized themselves to protest the sexual performance, such as bur- rather, what do young women need to sexism in the music underground and lesque, vaudeville, and strip shows, is make sex a dynamic, affirming, safe named themselves Riot Grrrl. Accord- getting a lot of feminist press. Third- and pleasurable part of our lives?”13 ing to Laurel Gilbert and Crystal Kile, wavers pit arguments about women Sex as a site of pleasure rather than “Grrrl, a word coined by Bikini Kill controlling their own sexuality and political analysis is at the heart (or singer and activist Kathleen Hanna, is using their sexuality to wield power body) of third-wave sensibility. a spontaneous young-feminist recla- over men against second-wave argu- mation of the word ‘girl’ . . . at least ments about the inherently exploita- partially derived from a phrase of tive nature of sexual performance. Genderbending encouragement popularized by young This particular thread of discussion American black women in the late overlaps with the self-identification of The third wave’s insistence on the abil- 1980s: ‘You go guuuuurll!’”12 In addi- the third wave as pro-sex. ity to embrace contradiction, and its tion to reclaiming the word girl (with a refusal to fit into neat categories, makes not-so-polite growl in the middle), it the perfect home for a new theory of Riot Grrrls frequently adopted girly The Pro-Sex Party transgenderism. Postmodern feminist modes of dress, wearing baby doll theory has deconstructed the category dresses, knee-high socks, and mini- While it is highly doubtful that any sig- of “woman” to the point where it can barrettes alongside their combat nificant number of second-wave femi- barely be said to exist. There are so boots, piercings, and aggressive atti- nists were anti-sex, Andrea Dworkin’s many points of difference between tudes. Combining such disparate ele- famous statement that all heterosexual individual women that it can only

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rightly be used as a point for construct- many young African American femi- graphics whenever possible to draw in ing alliances rather than cementing a nists call themselves hip-hop feminists the average reader. Third-wave books sisterhood of common experience. instead of third-wavers. Analysis of the exist in a bibliographic limbo, however: This point was also emphasized by the increasing oligarchy of the corporate not quite popular in a mainstream women of color theorists who pointed media is also a pressing issue, leading sense, and not quite academic in a the- out that “woman” was only one of Jennifer Pozner to declare, “Control of oretical sense. Thus, I am concerned their identities, and that sisterhood in the media is the single most important that libraries will not adequately collect the second wave was open to white issue of our time.”16 One way for young this body of work. Too “feminist” for women only. Feminists have tried to activists to wrest control of the media is smaller public libraries and too “popu- exclude transsexuals and transgen- to create some themselves; third-wavers lar” for academic libraries, they travel dered people from women-only events have taken advantage of today’s multi- under the radar of librarians and schol- like the Michigan Womyn’s Music media possibilities to do just that. ars alike. I hope this article will con- Festival on the argument that female- In the early 1990s, members of Riot tribute to remedying this situation. to-male transsexuals are currently Grrrl, coming out of the Do It Yourself recipients of male privilege and male- (DIY) punk scene, began publishing to-female transsexuals had male privi- zines, creating their own bands, and Generational Conflict lege during their socialization as launching their own Web sites. Zines youth. This argument has become too are informal magazines made in cut- A final theme common in third-wave outdated and limited to survive today’s and-paste fashion and reproduced on literature, and especially common in gender theories. Emi Koyama’s “Trans- photocopiers. Any girl could make a writings about third-wave literature, is feminist Manifesto” in the anthology zine and distribute them around the that of generational conflict. When Catching a Wave articulates this stance country to get her voice heard. After Rebecca Walker named the third wave, beautifully. “Transfeminism asserts the Internet explosion, many zine- she set herself up as separate from both that it is futile to debate intellectually makers began publishing on the Web her literal mother, Alice Walker, the who is and is not included in the to further improve distribution and famous second-wave feminist, and her category ‘woman’; instead, we must accessibility. These acts of cultural pro- metaphorical mother, the second act—now—and build alliances.”14 This duction serve to undermine the power wave of feminism. The nature of this same concept could be applied to any of the corporate media and provide generational relationship between the attempt to determine who is and is not young women ways to resist its hege- second and third waves is widely dis- a feminist according to strict guide- mony. Doreen Piano provides an cussed and disagreed upon. Is the third lines. Coalition politics is replacing excellent explanation of the function wave in opposition to the second, or a definitional politics. of DIY cultural practices: continuation of it? There are several indicators that the conflict is over- As found in DIY cultural practices from hyped: many third-wavers have a past Engagement with the early days of punk and rap to the association with Ms., a bastion of sec- Popular Culture present zine scene, the alternative econ- ond-wave feminism. Women of color omy established by this subculture in the third wave in particular very Engagement with popular culture as comments on and challenges the gate- carefully portray themselves as con- both producers and critical consumers keeping that occurs in various culture tiguous with their foremothers and is the hallmark of the third wave. industries from mainstream academic borrow heavily from their theoretical Although media representations are feminist publishing to the style and work. Whatever the third wave’s philo- not real, they definitely influence and music industries that deem only certain sophical orientation vis-a-vis the sec- shape society’s reading of reality, as kinds of voices, narratives, and con- ond wave, however, it has a distinct indicated by Bellafante’s use of Ally sumer goods fashionable and profitable bibliographical presence that it is my McBeal as a stand-in for young femi- enough to be marketed and sold.17 aim to document in this essay. nism. For this reason, Heywood and Drake declare, “We take critical engage- Third-wavers are concerned with ment with popular culture as a key to publishing in popular formats and ven- political struggle.”15 This engagement ues, so as to be a part of the culture they Criteria for Inclusion takes many forms. Although not spe- critique; they are not interested in cific to the third wave, one form is the being confined to academia, nor do The bibliographic record of the third practice of deconstructing and analyz- they feel academic feminism gives wave is as hard to pin down as the ing images of women and feminism in them the freedom to theorize in new third wave itself. Due to young femi- popular culture. Within this, analyzing ways. For this reason, third-wave writ- nists’ resistance to labels and catego- hip-hop music has become a particular ings have been published by popular rization, there is no standardized specialty of the third wave, and in fact, presses, and use witty titles and catchy terminology. Only one of the books in

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this essay has the phrase “third wave” been facilitated through strong popu- hooks, Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldua, in the title. Others use terms such as lar culture messages that gender equal- and Cherrie Moraga. This book is occa- “young women,” “new feminism,” ity had been achieved, and that this sionally footnoted as being the first “next feminist generation,” “today’s equality was to blame for the supposed book of the third wave, but because it feminism,” and “emerging voices.” prevailing misery of American women. was poorly reviewed, infrequently men- Books were chosen for inclusion if Faludi’s extensive critical engagement tioned, and is now out of print, it is they claimed a “new” or “young” fem- with popular culture set a powerful identified here as a precursor. inism or were written by authors iden- example for future third-wavers. tified as third wave in other sources. As Juno, Andrea, and V. Vale, eds. Angry these books tend to be in conversation Women. San Francisco: Re/Search The Conversation Begins . . . with one another, I also followed a bib- Publications, 1991. ISBN 0-940642- liographical trail from one to the next. 24-7; $18.99. Walker, Rebecca, ed. To Be Real: Telling Published as issue 13 of the period- the Truth and Changing the Face of ical Re/Search, Angry Women is a Feminism. New York: Anchor Books, compilation of interviews with six- 1995. ISBN 0-385-47262-5; $14. Organization teen feminist performance artists and Walker’s anthology of personal philosophers. From its opening state- essays by a wide range of young As nearly all the books included here ment that “Angry Women is not just women officially launched the third- are anthologies, they do not fit neatly about women, but about the future wave bibliographic record in 1995, just into categories by either theme or for- survival of our planet” (4) to its calls as her pronouncement of the third mat. Most books touch on many of the for an integration of political action, wave had launched it as a concept in themes I have outlined above. Taken cutting-edge theory, adventurous sex- 1992. She begins the introduction together and read in chronological uality, and humor, Angry Women reads with a description of her life as a femi- order, however, they do make up a mul- like a catalog of the third-wave themes nist ghetto where her every thought tivocal conversation responding to one outlined above. A feminist “patch-up and action had to measure up to the another and filling in each other’s job” is no longer good enough; femi- ideal of the “good feminist.” Releasing gaps. Therefore, I have chosen to list nism must broaden its base of issues to herself from such rules, she offers this them in chronological order, which include all women and all of society in anthology as a way to “lay the ground- may make for strange bedfellows in order to bring about true social jus- work for feminist theory that neither some years, but you will eventually see tice. The use of art, culture, sexuality, vilifies or deifies, but that accepts and the messy growth in all its glory. and humor as well as anger are all respects difference”(xxxvii). This is the invoked as tools for this task. third-wave anthology that most clearly argues the need for a distinct Kamen, Paula. Feminist Fatale: Voices break with the second wave, yet it is Foresisters from the Twentysomething Generation bookended with a foreword by Gloria Explore the Future of the Women’s Steinem and an afterword by Angela Three books came out in 1991 that Movement. New York: Donald I. Davis, who point out that the younger brought outrage, new ideas, and a self- Fine, 1991. ISBN 1-55611-257-2; Out generation’s view of the second wave is portrait to young women coming of of print. far too simplistic and dismissive. With age. They were written by young Kamen uses 263 personal inter- regard to these writers’ critiques of the women, but are precursors to the views with young people of different second wave, Steinem says that she third-wave body of literature. classes, races, religions, and sexual ori- feels “like a sitting dog being told to Faludi, Susan. Backlash: The Undeclared entations to document prevailing atti- sit”(xxii). Ultimately, To Be Real offers a War against American Women. New tudes about feminism and the status of portrait of a wide range of young peo- York: Doubleday, 1991. ISBN 0- women. She argues for the need for ple struggling to make feminist sense 385-42507-4; $14.95. consciousness-raising among the new of their lives without compromising Faludi’s national bestseller pro- generation of women, the need to any part of themselves. vided the wake-up call feminists move feminism away from the acad- needed in the early 1990s by illustrat- emy and back into activism, and the Findlen, Barbara, ed. Listen Up: Voices ing how the 1980s had seen “a power- need for feminism to take classism, from the Next Feminist Generation. ful counterassault on women’s rights, a racism, and homophobia into account. Seattle: Seal Press, 1995. (Out of print backlash, an attempt to retract the She also documents her finding that original edition: ISBN 1-87806-761- handful of small and hard-won victo- “the authors with the most undeniable 3; New expanded edition, 2001 ries that the feminist movement did influence on my generation . . . are ISBN: 1-58005-054-9, $16.95.) manage to win for women”(xviii). This women of color”(17), underlining the Like To Be Real, Listen Up is a collec- political attack on women’s rights had third-wave debt to theorists such as bell tion of personal essays about young

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women coming to feminism while third wave and for its academic contri- hard to embrace”(59). What she sees as struggling to make it applicable to bution to an emerging body of work. the victim/oppressor model of main- their lives in a practical way that stream feminism (the victim feminism includes their race, class, or sexuality. Karp, Marcelle, and Debbie Stoller, eds. of Roiphe and Paglia) denies her As Sonja D. Curry-Johnson writes, “As The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order. knowledge of herself as limitless. an educated, married, monogamous, New York: Penguin, 1999. ISBN 0- Rather than see the world through a feminist, Christian, African-American 1402-7774-9; $17. starkly rigid view of what is and is not mother, I suffer from an acute case of This compilation rescues the best of feminist, she argues that “the keys that multiplicity”(51). This complexity of the essays from the first six years of unlock the riches of contemporary identity makes simplistic sisterhood Bust, when it was still a zine without black female identity lie [at] the junc- impossible, but foregrounds the neces- wide distribution, and the authors ture where truth is no longer black and sity for coalition politics. JeeYeun Lee were given pseudonyms to create both white but subtle, intriguing shades of concludes, “I think this is one of the anonymity and fun alter egos. The edi- gray”(62). Along with many other primary hallmarks of young feminists’ tors reflect on their creation of Bust young black feminists such as Tara activism today. We realize that coming (subtitled The Magazine for Women with Roberts, Eisa Davis, and Eisa Nefertari together and working together are by Something to Get Off Their Chests) as an Ulen, Morgan finds her home in hip- no means natural or easy”(73). Unlike adult version of Sassy, the magazine hop music, despite its rampant misog- To Be Real, however, former Ms. editor that made girlhood seem fun and fem- yny, and insists on its liberating Barbara Findlen sees the young femi- inist. Bust is the ultimate arbiter of potential. Another “gray” area Morgan nist project as continuous with that of what is often referred to as “lipstick explores is the use of erotic power. older feminists, and indeed, Listen Up feminism,” a feminism that celebrates “But while women today still experi- reads just like This Bridge Called My girliness and power as coexistent and, ence sexism, we do so in markedly Back did in its day. It serves, therefore, in fact, interdependent. It is strange different ways. Many of us are empow- as a marker that the goals of This Bridge then that the voices in this anthology ered enough to combine our erotic have not yet been achieved; feminist seem to be so powerless as they power with resources that were un- analysis has not yet evolved to the describe girlhood experiences of abuse imaginable to our mothers” (221), such point where anthologies by women of and reckoning with patriarchal cul- as money, talent, and confidence. color specifically are not needed, ture. Instead of being a how-to manual Finally, Morgan explores the relation- although To Be Real and Listen Up both for combining fun and feminism, it ship between the strong black women go a long way toward that goal by reads more like a painful childhood and endangered black men roles in the being multicultural without self-iden- memoir of women who desperately black community, and examines ways tifying as such. need feminism in their lives. Growing for black women and men to relate to up as a girl, using sex to gain power, one another in a nonoppressive way. Heywood, Leslie, and Jennifer Drake, motherhood, and an intense love of Focusing on women alone has never eds. Third Wave Agenda: Being Femin- pop culture are the main themes been possible for feminists of color, ist, Doing Feminism. Minneapolis: explored. Uniquely cornering the lip- and Morgan clearly articulates her University of Minnesota Press, 1997. stick feminism niche within the third vision of a feminism that can stretch to ISBN 0-8166-3005-4; $19.95. wave, Stoller and Karp kick off the col- be relevant in the lives of all women. While To Be Real and Listen Up were lection with: “Wake up and smell the the opening salvos of the third wave, lipgloss, ladies: The New Girl Order has Baumgardner, Jennifer, and Amy Third Wave Agenda responds to them by arrived!” (xv) Richards. Manifesta: Young Women, providing the much-needed analysis of Feminism, and the Future. New the larger culture that is producing Morgan, Joan. When Chickenheads Come York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, third-wave theory. Heywood and Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist 2000. ISBN 0-374-52622-2; $15. Drake defend critical engagement with Breaks It Down. New York: Simon & Jennifer Baumgardner, former Ms. popular culture as a political strategy, Schuster, 1999. ISBN 0-684-86861- editor, and Amy Richards, former per- argue for the power of contradiction X; $12. sonal assistant to Gloria Steinem and and “lived messiness”(2), and acknowl- Morgan, like the young women of cofounder of the Third Wave Founda- edge the work of women of color theo- To Be Real and Listen Up, sees herself as a tion (an organization that supports rists as the foundation of the third daughter of feminist privilege, and the work of young feminists), created wave. Essays analyze culture and repre- therefore finds the restrictions femi- this book as a primer for young would- sentation, class, masculinity, postfemi- nism makes upon her to be more be feminists. They outline the feminist nism, and third-wave activism within immediate than those of the patri- history that third-wavers may be lack- youth music culture such as punk and archy. “Ironically, reaping the benefits ing while also reminding second- hip hop. Third Wave Agenda is a land- of our foremother’s struggle is precisely wavers of their own ignorance of mark both for its self-identification as what makes their brand of feminism so history when they got started. This

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emphasis on the importance of know- Mitchell, Allyson, Lisa Bryn Rundle, revolutionary heartbeat of all the ing our history, however, makes it all and Lara Karaian, eds. Turbo Chicks: essays in Young Wives’ Tales”(xiv). the more disappointing that they do Talking Young Feminisms. Toronto: Struggling with the feminist critique of not include the contributions of Sumach Press, 2001. ISBN 1- the patriarchal heritage of marriage, women of color, nor do they include 894549-06-6; $19.95. these essays chronicle attempts to hip-hop feminism in their analysis of Turbo Chicks is a Canadian anthol- reclaim marriage in radically new ways. current trends in feminism. Instead, ogy of personal essays detailing young Multicultural marriages, a three-way they focus on what they call “Girlie” women’s relationships to feminism. In marriage, marriage between a lesbian feminism, or the tendency of third- addition to the essays, each author and a gay man, and a love affair with wavers to celebrate the trappings of contributes their own definition of solitude are all explored as individually femininity, elaborating eloquently on feminism, a list of their top ten femi- crafted expressions of love and com- both its potential and its drawbacks. nist influences, and a short bio, further mitment. Ultimately, young feminists’ goals emphasizing the highly individualistic Gore, Ariel, and Bee Lavender, eds. must be tied to activism, for “without a nature of the third wave. Everyone is Breeder: Real-Life Stories from the New body of politics, the nail polish is free to define feminism for himself or Generation of Mothers. Emeryville, really going to waste” (166). To this herself. These writers add to the con- Calif.: Seal Press, 2001. ISBN 1- end, they close the book with a thir- versation already in progress by further 58005-051-4; $16. teen-point political agenda and a deconstructing “Girl Power” (girlie, lip- Like Young Wives’ Tales, this anthol- quick outline of some creative exam- stick) feminism. While wholly sup- ogy by the editors of the popular zine ples of third-wave activism. porting its positive aspects, they point Hip Mama takes as its point of depar- out its dependence on consumerism, ture the idea that second-wave femi- Kamen, Paula. Her Way: Young Women its inaccessibility to those who cannot nism’s critique of the housewife role Remake the Sexual Revolution. New look appropriately girly, and its easy has led to prejudice in feminist circles York: New York Univ. Pr., 2000. cooptation by the media. Despite the against marriage and motherhood. ISBN 0-8147-4733-7; $40. fact, or perhaps because these women These essayists reclaim their role as Just as her 1991 work Feminist Fatale mostly came to feminism through “breeders” by turning it into a tough, documented prevailing attitudes about women’s studies programs, they argue oh-so-hip term that may be just as pre- feminism among twenty- and thirty- for the need to rescue feminism from scriptive as the old motherhood stereo- something women, Kamen’s latest the language games of the academy, type. Each section is demarcated by a book serves to document the sexual and make it practical again. Finally, drawing of a tattoo, turning the white, attitudes of this same age group. She they hold what they consider to be suburban motherhood fantasy on its identifies this generation of women as asexual feminism at arm’s length and head and replacing it with a punk one. “superrats,” or highly sexually evolved demand the right to be openly sexual, This compilation describes a variety of beings united by “the expectation of even if it does look a lot like patriarchal experiences of motherhood in nontra- and insistence on conducting their sex male fantasy. Maren Hancunt perhaps ditional settings, but does little to dis- lives on their own terms and with a new says it best in her letter to Lydia Lunch pel an unproblematic vision of “good” degree of openness”(21), citing Monica (one of the artists featured in Angry motherhood since only the very last Lewinsky as the most famous example. Women, see the Foresisters section entry describes feelings of ambivalence The sexual profile of today’s young above): “You taught me that I could about having a child at all. woman is very similar to that of men in wear makeup and fishnets . . . and still terms of age of first sexual experience, be a feminist”(139). Ruttenberg, Danya, ed. Yentl’s Revenge: number of sex partners, and casual The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism. encounters. On the other hand, the Corral, Jill and Lisa Miya-Jervis, eds. New York: Seal Press, 2001. ISBN 1- “sexual evolution” of women is not Young Wives’ Tales: New Adventures 58005-057-3; $16.95. about quantity, but about control and in Love and Partnership. Seattle: Seal Just as the previous two entries in doing whatever feels right individually. Press, 2001. ISBN 1-58005-050-6; the Seal Press Live Girls Series worked Virginity, although not on the rise, is $16.95. to reclaim marriage and motherhood being openly celebrated as a conscious This anthology, edited by Corral as feminist projects, the essays in choice, just as much as casual sex. The and Miya-Jervis (editor of Bitch), is an Yentl’s Revenge mine the rich field of young women in Kamen’s study were entry in the Seal Press Live Girls Series, Judaism for its feminist possibilities, much more open and guilt-free about the single most prolific home of third- rather than rejecting it out of hand as their sex lives than the women of previ- wave publishing. As feminist theorist a patriarchal religion. These Jewish ous generations she interviewed. As a bell hooks writes in the foreword, the feminists revel in others’ perception of journalist, Kamen provides the socio- “intense yearning to know love and to them as a contradiction in terms and logical backdrop behind other third- create partnerships rooted in a vision firmly site their search for authentic- wave literature. of feminist justice and mutuality is the ity in the theory of the third wave.

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Dina Hornreich writes, “To enjoy con- Each section includes a piece written cal and theoretical explorations of the tradiction—perhaps even to invite by a mentor, however, putting the gen- third wave”(13). Jennifer Pozner’s “The it—is to identify authentically. It is, to erations in conversation and identify- Big Lie: False Feminist Death Syn- cop a phrase from Rebecca Walker, ‘to ing continuity rather than mere drome, Profit, and the Media” exposes be real’”(45). Yentl’s authors search for rebellion. Like Manifesta, the final sec- the media bias on issues that affect and find rituals in Jewish tradition tion covers youth activism to link the women’s lives and declares that “con- such as mikveh, the ritual cleansing experience of self-discovery to the trol of the media is the single most after menses, and Rosh Chodesh, a importance of social change. important issue of our time”(37). Susan lunar celebration, and reinvigorate Muaddi Darraj’s “Third World, Third Hernandez, Daisy, and Bushra Rehman, them with feminist spirituality. Wave Feminism(s): The Evolution of eds. Colonize This! Young Women of Haviva Ner-David and her daughter Arab American Feminism” provides a Color on Today’s Feminism. New wear tzitzit, a ritual fringe that serves history of Arab feminism to counteract York: Seal Press, 2002. ISBN 1- as a constant reminder of daily prayer the Western vision of Arab women as 58005-067-0; $16.95. duties, but that is traditionally only victimized dupes of an uber-patriarchal Colonize This could be titled This worn by males. Loolwa Khazzoom’s society. She illustrates how Islam is no Bridge Called My Back: 20 Years Later, essay “United Jewish Feminist Front” more patriarchal than any other reli- and indeed, the foreword by This Bridge exposes the racism of a Jewish femi- gion and that the wearing of the veil coeditor Cherrie Moraga recognizes it nism dominated by Ashkenazi (Nor- can be a feminist choice. She picks up as such. Despite twenty years of strug- thern European) women, blind to the on Dicker and Piepmeier’s identifica- gle, racism in the feminist movement concerns of Mizrahi and Sephardic tion of global capitalism, environmen- still necessitates a separate women of women (Middle Eastern, North Afri- tal degradation, and postcolonialism color anthology decrying the gap can, Spanish, and Portugese). Politics as prevailing issues of our time, by between theoretical (white) feminism and religion do mix, and a careful envisioning the third wave as a global and the daily, lived experience of non- contemplation of their interstices wave, one that must “sweep through white women. These essayists broaden allows the new generation of Jewish and carry back messages from all over the scope of issues that today’s femi- feminists to keep the pleasures of their the world”(203). Emi Koyama’s piece, nism must be concerned with: AIDS spiritual practice while rejecting “The Transfeminist Manifesto,” bril- education, urban gentrification, and oppressive meanings. liantly lays out the philosophical basis hip hop, for example. Bhavana Mody for political alliance between transsex- identifies the racist cultural appropria- Nam, Vickie, ed. Yell-Oh Girls! Emerging uals and feminists. In Catching a Wave, tion inherent in the current Western Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and third-wave writing has moved beyond love of all things India-related, such as Growing Up Asian American. New a reactionary expansion of feminism the chai craze and Madonna’s Hindi York: HarperCollins, 2001. ISBN 0- based on the perception of a rules-ori- phase. Rebecca Hurdis’s essay “Heart- 06-095944-4; $13. ented second wave, and into the broken: Women of Color Feminism Although Yell-Oh Girls does not groundbreaking territory of broad- and the Third Wave” points out the explicitly mention the third wave or based political coalition. This move ways in which feminism is still failing feminism, its themes site it firmly will be fully realized in 2004’s The Fire women of color, fostering the contin- within this body of literature. Made up This Time. ued perception of feminism as a white of essays, poems, and personal testi- woman’s thing. While earlier third- monies, the book explores the coming Heywood, Leslie, and Shari L. Dworkin. wave anthologies included many of age stories of young Asian American Built to Win: The Female Athlete as women of color among their contribu- women and their experiences strad- Cultural Icon. Minneapolis: Univ. of tors, Colonize This is the first to begin dling cultures and struggling with Minnesota Pr., 2003. ISBN 0-8166- to set an agenda for a truly comprehen- stereotypes. Nam roots the beginnings 3624-9; $19.95. sive feminism. of her activism in an experience of Using the image of the female ath- critical engagement with a girls’ maga- Dicker, Rory, and Alison Piepmeier, eds. lete in the popular media as a mode for zine, illustrating the importance of Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Fem- critical analysis, Heywood and Dworkin popular culture for this generation. inism for the 21st Century. Boston: powerfully mark sports as the “stealth She also identifies a generation gap, as Northeastern Univ. Pr., 2003. ISBN feminism of the third wave” (25). The she pays homage to Making Waves, a 1-55553-570-4; $20. overwhelming success of Title IX in previous anthology of Asian American Catching a Wave picks up where getting women and girls active in sports women’s writing, but notes the need Colonize This left off, offering clear-cut programs opened up a market for sport- for an updated one. Another author’s political analysis and setting a bold ing goods companies like Nike, and they poem protests the popular stereotypes agenda. Like Third Wave Agenda before began to flood the market with images mass consumers have taken from the it, Catching a Wave moves beyond per- of strong female athletes in order to sell work of Amy Tan, a writer-foremother. sonal experience to offer “larger politi- goods. Heywood and Dworkin illustrate

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how these images are simultaneously fore her choice to wear dresses and Body Image. Emeryville, Calif.: Seal empowering and restrictive. The equa- makeup is an act of defiance against Press, 2003. ISBN 1-58005-108-1; tion of female strength with sexiness in class expectation, not an act of compli- $15.95. these ads is a feminist move, and yet it ance with patriarchal beauty stan- First published as Adios, Barbie in still marks a particular body type as dards. Hardy also exposes the lie of the 1998, Body Outlaws got its new name mandatory. Just like the third-waver liberal feminist view that joining the and a new cover in 2000 after toy man- wearing the “Bitch”-inscribed baby tee work force is inherently liberating. ufacturer Mattel sued for copyright and lip gloss, the new image of the Since poor women have always infringement. In 2003, an expanded female athlete makes strength and worked, the second wave fight to join and updated edition of Body Outlaws aggressiveness acceptable and even the workforce completely ignores the was released with nine new essays, praiseworthy as long as the traditional experience of those women who do including one by a gay man about boundaries of sexiness are maintained work exhausting hours in low-wage sizeism and body image in the gay (that is, no fat chicks). Female athletes jobs and would love to have the finan- community. Edited by Ophira Edut, (at least the ones embraced by the cial freedom not to. Sex work as an eco- prominent third-wave writer and edi- media) therefore provide the literal nomic necessity is a fitting addition tor of the now-defunct HUES (Hear embodiment of the third-wave conun- here also to the third-wave conversa- Us Emerging Sisters), this anthology drum of being simultaneously empow- tion about sex, personal empower- explores the never-ending negotiation ered and complicit in patriarchal ment, and economics. women make between being healthy, objectification. In light of this Catch-22 being obsessed with fitting the media’s Miller, Leslie, ed. Women Who Eat: A and the fact that men’s bodies are image of what is attractive, and strug- New Generation on the Glory of Food. increasingly being objectified in the gling to love one’s self regardless of fat New York: Seal Press, 2003. ISBN 1- media, Heywood and Dworkin argue for content, skin color, height, nose size, 58005-092-1; $15.95. a revision of the standard second wave and so on. The constant contradiction Miller began this collection as a feminist objectification thesis—that inherent in this struggle is most clearly reaction against what she sees as two only women are objectified in the articulated by essayist Meredith strands of anti-cooking sentiment media, and that sexy images of women McGhan when she reveals her journey among American women today. in the media are only about objectifica- to body acceptance by way of dancing “Women didn’t read cookbooks, they tion. Built to Win serves as an example of in a strip club. “I have become a person read fashion magazines, or Marxist how cultural analysis can illuminate who is tremendously relieved to dis- theory, but you were in one camp or societal and theoretical shifts in the cover that she really does look okay to the other, and neither gave so much as public consciousness. her oppressors”(175). Amy Richards a nod to the kitchen”(xvi). Second- (coauthor of Manifesta) reveals why wave feminists (of privilege) had Tea, Michelle, ed. Without a Net: The Body Outlaws has become so popular fought hard to get out of the kitchen Female Experience of Growing Up and widely used in curricula. “Body and deconstruct the depiction of cook- Working Class. Emeryville, Calif.: image is significant as a rallying focus ing as women’s work. Other women Seal Press, 2003. ISBN 1-58005- because it speaks not only to the con- (and certainly there is crossover) are so 103-0; $14.95. verted [feminist] but also to the ‘I’m concerned about their weight that Another entry in the Seal Press Live not a feminist, but . . . I’m tired of they do not celebrate the art of food. Girls Series, Without a Net does not measuring myself against an impossi- Miller campaigns to reclaim the art of purport to be about feminism per se, ble-to-achieve beauty standard’ con- cooking and eating for today’s women but it is itself an expression of third- tingent”(198). In a society obsessed as a choice rather than as a gendered wave feminism. Organized around with popular culture, the effects the obligation. Several essayists explore class, this anthology includes writers messages of that culture have on our their personal relationship to cooking of various sexualities and racial and self-image are an issue that affects all and food by examining the gendered cultural backgrounds. It also includes women, and increasingly men as well. roles in their household. Many of several writers already published in them had fathers who cooked, but other third-wave anthologies, proving Labaton, Vivien, and Dawn Lundy only for pleasure on weekends, while its rightful third-wave lineage and Martin, eds. The Fire This Time: their mothers cooked for utility the adding a much-needed class analysis Young Activists and the New Femin- rest of the week. These women take the to this body of work. Tara Hardy’s ism. New York: Anchor Books, 2004. model of cooking for pleasure as their essay “Dirty Girl” provides a class- ISBN 0-385-72102-1; $14.95. birthright, and reclaim the pleasure of based analysis for the third-wave cele- With a foreword by Rebecca Walker cooking for others as well into a femi- bration of the feminine. She argues and edited by a cofounder (along with nist paradigm. that as a member of the working class, Walker) and the first executive director “Girls like me were born to labor, not Edut, Ophira, ed. Body Outlaws: of the Third Wave Foundation, The Fire to have sexualities”(132), and there- Rewriting the Rules of Beauty and This Time represents the culmination

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of third-wave goals for cross-racial, cial and compelling insight on con- ianship has a lot in common with the multi-issue organizing begun by This temporary feminism as a whole. third wave.) Bridge Called My Back in 1981. Moving Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture beyond personal stories into activism, (San Francisco: Bitch Publications, this book collects such wide-ranging The Conversation 1996—. 3 times a year. ISSN 1524- political issues as the fight against Continues . . . 5314) anti-immigrant environmental rheto- Bitch is generally considered to be ric, the frightening rise of the prison- Two more academic contributions to the “smarter” of the two third-wave industrial complex, and the legal the body of literature of or about third- magazines, but other than its matte struggle for transgendered rights, all wave feminism are forthcoming: paper and lack of color on the inside, under the umbrella of feminism. Zack, Naomi. Inclusive Feminism: A the two could be twins. Both accept Young feminists must work in coali- Third Wave Theory of Women’s Com- advertising only from small feminist tion with groups fighting for prison monality. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & companies, both reclaim formerly reform, the end of mandatory drug Littlefield, 2005. ISBN 0-7425- offensive words as their titles, both sentencing, and domestic workers’ 4298-X. were originally zines and are organ- rights to make feminism relevant in ized around a theme for each issue the age of globalization. Control over Gillis, Stacy, Gillian Howie, and (although Bust recently quit this), cultural creation will be integral to Rebecca Munford, eds. Third Wave and both use humor and wit to these fights: the first half of the book Feminism: A Critical Exploration. explore the pleasure and pain of pop discusses hip-hop music, independent New York: Palgrave, 2004. ISBN 1- culture. Rather than a cataloger of media, the zine revolution, hip-hop 40-391821-X. trends, however, Bitch serves as a pub- theater, and women’s use of technol- lic arm of the third-wave insistence ogy as critical sites for production of Magazines on critical engagement with culture meaning. The second half of the book as an activist tool. details specific political struggles that, Two popular magazines broadcast While Bust and Bitch are predomi- taken together, make up a glimpse into third-wave feminism to mainstream nantly white publications, the now- the multipronged social justice move- newsstands. defunct HUES and Fierce, the new ments in which third-wave feminists Bust: The Magazine for Women with magazine started in May 2003 by hip- do and will play a part. Something to Get Off Their Chests hop feminist Tara Roberts, are dedi- Henry, Astrid. Not My Mother’s Sister: (New York: Bust, 1993—. Bimonthly. cated to representing feminism from Generational Conflict and Third Wave ISSN 1089-4713) multicultural standpoints. Finally, Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana Bust, as noted earlier, began as a Sexing the Political: A Journal of Third Univ. Pr., 2004. ISBN 0-253-21713- zine before becoming the full-color Wave Feminists on Sexuality (www. X; $19.95. glossy feminist fashion-magazine– sexingthepolitical.com) is an online Henry has produced the first his- alternative it is today. Begun by Debbie magazine edited by Krista Jacobs ded- tory of third-wave feminism to date, by Stoller and Marcelle Karp as an adult icated to exploring all issues of politi- examining the mother-daughter rela- version of Sassy, a teen mag with a cal importance to the third wave, tionship as “the central trope in depict- feminist slant, Bust is a witty chroni- loosely organized through the lens of ing the relationship between the cler of women making culture, women sexuality. so-called second and third waves of artists, sexuality, DIY culture, and In addition to the third-wave body U.S. feminism”(2). She explores the girlieness. Its regular column, “Mus- of literature discussed above, these meanings of the wave metaphor and eum of Femoribilia” by Lynn Peril, magazines are engaged in the cultural the mother-daughter relationship dredges up gendered artifacts to cele- and political conversation that makes invoked by second-wave feminists in brate girly culture past and present up contemporary feminism and will order to understand how feminist while looking at how much our world provide the historical record of it to movement has worked historically. She has changed. Book reviews, music future fourth wavers. ■ weaves the third wave’s stance on sexu- reviews, legal advice, and car repair ality, the relationship between black advice round out this finger on the feminism and the third wave, and pulse of what’s hip in the world of fem- queer feminist’s generational issues inism. (Incidentally, the Spring 2004 References together as a seamless whole, all stem- issue carried a feature article celebrat- 1. Ginia Bellafante, “Feminism: It’s All ming from a mother-daughter dyna- ing librarians as the new “It” girls, and about Me!,” Time 151 (June 29, 1998): 57. mic. Not My Mother’s Sister is primarily reporting on the zine Riot Librarrrian 2. Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua, academic analysis that may not find a with the subtitle “breaking the bind- eds., This Bridge Called My Back: Writ- popular audience, but it provides cru- ing of patriarchy since 2001.” Librar- ings by Radical Women of Color (New

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York: Kitchen Table Women of Color 9. Barbara Findlen, ed., Listen Up: Voices for the 21st Century (Boston: North- Press, 1981), xiii. from the Next Feminist Generation eastern Univ. Pr., 2003), 257. 3. Ibid. (Seattle: Seal Pr., 1995), xvi. 15. Leslie Heywood and Jennifer Drake, 4. Rebecca Walker, “Becoming the Third 10. Aisha Tyler, Swerve: Reckless Observa- “We Learn America Like a Script: Wave,” Ms. 12 (Jan./Feb. 1992): 41. tions of a Postmodern Girl (New York: Activism in the Third Wave; or, Enough 5. Ibid. Dutton, 2004), 3. Phantoms of Nothing,” in Third Wave 6. Astrid Henry, Not My Mother’s Sister: 11. Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Agenda, Heywood and Drake, eds., 51. Generational Conflict and Third Wave Richards, “The Number One Question 16. Jennifer L. Pozner, “The Big Lie: False Feminism (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. about Feminism,” Feminist Studies 29 Feminist Death Syndrome, Profit, and Pr., 2004), 43. (Summer 2003): 450. the Media,” in Catching a Wave, Dicker 7. Leslie Heywood and Jennifer Drake, 12. Edna Kaeh Garrison, “U.S. Feminism- and Piepmeier, eds., 37. eds., Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Grrrl Style! Youth (Sub)Cultures and 17. Doreen Piano, “Congregating Women: Doing Feminism (Minneapolis: Univ. of the Technologics of the Third Wave.” Reading 3rd Wave Feminist Practices in Minnesota Pr., 1997), 2. Feminist Studies 26 (Spring 2000): 141. Subcultural Production,” Rhizomes 4 8. Rebecca Walker, ed., To Be Real: Telling the 13. Findlen, Listen Up, 23. (Spring 2002): 8. Accessed Nov. 16, Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism 14. Rory Dicker and Alison Piepmeier, eds., 2004, www.rhizomes.net/issue4/piano. (New York: Anchor Bks., 1995), xxxv. Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism html.

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