Feminism Through the Ages
The nature of feminism has grown and developed overtime, and the strands of its ideology have been influential not just in the political spectrum, but in the larger sense of culture and society itself.
Feminism’s nature has most definitely changed over time; from the beginning of feminisms first wave between 1790s to the 1950s, to the Second Wave between the 1960s and 1980s, then to the Third Wave between 1990s and 2000s to finally; the disputed fourth wave between 2000s to the present day. Feminism; like an animal, is ever changing and developing to the circumstances around it; and the problems of the time that it occurred, for example; social media becomes a large part of modern-day feminism (3rd and 4th wave) because of the invention of ‘pocket technology’, whereas the old feminism had more concerns with liberties (such as voting rights and property rights) as well as a legal and political voice. Feminism in a nut shell evolves to fit in the timeframe that it exists in to combat the oppression of the day.
Before even this ‘first wave’ that we refer to as the beginning of a feminist movement; there is historical evidence to give insight into feminist belief in the past; such as the Amazons in Ancient Greek mythology, and the production of “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes and Plato (equality in the name of efficiency); in Ancient Rome, protests against Oppian Law (Control women’s access to gold and luxuries) was more evidence to ancient feminism; in the Middle Ages we had the book published by Christine de Pizan “The Book of the City of Ladies”; in the enlightenment we had the production of “The Blazing World” by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle and finally in the most recent ‘ancient feminism’ case, we had the French Revolution and the march on Versailles and the production of “The Declaration of the Rights of Women and of the Female Citizen” by Olympe de Gouges. All of these accounts are historical evidence of feminism in society; it has always existed, and is very real to the cause it produces.
First, we will talk about the First Wave of Feminism; which was concerned with removing formal forms of inequality within society, such as the unequal voting rights between men and women, property rights and educational/occupational rights. The Seneca Falls convention of 1848 was the clear first giver of the launching US suffrage across the pond; but also gave way to the understanding of feminist movement through Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and the male feminist voice of Fredrick Douglass who persuaded the Seneca Falls Convention to adopt the Women’s Vote. The first wave of feminism was mostly liberal in nature, especially as at the time, the movement was only comprised of the upper to middle class oppressed women such as the key names of: Mary Wollstonecraft (18th Century), John Stuart Mill and his wife Harriet Taylor (19th Century), Charlotte Perkins Gilman (19th Century) and finally the Suffragist Movement of the 20th Century. The main principles here in the first wave of feminism were largely based on Liberty; in that women should be free to choose the nature of their lives, bit it their roles as wives or mothers or their role in the labour force, Equal Opportunity; in so that women are to be able to enjoy the same opportunities as men in access to education or careers and professions and Civil Rights; The rule of law should extend fully to women and must not discriminate them. However, the First Wave Feminism also introduced us into the Private and Public Spheres; but were more concerned with the Private Sphere; or access to ownership of property; and the Political Sphere; having the same democratic rights as men (voting). To explain the First Wave of Feminism in more detail; I will be using Charlotte Perkins Gilman (19th Century).
Gilman, in her work, gave insight into showing that women lacked autonomy within their lives and the lack of autonomy undermined the mental and emotional wellbeing of a woman. She assumes the young girls are forced to conform to their predestined role as mothers, and to prevent this harmful social conditioning of young impressionable girls; there should be no difference in clothes or toys that children have — an early formation of ‘sameness’. However, she also argued that women were financially reliant on their husbands, an uneven instrument of patriarchal power that meant women had to trade sexual favours for the protection offered by their husbands, such as having children early in life and forced into being a housewife as soon as they were ‘of age’. Gilman noted that the Androcentric Culture of civilisation at the time meant that the contributions of women in society had been halted irreversibly; women were the underdeveloped half of humanity and only when the economic dynamics of a relationship were altered could the confines of patriarchy be broken, as such, the key to emancipation of women lied within economic independence.
In the Second Wave of Feminism; between the 1960s to the 1980s, feminism evolved from solely rotating around Liberal ideology into three main strands; Liberal, Radical and Socialist Feminism; focusing on that the removal of legal and political inequalities had not removed the injustices and unfair treatment of women; so now came the attempt to politicise women’s personal lives as well as workplace inequalities, sexual violence and reproductive rights. Liberal Feminism in the Second wave focused on arguing for the state to lead in the reform of society and the economy; similar to the first wave, in order to facilitate women’s entry into the public sphere of society, whereas Radical Feminism saw the state as being the problem, not the solution, so sought for radical change in both private and public spheres of society; finally, Socialist Feminism argued that only a socialist revolution could both capitalism and female oppression be overcome both at once; following in the ideology of Karl Marx.
To show this, Liberal Feminism’s Betty Friedan (‘The Feminine Mystique [1963]’) showed us that the problem was only cultural — “a problem with no name” — and women were unable to recognise it. In not understanding the problem, women would almost automatically impose a self-assigned inferiority inside and outside; but also believed that men were also victims of the patriarchy, since it made them feel like they were superior to women. The solutions given for this would be to let women make their own choices and have a fully equal gender spectrum, to combat cultural attitudes which reinforce women’s inferiority (Education, Propaganda, Sexist Attitudes and Language) as well as a formal equality in all fields through legislation; both politically and legally.
Within Radical Feminism; Germain Greer (‘The Female Eunuch [1970]’) suggested that “the personal was political”, unlike the suggestion by Friedan; the intimate and sexual relationships were always determined by men and the shame of sexuality and body was a further way to oppress women and dominate them in order to serve men. An agreement here made by Kate Millett (‘Sexual Politics [1970]’) provided that sexism was an oppressional form of male superiority, heterosexual relationships oppressed homosexual relationships as male and female relationships were superior; an early formation of Post-Modern and LGBTQ+ Feminism, and the only way for a woman to truly be free is to liberate themselves sexually first; with not just a focus on middle-class white women, but a struggle for all women. There is no distinction between Private and Public spheres, and there should not be, as this is a form of female oppression; along with the raising consciousness of women in order to break the constrains of patriarchal society. Both also argued that housework and child rearing is not a private matter but an extension of the patriarchy, and therefore, an oppressive form of male superiority and the lack of women’s freedom.
Finally, within socialist Feminism in the second wave we have Shelia Rowbotham (‘Womans Consciousness, Man’s World [1973]’); who suggested that “men will often admit other women are oppressed, but not you” as men cannot understand the reality and the nature of oppression because (in theory) they will never be a woman and never be able to experience the oppression a birthed woman had to go through; so, there is no hope for liberation from the patriarchy under capitalism, so it all must go in order to achieve full freedom; which neoliberalism seemed to offer but showed little to no progress in getting it. Rowbotham therefore, offered the only way forward would be to induce a socialist revolution, overturn capitalism and liberate women through a change in private life and culture.
The Third Wave of Feminism; from the 1990s to early 2000s, changed and evolved again, moving away from the strands created in the second wave; inducing the new Post-Modern and Transfeminism wave, concerned with the experiences of different groups of women, recognising that traditionally, feminism tended to reflect the concerns and interests of middle-class white women, hence, highlighting intersectionality, 3rd World Feminism, LGBTQ+ Feminism and Queer-Politics. This wave of feminism became the first to introduce Sex vs Gender; and there were specific differences; such being that sex referred to the biological differences between men and women, these are inevitable, natural and unalterable (Essentialism); and gender referred to the cultural differences between the sexes, leading to feelings of superiority within men, and the assignment of gender roles. Gender differences, therefore, are referred to as the basis for patriarchal society and are not natural. Intersectionality; a strand of 3rd Wave Feminism was best introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989); who explained that feminism was not ‘one-size-fits-all’ movement, women come from a variety of social and cultural backgrounds so they have more than one individual identity; further explained by bell hooks (Formerly, Gloria Watkins), who bridges third wave feminism and fourth wave feminism. She accuses many radical feminists as being overly focused on the white middle-class women, and emphasised her black identity in order to show how complex the feminist movement actually was. In her book ‘Feminism is for everybody [2000]’, she showed the successes and failures of the feminist movement thus far, and showed that patriarchy has taught women to hate themselves and see themselves as inferior, so women must unlearn this self-hatred and stop seeing themselves as the property of a man.
Finally, we have the disputed fourth wave feminism; which is disputed to whether or not it has actually begun. Fourth wave feminism focuses on the same two values of the previous wave but introduces the Liberal and Radical feminist strands back into its ideology. Here; it is suggested that the fourth wave is a reaction against inequality in media portrayals of women, and issues arising from the expansion of social media, such as online misogyny, empowerment of women, non-binarism and inclusiveness of transgendered people. The first main notice of the fourth wave feminism comes from the conjoined ‘Manifesta [2002]’ by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, who explained: “We’re not doing feminism the same way that the seventies feminists did it; being liberated doesn’t mean copying what came before, but finding one’s own way — a way that is genuine to one’s own generation”; furthered by Kira Cochrane and Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain who explained the new modern issues referred with Social Media and “Call Out”; following Sexual Harassment, Violence, Workplace Discrimination, Body Shaming, Sexist Imagery, Online Misogyny, Campus Assault, Public Transport Assault and Rape Culture, along with the idea of Natasha Walker (‘Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism [2010]’) suggesting that “Sexism” was not dying — it was getting worse than ever with a hyper/Over-Sexualisation and Empowerment through sex-work as a myth — “Only sex makes women valuable”.
There are five main areas of fourth wave Feminism that are significant to main issues; Nudity, Appearance, Sex-Work, Non-binarism and Transgender Issues.
There is a range of beliefs within feminism to show that public nudity is degrading and oppressive to women; whilst others see it as an empowering experience, women owning their bodies and their sexuality. However, others do believe that the public displays of nudity are just playing into the hands of the patriarchy, as they argue that all it does is ‘tunnel vision’ men to look at women’s bodies over actually registering the protest as a proper protest.
Appearance is also a very important part of fourth wave feminism. Protests such as ‘slut-walking’ originating in Canada after a police officer suggested that women should avoid dressing like ‘sluts’ to prevent sexual assault; in so excusing rape by referring men had no control when they see a woman being what they would suggest as ‘suggestive’. However, another area of conflict refers to religious oppression by men, such as burqa’s worn by Muslim Women; many feminists see this as a patriarchal oppression that is forced upon women. On the other hand, some women reject it, arguing it frees them from the oppressive focus on appearance of western society.
Sex-Work is a highly controversial area of fourth wave feminism, with the suggestion from men that sex-workers are a ‘legitimate target’ for sexual harassment and assault. A suggestion against the ‘industry’ is referred by Melissa Farley, “Prostitution, even when consensual, can be a form of sexual assault (Coercion)”. On the other hand, a Radical Feminist idea for Sex-Work is referred to as S.W.E.R.F: Sex-Worker, Exclusionary Radical Feminist: which is a reaction against third wave feminism’s intersectionality and inclusivity; being that sex-workers are ‘complicit’ in objectification, exploitation and violence by taking part in the industry. The belief that the industry is holding back the movement of feminism and leading into the hands of the patriarchy, a man will pay for the services of a woman and economically, has a superiority over that woman.
Finally, we have Non-Binarism and Transgender Issues, referred to as T.E.R.F.S: Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism; a branch of radical feminism that denies the validity of transgender identities as women. There is a belief here that similar to the belief that men will never be able to understand the oppression of women, Transgender women are unable also to understand what it is really like to identify as a woman due to the fact they were not born that way; in so showing that identifying as transgender reinforces the gender binary. The beliefs here can be shown through splitting the sides of Transgender and Non-Binary Feminism into two categories: Exclusive Feminism (Womyn) and Inclusive Feminism (Womxn).
So, in conclusion, Feminism has evolved and changed through the multiple waves since 1790 to the present day. Feminism has grown from being the problems of white upper/middle-class women to everyday women of all backgrounds who are oppressed by the society structure of patriarchy. It has evolved to encompass the numerous occurring issues that only develop as the world develops, such as social media and the consciousness of women growing. But the problems have not gone away, and in reference to Natasha Walker; Sexism has not died, it’s getting stronger — it is. Feminism issues today are almost exclusively encoded with Celebrity minds; such as the Exclusive Feminist of J.K. Rowling, as well as not being a favoured movement by society, as a minor disagreement can lead to what would have been a potential ally; but alienation. Overall, Feminism has moved and developed through time, but the fundamental problems have not moved or been achieved in any maximised occurrence. There still only has been three female Prime Ministers in the UK since records began; and there has never been a Female President across the pond in the USA.
