DOCSLIB.ORG

Freedom Used to Stand at the Heart of Feminism, but Modern Feminists

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Freedom Used to Stand at the Heart of Feminism, but Modern Feminists Feminism (l–r) Gloria Steinem, and Glenn Close, Eve Ensler Freedom Freedom used to stand n f e b r u a r y 10, 2001, 18,000 women filled Madison Square Garden for one of the more notable femi- at the heart of feminism, nist gatherings of our time. The event—“Take Back the Garden”— but modern feminists centered on a performance of Eve Ensler’s raunchy play, The Vagina have succeeded in M o n o l o g u e s . The “Vulva Choir” sang; self-described “Vagina Warriors”—including OGloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Donna Hanover erasing history (Rudolph Giuliani’s ex-wife)—recited pet names for vaginas: Mimi, Gladys. Glenn Close led the crowd in spelling out the obscene word for women’s intimate anatomy, “Give me a C…!!!” A huge banner declared christina Hoff sommers the Garden to be a “RAPE FREE ZONE.” The mood grew solemn when Oprah Winfrey came forward to read a new monologue called “Under the Burqa,” which described the plight of Afghan women living 52 tHe aMeRIcan sPectatoR July/august 2008 under the Taliban. At its climax, an nist Camille Paglia put the matter even actual Afghan woman named Zoya, more bluntly: she described women’s who represented RAWA—the Revo lu- studies as “a jumble of vulgarians, tionary Associ a tion of the Women of bunglers, whiners, French faddicts, Afghanistan—appeared on stage covered apparat chiks, dough-faced party-liners, from head to toe in a burqa. Oprah pie-in-the-sky utopians and bullying approached her and, with a dramatic sanc timonious sermonizers. Reason­­ sweep of her arm, lifted and removed it. able, moderate feminists hang back and The crowd roared in delight. keep silent in the face of fascism.” Later, an exposé in the progressive The embarrassing spectacle at American Prospect would reveal that Madison Square Garden, the erratic state RAWA is a Maoist organization whose of women’s studies, the outbreak of femi- fanatical members are so feared by nist vigilantism at Duke University may Afghan women that one human rights tempt some to conclude that the women’s activist has dubbed them the “Tali- movement in the United States is in a babes.” According to the Prospect, when state of hopeless, hapless, and perma nent Ms. magazine tried to distance itself from RAWA disarray. Perhaps American feminism has become in 2002, a RAWA spokeswoman denounced Ms. as hysterical because it has ceased to be useful. After all, the “mouthpiece of hegemonic, U.S.-centric corpo- women in this country have their freedom; they have rate feminism.” But on that magical February night achieved parity with men in most of the ways that at the Garden, few knew or cared about Zoya’s politi- count. Why not let the feminist movement fade from cal views or affiliations. the scene? The sooner the better. Good riddance. The evening was a near-perfect distillation of contemporary feminism. Pick up a women’s studies h a t i s a n understandable b u t unwarranted textbook, visit a college women’s center, or look at reaction. Women in the West did form a move- the websites of leading feminist organizations and Tment and did liberate themselves in ways of you will be likely to find the same fixation on inti- vital importance to the evolution of liberal society. mate anatomy, combined with left-wing politics, and Feminism, in its classical phase, was a critical chap- a poisonous antipathy to men. (Campus feminists ter in the history of freedom. For most of the world’s were among the most vocal and zealous accusers of the young men on the Duke University lacrosse team Women in America have their who were falsely indicted for rape in 2006.) Con- temporary feminism routinely depicts American freedom; they have achieved society as a dangerous patriarchy where women parity with men in most of the are under siege—that is the message of the “RAPE ways that count. Why not let the FREE ZONE” banner in the Garden. It therefore presents itself as a movement of “liberation,” defying feminist movement fade from the patriarchal oppressor and offering women every- the scene? The sooner the where the opportunity to make contact with their “real selves.” better. Good riddance. But modern “ women’s liberation” has little to do women, that history has just begun; for them, classi- with liberty. It aims not to free women to pursue cal feminism offers a tried and true roadmap to their own interests and inclinations, but rather to equality and freedom. And even in the West there re-educate them to attitudes often profoundly are unresolved equity issues and the work of femi- contrary to their natures. In Professing Femin ism: nism is not over. Who needs feminism? We do. The Edu cation and Indoctrination in Women’s Studies world does. Women everywhere need the liberty to (2003), two once-committed women’s studies pro- be what they are—not, as contemporary feminism fessors, Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge, describe insists, liberation from what they are. This we how the feminist classroom transforms idealistic can see if we look back at the history of women’s female students into “relentless grievance collec- liberation—not as it is taught in women’s studies tors.” In 1991, the culture critic and dissident femi- departments, but as it truly was. July/august 2008 tHe aMeRIcan sPectatoR 53 FeMInIsM anD FReeDoM The classical feminism of the 18th and 19th cen- turies embodied two distinct schools of thought and social activism. The first, egalitarian feminism, was progressive (in the view of many contemporaries of both sexes, radical), and it centered on women as independent agents rather than wives and mothers. It held that men and women are, in their essential nature, the same, and it sought to liberate women through abstract appeals to social justice and univer- sal rights. The second school, conservative feminism, was traditionalist and family-centered. It embraced rather than rejected women’s established roles as homemakers, caregivers, and providers of domestic tranquility—and it promoted women’s rights by rede- fining, strengthening, and expanding those roles. Conservative feminists argued that a practical, responsible femininity could be a force for good in the world beyond the family, through charitable works and more enlightened politics and government. Of the two schools, conservative feminism was much the more influential. Unlike its more radical sister, conservative feminism has always had great appeal to large majorities of women. By contrast, egalitarian feminists often appeared strange and Mary Wollstonecraft frightening with their salons and little journals. It is not, however, my purpose to denigrate egalitarian Wollstonecraft’s demand was a dramatic break feminism—quite the contrary. Historically, propo- with the past. In 1776, Abigail Adams famously wrote nents of the two schools were forthright and some- a letter to her husband, John, urging him and his col- times fierce competitors, but their competition leagues in the Continental Congress to “remember sharpened the arguments on both sides, and they the ladies…and to be more generous and favorable to often cooperated on practical causes to great effect. them than your ancestors.” Adams was appealing to a The two movements were (and will remain) rivals in tradition of chivalry and gallantry that enjoined male principle but complementary in practice. Thanks to protectiveness toward women. Sixteen years later, in egalitarian feminism, women now have the same her Vindication, Wollstonecraft was doing something rights and opportunities as men. But, as conservative markedly different. She was not urging legislators in feminists have always insisted, free women seldom France and England to “remember the ladies” or aspire to be just like men, but rather employ their free- appealing to their generous or protective impulses. dom in distinctive ways and for distinctive purposes. Reason, she said, demanded that women be granted the same rights as men. She wanted nothing less than g a l i t a r i a n f e m i n i s m h a d i t s historical begin- total political and moral equality. Wollstonecraft was nings in the writings of the British phil os- perhaps the first woman in history to insist that biol- Eopher Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797). ogy is not destiny: “I view with indignation the mis- Wollstonecraft, a rebel and a free thinker, believed taken notions that enslave my sex.” that women were as intelligent as men and as worthy For Wollstonecraft, education was the key to of respect. Her A Vindication of the Rights of Woman female liberation: “Strengthen the female mind became an instant sensation. She wrote it in the spirit by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obe- of the European Enlightenment—whose primary dience.” She was a proponent of co-education and principle was the essential dignity and moral equality insisted that women be educated on a par with of all rational beings. However, Wollstonecraft’s insis- men—with all fields and disciplines being open to tence that women too are rational and deserving of them. In the opening lines of Vindication, she the same rights as men was then a contentious thesis. expresses her “profound conviction that the neglect- 54 tHe aMeRIcan sPectatoR July/august 2008 cHRIstIna HoFF soMMeRs ed education of [women] is the grand source of the Virginia Woolf once said that if she were in charge misery I deplore.” of assigning names to critical historical epochs, along Wollstonecraft led one of the most daring, with the Crusades, or the War of the Roses, she would dramatic, and consequential lives of the 18th cen- give a special name to that world-transforming period tury.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Jane Fonda Blisters Vietnam War Effort
    =11 Book Talk Fonda A re-play of the Jane Fonda Dr. Arlene Akerlund, assis- speech delivered at SJS tant professor of English, yesterday in the C.U. Ball- will discuss Ernest Heming- room will be on radio station way's novel "Islands in the KSJS 90.7 tonight at 8 and on Stream," today at noon in station KSJO at 8 tomorrow rooms A and B of the Spartan artan Datil Cafeteria. night. Serving the San Jose State College Community Since 1934 Vol. 58 SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA 95114, WEDNESDAY MARCH 3, 1971 No 77 Jane Fonda Blisters #1$ Vietnam War Effort kkitellompoiffatielt" By LANCE FREDERIKSEN "You don't hear of this because we do have lost control of their forces. Daily Political Writer not have a responsible press. But let me "If the men get a gung-ho officer, 111 q - Jane Fonda, actress and anti-war assure you, MyLai is not an isolated they'll fragg him," she declared, "So activist, urged an overflow crowd of incident," Miss Fonda added. the officers won't make them cut their .,A.0044 . about 2,000 listeners yesterday after- Miss Fonda recently attended the hair, stop smoking dope, or, above all, noon in the College Union Ballroom to war crimes investigation sponsored by go on dangerous missions." "make peace with the people of Viet- the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Fragging, Miss Fonda explained, :Iv nam." The meeting, held in Detroit, Jan. 31, occurs when a fragmentation bomb is The audience enthusiastically and Feb. 1-2, was organized by 2,000 ex- rolled under an officer's tent.
    [Show full text]
  • Was Florida State Really the "Berkeley of the South"
    J. Stanley Marshall. The Tumultuous Sixties: Campus Unrest and Student Life at a Southern University. Tallahassee: Sentry Press, 2006. xxvi + 316 pp. $27.50, cloth, ISBN 978-1-889574-25-7. Reviewed by David Lee McMullen Published on H-Florida (September, 2006) J. Stanley Marshall was president of Florida State during the late sixties and early seventies. State University from 1969 to 1976, during one of During that time I worked on the student newspa‐ the most fascinating periods in the university's per, The Flambeau, and served as its editor-in- history. These years were a period of conflict be‐ chief in 1971. As editor, I meet with President tween the old and new, when student life at the Marshall regularly to discuss some of the events university changed dramatically. As president, and issues presented in his book. Marshall faced student and faculty activism on a The Tumultuous Sixties will certainly be of in‐ variety of issues, including free speech, the Viet‐ terest to those familiar with the university during nam War, civil rights, the status of women, envi‐ this time period. More importantly, however, this ronmental concerns, labor, and the nomination of book provides a valuable perspective for students a Tallahassee judge to the U.S. Supreme Court. Be‐ of Florida history. For scholars, The Tumultuous yond this, there was streaking, famous and con‐ Sixties provides meaningful insights into the chal‐ troversial visitors to campus, including the Jorda‐ lenges of running a large state university under nian King, Helen Hayes, Jane Fonda, and Abbie the microscope of the numerous publics it must Hoffman.
    [Show full text]
  • Reviews a Congenial Figure
    unconventional deist Mary Wollstonecraft, Reviews a congenial figure. A woman writer who did so little to forward the agenda of contemporary feminism was, apparently, best consigned to silence. But by ignoring Anne Stott, Hannah More: The First More, the scholars of this period Victorian. Oxford University Press, postponed the discovery that her 2003. Pp. 384. £25.00. reputation as a sanctimonious conservative ISBN 0199245320. is not fully deserved. More’s first biographer, William Though an important figure in her own Roberts, whose Memoirs of the Life and time, Hannah More (1745-1833) was Correspondence of Mrs. Hannah More ignored by the generation of feminist appeared in the year after her death, bears scholars who began, during the 1970s, to much responsibility for the distorted rediscover forgotten or depreciated picture of More, which, as Stott notes, was women writers. The degree to which these until very recently ‘firmly embedded in scholars overlooked More is revealed by the historiography’ concerning her (p. ix). the fact that no full-length biography Roberts felt free to alter More’s appeared between 1952, when M. G. correspondence to fit his view of the way Jones’s sensible but rather perfunctory that the founding mother of the Hannah More was published, and the Evangelical movement ought to have appearance of Anne Stott’s Hannah More: written. Since few of More’s letters were The First Victorian in 2003. Yet More in print in any other form, Roberts’s was not only the most widely-read British portrait of More became the standard woman writer of her era, the author of picture, but in the early twentieth century plays, conduct books, tracts for the poor, a that picture, which corresponded to its best-selling novel and a variety of creator’s ideal of pious femininity, devotional works, but also a historical appeared less flattering.
    [Show full text]
  • Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More: Politics, Feminism and Modern Critics Claire Grogan
    Document generated on 09/26/2021 4:58 p.m. Lumen Selected Proceedings from the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Travaux choisis de la Société canadienne d'étude du dix-huitième siècle Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More: Politics, Feminism and Modern Critics Claire Grogan Volume 13, 1994 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1012525ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1012525ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies / Société canadienne d'étude du dix-huitième siècle ISSN 1209-3696 (print) 1927-8284 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Grogan, C. (1994). Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More: Politics, Feminism and Modern Critics. Lumen, 13, 99–108. https://doi.org/10.7202/1012525ar All Rights Reserved © Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies / Société This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit canadienne d'étude du dix-huitième siècle, 1994 (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ 8. Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More: Politics, Feminism and Modern Critics Miss Berry's diary entry for Tuesday 2 April 1799 reads: In the many hours I have spent alone this last week, I have been able... to go entirely through Hannah More, and Mrs Woolstonecroft [sic] immediately after her.
    [Show full text]
  • 10 Surprising Facts About Oscar Winner Ruth E. Carter and Her Designs
    10 Surprising Facts About Oscar Winner Ruth E. Carter and Her Designs hollywoodreporter.com/lists/10-surprising-facts-oscar-winner-ruth-e-carter-her-designs-1191544 The Hollywood Reporter The Academy Award-winning costume designer for 'Black Panther' fashioned a headpiece out of a Pier 1 place mat, trimmed 150 blankets with a men's shaver, misspelled a word on Bill Nunn's famous 'Do the Right Thing' tee, was more convincing than Oprah and originally studied special education. Ruth E. Carter in an Oscars sweatshirt after her first nomination for "Malcolm X' and after her 2019 win for 'Black Panther.' Courtesy of Ruth E. Carter; Dan MacMedan/Getty Images Three-time best costume Oscar nominee Ruth E. Carter (whose career has spanned over 35 years and 40 films) brought in a well-deserved first win at the 91st Academy Awards on Feb. 24 for her Afrofuturistic designs in Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster film Black Panther. 1/10 Carter is the first black woman to win this award and was previously nominated for her work in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (1992) and Steven Spielberg’s Amistad (1997). "I have gone through so much to get here!” Carter told The Hollywood Reporter by email. “At times the movie industry can be pretty unkind. But it is about sticking with it, keeping a faith and growing as an artist. This award is for resilience and I have to say that feels wonderful!" To create over 700 costumes for Black Panther, Carter oversaw teams in Atlanta and Los Angeles, as well as shoppers in Africa.
    [Show full text]
  • II. Hannah More: Concise Biography
    DISSERTATION Titel der Dissertation HANNAH MORE: MORALIZING THE BRITISH NATION Verfasserin Mag. phil. Helga-Maria Kopecky angestrebter akademischer Grad Doktorin der Philosophie (Dr. phil.) Wien, 2014 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 092 343 Dissertationsgebiet lt. Studienblatt: Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreut von: o. Univ. Prof. Dr. Margarete Rubik 2 For Gerald ! 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my great appreciation to those who assisted me in various ways in this project: to my first supervisor, o. Professor Dr. Margarete Rubik, for guiding me patiently and with never ending encouragement and friendliness through a difficult matter with her expertise; to my second supervisor, ao. Professor Dr. Franz Wöhrer, for his valuable feedback; to the English and American Studies Library as well as the Inter-loan Department of the Library of the University of Vienna; the National Library of Australia; and last, but certainly not least, to my family. It was their much appreciated willingness to accept an absent wife, mother and grandmother over a long period, which ultimately made this work at all possible. Thank you so much! 4 Of all the principles that can operate upon the human mind, the most powerful is – Religion. John Bowles 5 Table of Contents page I. Introduction General remarks ……………………………………………………. 9 Research materials ………………………………………………... 12 Aims of this thesis ………………………………………………… 19 Arrangement of individual chapters ...…………………………... 22 II. Hannah More: Concise Biography Early Years in Bristol ……………………………………………….. 24 The London Experience and the Bluestockings ………………... 26 Return to Bristol and New Humanitarian Interests ................... 32 The Abolitionist .......................................................................... 34 Reforming the Higher Ranks ..................................................... 36 The Tribute to Patriotism ........................................................... 40 Teaching the Poor: Schools for the Mendips ............................
    [Show full text]
  • Smoothing the Wrinkles Hollywood, “Successful Aging” and the New Visibility of Older Female Stars Josephine Dolan
    Template: Royal A, Font: , Date: 07/09/2013; 3B2 version: 9.1.406/W Unicode (May 24 2007) (APS_OT) Dir: //integrafs1/kcg/2-Pagination/TandF/GEN_RAPS/ApplicationFiles/9780415527699.3d 31 Smoothing the wrinkles Hollywood, “successful aging” and the new visibility of older female stars Josephine Dolan For decades, feminist scholarship has consistently critiqued the patriarchal underpinnings of Hollywood’s relationship with women, in terms of both its industrial practices and its representational systems. During its pioneering era, Hollywood was dominated by women who occupied every aspect of the filmmaking process, both off and on screen; but the consolidation of the studio system in the 1920s and 1930s served to reduce the scope of opportunities for women working in off-screen roles. Off screen, a pattern of gendered employment was effectively established, one that continues to confine women to so-called “feminine” crafts such as scriptwriting and costume. Celebrated exceptions like Ida Lupino, Dorothy Arzner, Norah Ephron, Nancy Meyers, and Katherine Bigelow have found various ways to succeed as producers and directors in Hollywood’s continuing male-dominated culture. More typically, as recently as 2011, “women comprised only 18% of directors, executive producers, cinematographers and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films” (Lauzen 2012: 1). At the same time, on-screen representations came to be increasingly predicated on a gendered star system that privileges hetero-masculine desires, and are dominated by historically specific discourses of idealized and fetishized feminine beauty that, in turn, severely limit the number and types of roles available to women. As far back as 1973 Molly Haskell observed that the elision of beauty and youth that underpins Hollywood casting impacted upon the professional longevity of female stars, who, at the first visible signs of aging, were deemed “too old or over-ripe for a part,” except as a marginalized mother or older sister.
    [Show full text]
  • Christina Hoff Sommers
    A Conversation with CHRISTINA HOFF SOMMERS A resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and former philosophy professor, Christina Hoff Sommers is a thoughtful analyst and trenchant critic of radical feminism. In this conversation, Sommers and Kristol discuss how American feminism, once focused on practical questions such as equal opportunity in employment for women, instead became a radical ideology that questioned the reality of sex differences. Narrating her own experiences as a speaker on college campuses, Sommers explains how the radical feminism of today's universities stifles debate. Finally, Sommers explains a recent controversy in the video game community, which she defends from charges of sexism in a widely-publicized episode known as "GamerGate." On claims of a “rape epidemic” on campus, Sommers says: It’s the result of advocacy research. You can get very alarming findings if you’re willing to interview a non-representative sample of people and if you’re willing to include a lot of behavior most of us don’t think of as assault. If you just play with those, you can get an epidemic. Rape, like all crimes, is way down. It’s at I think a 41- year low. [Rape on campus] is not 1 in 4, or 1 in 5 women, but something like 1 in 50. Still too much. But not [an epidemic]. On the feminist denial of sex differences, Sommers says: Femininity and masculinity are real. Women tend to be more nurturing and risk-averse and have usually a richer emotional vocabulary. Men tend to be a little less explicit about their emotions.
    [Show full text]
  • Antislavery Poetry and the Shared Language of Transatlantic Abolition, 1770S-1830S
    Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University History Theses Department of History 8-11-2015 "Bid Us Rise from Slavery and Live": Antislavery Poetry and the Shared Language of Transatlantic Abolition, 1770s-1830s Kathleen Campbell Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses Recommended Citation Campbell, Kathleen, ""Bid Us Rise from Slavery and Live": Antislavery Poetry and the Shared Language of Transatlantic Abolition, 1770s-1830s." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2015. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses/95 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “BID US RISE FROM SLAVERY AND LIVE”: ANTISLAVERY POETRY AND THE SHARED LANGUAGE OF TRANSATLANTIC ABOLITION, 1770S-1830S by KATHLEEN CAMPBELL Under the Direction of Robert Baker, PhD ABSTRACT The following analysis of antislavery poetry evidences the shared language of abolition that incorporated the societal dynamics of law, gender, and race through shared themes of family, the assumed expectation of freedom, and legal references. This thesis focuses upon four women antislavery poets and analyzes their poems and their individual experiences with their sociohistorical contexts. The poems of Hannah More, Ann Yearsley, Phillis Wheatley,
    [Show full text]
  • A Content Analysis of the Women Against Feminism Tumblr Page Lyndsey S
    Lehigh University Lehigh Preserve Theses and Dissertations 2015 A Content Analysis of the Women Against Feminism Tumblr Page Lyndsey S . Collins Lehigh University Follow this and additional works at: http://preserve.lehigh.edu/etd Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Collins, Lyndsey S ., "A Content Analysis of the Women Against Feminism Tumblr Page" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 2559. http://preserve.lehigh.edu/etd/2559 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Lehigh Preserve. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Lehigh Preserve. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Content Analysis of the Women Against Feminism Tumblr by Lyndsey S. Collins A Thesis Presented to the Graduate and Research Committee of Lehigh University in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sociology Lehigh University May 18, 2015 © 2015 Copyright (Lyndsey S. Collins) ii Thesis is accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Sociology. A Content Analysis of the Women Against Feminism Tumblr Page Lyndsey Collins ____________________ Date Approved Dr. Jacqueline Krasas Dr. Yuping Zhang Dr. Nicola Tannenbaum iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. Jacqueline Krasas, who has provided me with invaluable insights, support, and encouragement throughout the entirety of this process. In addition, I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Nicola Tannenbaum
    [Show full text]
  • Presentations Introduction Recent Feminist De
    Beyond the Generational Line: An Exploration of Feminist Online Sites and Self-(Re)presentations Yi-lin Yu National Ilan University, Taiwan Abstract This article deals with the feminist generation issue by tracing the transition from generational to non-generational thinking in recent feminist discourse on third-wave feminism. Informed by certain feminist recommendations of affording alternative paradigms in place of the oceanic wave metaphor to describe the rela- tionships between different feminists, this study offers the insights gained from an investigation with three feminist online sites, The F Word, Eminism, and Guerrilla Girls, in which these online feminists have participated in building up a third wave consciousness or a third space site through their engagement in (re)presenting their feminist selves and identities. In developing a both/and third wave con- sciousness, these online feminists have bypassed the dualistic understanding of sec- ond and third wave feminism and reached a cross-generational commonality of adhering to feminist ideology and coalition in cyberspace as a third space. Through a content analysis of their online feminist self-(re)presentations, this pa- per concludes by arguing that they have not only reformulated the concept of third wave feminism but also worked toward a new configuration of third space narratives and subjectivities that sheds light on contemporary feminist thinking about feminist genealogy and history. Key words third-wave feminism, feminist generation, feminist online sites, self-(re)presentation Introduction Recent feminist development of third-wave discourses has been bom- barded with a conundrum regarding generational debates. Although 54 ❙ Yi-lin Yu some feminist scholars are preoccupied with using familial metaphors to depict different feminist generations, others have called forth a rethink- ing of the topic in non-generational terms.
    [Show full text]
  • Mainstream Feminism
    Feminist movements and ideologies This collection of feminist buttons from a women's museum shows some messages from feminist movements. A variety of movements of feminist ideology have developed over the years. They vary in goals, strategies, and affiliations. They often overlap, and some feminists identify themselves with several branches of feminist thought. Groupings Judith Lorber distinguishes between three broad kinds of feminist discourses: gender reform feminisms, gender resistant feminisms, and gender revolution feminisms. In her typology, gender reform feminisms are rooted in the political philosophy of liberalism with its emphasis on individual rights. Gender resistant feminisms focus on specific behaviors and group dynamics through which women are kept in a subordinate position, even in subcultures which claim to support gender equality. Gender revolution feminisms seek to disrupt the social order through deconstructing its concepts and categories and analyzing the cultural reproduction of inequalities.[1] Movements and ideologies Mainstream feminism … "Mainstream feminism" as a general term identifies feminist ideologies and movements which do not fall into either the socialist or radical feminist camps. The mainstream feminist movement traditionally focused on political and legal reform, and has its roots in first- wave feminism and in the historical liberal feminism of the 19th and early- 20th centuries. In 2017, Angela Davis referred to mainstream feminism as "bourgeois feminism".[2] The term is today often used by essayists[3] and cultural analysts[4] in reference to a movement made palatable to a general audience by celebrity supporters like Taylor Swift.[5] Mainstream feminism is often derisively referred to as "white feminism,"[6] a term implying that mainstream feminists don't fight for intersectionality with race, class, and sexuality.
    [Show full text]