Selected Research Article/ Case Study (Maximum-5)
Title- Digital Feminism: Is the 4th Wave of Feminism Digital?
Author- Dr. Mehrunnisa Pathan
Abstract-
A critical inquiry into the field of feminism made me to think seriously on two major areas: first Digital feminism and second are we really in the fourth wave of feminism. There could have been lot of discussions and deliberations on the first, second and the third wave of feminism. The title of my research paper is an inspiration from an article published by Blue Stockings Magazine by Ragna Rok Jons, who is the Blog managing Editor of the Magazine entitled “Is the 4th wave of feminism Digital? There are three waves of feminism with different demands and different approaches. The present era can be seen as the era of Digital Feminism. Were it was believed that feminism has been out done. But at the same time in the visual world feminism do exists. Feminism is now alive as an online movement to fight against any kind of injustice against women. The online feminism has crossed all the boundaries of nations, cultures, societies and so on. A woman may be in veil sitting at home or offices contributing to the online feminism. There are 23 inspiring feminist Digital campaigns that changed the world, when it was believed that ‘feminism is dead? The last few years proved it to be wrong. Activists have become increasingly skilled in the digital age at using the sophisticated online tools to galvanize social change. The availability and development of knowledge from other disciplines has deepened our understanding of what a more multifaceted approach to research in all disciplines can offer. By embracing digital technologies, the humanities are now exploring ways in which culture, literature, history, languages and art can be electronically stored and digitally created. This will have huge implication for the preservation of the ephemera of culture for future generations and change the societies out look towards women. Digital Feminism: Is the 4th Wave of Feminism Digital?
Dr. Mehrunnisa Pathan Assistant Professor Department of English Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad E-mail: [email protected]
A critical inquiry into the field of feminism made me to think seriously on two major areas: first Digital feminism and second Are we really in the fourth wave of feminism. There could have been lot of discussions and deliberations on the first, second and the third wave of feminism. The title of my research paper is an inspiration from an article published by Blue Stockings Magazine by Ragna Rok Jons, who is the Blog managing Editor of the Magazine entitled “Is the 4th wave of feminism Digital? The word female is defined in oxford dictionary as someone who is female is a woman or girl. Feminine is defined as feminine qualities and things related to or are considered typical of women, in contrast to men. Feminism is defined as a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic and social rights for women. It believes that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities in all aspects of life. According to them Feminism is defined as ‘the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes’. It states “the issue of rights for women first became prominent during the French and American revolutions in the 18th century. In Britain it was not until the emergence of the suffragette movement. In the late 19th century there was a significant change. Again in oxford English dictionary a feminist person is defined as one who supports feminism. The term originated in the late 19th century from the French word ‘feminste’ and Latin word ‘femina’ means a woman, in Arabic Nisa means a woman. There has been tremendous development in literary and cultural theories including Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism, Marxist / Sociologist Feminism, Eco-Feminism and so on and so forth.
There are three waves of feminism with different demands and different approaches. The first wave feminist suffragettes came out of the necessity for ‘the Second Sex’ to gain property and voting rights in order to claim for themselves autonomy and liberty. Among them were poets, thinkers, politicians, activists and educators, while others were in more precarious positions that were forced to necessarily fight for their rights in order to simply survive and live their life and fought for their rights to autonomy and first class citizenship status throughout the world.
Julia Kristeva describes second wave of feminism as “the second generation is characterized by a quasi-universal rejection of linear temporality and by a highly pronounced mistrust of political life.” (Kristeva 2008: 208) The second wave was the extension of the first wave movement to action which was shored up by the institutionalization of feminism within academia to counteract the rampant sexism and discrimination its academics faced. The third wave of feminism has been critical as it explored the unequal and inequitable distribution of labor on the basis of sex and gender, such as American consumerism, middle class ideals for middle class women, and the unethical treatment of sex workers. According to Kristeva the third generation needs to recognize the psycho-symbolic structure which is based upon metaphysics of identity and differences, where one sex (or class or race or nation) is seen as a rival of another. But instead Kristeva calls to internalize this structure and to see within one oneself the ‘fundamental separation of the socio-symbolic contract.’ (Noelle Mc Afee 2004: 101) Julia Kristeva writes ‘I am at once the attacker and the victim, the same and the other, identical and foreign’ (Kristeva 2008: 101). Every individual’s identity patches together a diversity of ethnic, regional, sexual, professional and political identifications. The third generation feminism may gain less in terms of women but may gain more in terms of human beings.
And now, is the age of Digital Feminism. Were it was believed that feminism has been out done. But at the same time in the visual world feminism do exists. Feminism is now alive as an online movement to fight against any kind of injustice against women. The online feminism has crossed all the boundaries of nations, cultures, societies and so on. A woman may be in veil sitting at home or offices contributing to the online feminism. There are 23 inspiring feminist Digital campaigns that changed the world, when it was believed that ‘feminism is dead? The last few years proved it to be wrong. Activists have become increasingly skilled in the digital age at using the sophisticated online tools to galvanize social change.
Lulu Lemon’s chairman stepped down after blaming his products failures on fat women. Another example is of ultraviolet got Reebok to drop Rick Ross. After Rick Ross brazenly promoted rape in lyrics of his new single back in March, ultraviolet responded by creating a pressure campaign that encouraged advertisers like Reebok to drop the artist as their brand ambassador. Laura Bates, the founder of Everyday Sexism, got a tip about a Tunes app (and a game available on Google play) that allowed children young as 9 to perform plastic surgeries on a fictional female character, she took to social media to share her outrage. Within an hour, she had thousands of responders pouring in from equally fuming Twitter users who couldn’t believe.
A campaign by three women succeeded where many previous efforts had failed, forcing Facebook take action over content celebrating rape and domestic violence. It took just a week for the campaigners to rouse hundreds of thousands of supporters, thanks to a growing digital network of women who are part of the “great feminist revival”. Spare Rib magazine is soon to re launch, women’s groups are enjoying a growth in interest, and online feminism is flourishing in blogs and tweets. Beyonce and Madonna were in London for the chance for change concert, promoting global empowerment for women and girls. Tracy Mc Veigh, Kat Banyard, 30, author and co-founder of UK feminist, the campaign group is especially concerned with the commercial sex industry and work to close down lap-dancing clubs. Caitlin Moran, 38, newspaper columnist, T.V critic and prolific – Moran Laura Bates, 26, founder of the everyday sexism project – Bates set up every day sexism.com last year and it has had 30,000 incidents reported by women and children. She co-founded the F.B rape campaign and won an unprecedented view from Facebook.
Yasmeen Hassan, global director of ‘Equality Now,’ campaign for empowerment of women and girls. Yasmeen Hassan mentioned that Feminism is wonderful, it’s encouraging to see these conversations happening, especially as in America it is still a forbidden, bad word. To, many young women they will say oh, I am not a feminist, when in fact if you talk to them and unpick that, of course they are. The idea of libration in America is more sexual and here it is much more intellectual, but the internet is opening up channels between women in different countries, and women who might be isolated in their communities, to understand each other’s lives and support each other, which is the heart of feminism. We need equality to make our societies better for both men and women.
Nimko Ali, 29, is a feminist blogger and is co-founder of ‘Daughters of Eve’. Around 30,000 girls in UK are at risk of suffering the illegal practice of female genital mutilation. Ali was a victim of FGM when her mother took her to Somalia. Lili Evans, 15, is one of the women behind Twitter youth feminist Army. “I guess I became a feminist when I actually looked at the world and saw how unfair it was, she said.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modiji’s dream of digital India how can we neglect the emergence of digital feminism .we in our university at Dr B A M University Aurangabad celebrated Digital week. What I personally believe is with the help of digital technology we can reduce the sexual abuse and rape that take place in police stations. The victims they can be allowed to have video conferencing and it can be linked to their election or Adhar card, instead women directly approaching the police station. They can register their case online.
Again theorizing digital feminism may became a difficult task as Indian or American or French or so on and so forth. Women from all sections, class, color, creed, religion are allowed to come together and join the website of digital feminism. Now the world has emerged as a ‘global family’, a woman may be in bikini or in veil, may be a black or white, and may be from royal family or ordinary family, there is no question of boundaries. Digital feminism has various sites like www.hastag.com and so on. Free online registration is available and many more sites are available related to digital feminism.
The availability and development of knowledge from other disciplines has deepened our understanding of what a more multifaceted approach to research in all disciplines can offer. By embracing digital technologies, the humanities are now exploring ways in which culture, literature, history, languages and art can be electronically stored and digitally created. This will have huge implication for the preservation of the ephemera of culture for future generations and change the societies out look towards women. And most important, the question that I raised here at the very initial stage of my research paper ‘is the fourth wave of Feminism Digital? The answer to my inquiry and basically to this question is ‘yes’ Digital feminism is online and in form of fourth wave of feminism.
References:
Kristeva, Julia. New Maladies of the Soul. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.
Noelle ,M.C. Afee. Julia Kristeva. London and New York: Routledge, 2004.
Rok Jons, Ragna. “Bluestockings Magazine.” Monday, August 19th, 2013. Print.