Waves of feminism
First wave: early 20th century, suffragette movement (right to vote).
Second wave: 1960s – 1990s, reproductive rights (pill), abortion, equal pay.
Third wave: 1990s – present, empowerment, reclaiming of femininity (high heels, sexuality etc. See Angela McRobbie's work on women's magazines).
Fourth wave? 2010 – ongoing, use of new technology and digital media (e.g. Twitter) for activism. Many commentators argue that the internet itself has enabled a shift from ‘third-wave’ to ‘fourth-wave’ feminism. What is certain is that the internet has created a ‘call-out’ culture, in which sexism or misogyny can be ‘called out’ and challenged. This culture is indicative of the continuing influence of the third wave, with its focus on challenging sexism and misogyny in advertising, film, television and the media.
Key quote: “power users of social media”
The internet has facilitated the creation of a global community of feminists who use the internet both for discussion and activism.
According to #FemFuture: Online Feminism, a report recently published by Columbia University’s Barnard Center for Research on Women, females aged between 18 and 29 are the ‘power users of social networking’.
(Source: Political Studies Association. Read more about this:http://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/feminism-fourth-wave)
Critics of online feminism
Critics of online feminist movements suggest that petitions and pressure from Twitter campaigns is simply a witchhunt orchestrated by privileged middle-class white women.
They ask: are ‘trolls’ the danger they are portrayed to be?
Advertising: creating a culture of objectifying women
Activist and cultural theorist Jean Kilbourne has been studying the image of women in advertising for over 40 years. Her series ‘Killing us softly’ highlighted the negative representation of women in advertising.
She went on to make further documentaries studying this issue and whether it was changing over time.
Case study: Everyday Sexism
Watch this TEDx talk by Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates:
1) Why did Laura Bates start the Everyday Sexism project?
Laura Bates began this project because of the inequality between the two genders she has experienced and observed in daily life. Particularly, she describes a week whereby she experienced three incidents. Firstly, two of the incidents involving some men catcalling her, then another man groping her leg, when she made a call for help, she was ignored. This confused her as she felt unsure as to why this was considered normal and was so frequent in our society. Her experiences pushed her to do something about the issue, so she decided to begin a campaign in hopes of it bringing awareness and change to this prominent issue.
2) How does the Everyday Sexism project link to the concept of post-feminism? Is feminism still required in western societies?
Post feminism is the belief that society has progressed to a point where there is no longer a need for feminism. Laura Bates touches upon this very notion, as she describes how after trying to address the pressing issue, she was told by many people that men and women are more or less equal and sexism is no longer an issue. Laura Bates believes feminism is still essential in society. After these comments were made, she researched post feminism and found contradictory statistics and facts such 1 in 5 members in parliament in the world are women and how out of 23 men, only 4 are women or how parliament men outnumber women 4 to 1. In terms of the law, only 4 out of 35 lord justices are female and only 18 out of 108 high court judges are female. In the arts, there are 2300 works but only 10 female artists and at the royal opera house, it has been 15 years since there was a female choreographer. In scientific fields, there are fewer than 1 in 10 female UK engineers and the royal society has never had a female president and only 5% of their fellows are women. In the media, women have only directed 5% of 250 major films and 84% of front page articles are dominated by male experts. Violence figures are even more concerning, as over 2 women a week are killed by a partner, there's a phone call to the police every minute about domestic violence, every 6-8 minutes a women is raped, 1 of 4 chance of becoming a victim of domestic violence, worldwide 1 in 3 women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. From these concerning figures, it appears that men hold the hegemony in society and are in control, therefore feminism is still clearly needed.
3) Why was new technology essential to the success of the Everyday Sexism project?
It appears to be the main driving factor of the campaign - Laura Bates goes on to explain how she began by creating a website containing stories of abuse and incidents whereby sexism was expressed. Anybody was able to contribute to her site anonymously. The website became very popular, and her project took off because of it.
4) Will there be a point in the future when the Everyday Sexism project is not required? What is YOUR view on the future of feminism?
I think that it more than likely that feminism will no longer be required at some point in the future. Seeing the rapid nature of new and digital media, I feel that society is able to progress in any way it wishes, just with some time. However, currently, we still have a lot of progress to make.
Media Magazine: The fourth wave?
Read the article: The Fourth Wave? Feminism in the Digital Age in MM55 (p64). You'll find the article in our Media Magazine archive here.
1) Summarise the questions in the first two sub-headings: What is networked feminism? Why is it a problem?
The new fourth wave of feminism is also known as ‘networked feminism’. it aims to tackle social equality issues found both on, and using, modern technology.
2) What are the four waves of feminism? Do you agree that we are in a fourth wave ‘networked feminism’?
There are three traditionally recognised waves of feminism focused respectively on politics, culture and academia. There is also an emerging fourth wave of feminism that is less universally recognised and focused on technology. The first wave of feminism began in the mid-19th century, primarily in Britain and the United States, and was centered around women’s suffrage — the right to vote. Eventually, first wave feminism in America culminated in securing women’s right to vote. However, the vast majority of women in this movement were white, which accounts for their racist rhetoric and unwillingness to include women of colour in the vote.
By the 1960’s, the women’s movement began to split into two groups: equal rights feminists and radical feminists. The former wanted equality in the workplace and home, while the latter was dedicated to a more radical shift in patriarchal society. Equal rights feminists sought policies like anti-discrimination laws in the job market, whereas radical feminists looked past policies and sought to deconstruct gender roles and start a literal feminist revolution. . A few important wins were the job opportunities created through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the increase in divorce rights, the growing number of women running for political office, the passage of Title IX, and legalised abortion. Additionally, second wave feminism led to a change in attitudes about the role of women in society, so they were able to work outside the home and subvert their gender roles.
However, the successes of the second wave did not account for all women, and daughters of second-wavers realised that this “women’s rights movement” did not acknowledge non-white, lower class women. Thus, the third wave of feminism began:
In the mid-1990s the third wave feminism was influenced by academic criticism such as postmodernism and queer theory. This meant that third wave feminists were more aware of their use of language and compliance with gender constructs, leading to a centralizing of queer and other identities outside of the cisgender, heterosexual norm. For example, third wave feminism empowered trans individuals who were ignored by most feminists up until this point. Secondly, third wave feminism aims to be intersectional. Intersectionality examines the interconnected structure of society that includes race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other defining characteristics. It critiques the different experiences of intersecting identities like being a Black woman versus a white woman, acknowledging that the former faces a more complicated form of oppression than the latter. Intersectional feminism is key to the third wave
Lastly, there is the fourth wave. Some believe the most defining aspect of the fourth wave is how it utilises the internet and social media, creating a “call out” culture where feminists concentrate on micropolitics and everyday rhetoric online. An example of this would be the the #metoo campaign, which employs hashtag activism to spread awareness of feminist issues.
3) Focus on the examples in the article. Write a 100-word summary of EACH of the following: Everyday Sexism, HeForShe, FCKH8 campaign, This Girl Can.- Everyday Sexism: The Everyday Sexism Project is a website founded on 16 April 2012 by Laura Bates, a British feminist writer. The aim of the site is to document examples of sexism from around the world. Entries may be submitted directly to the site, or by email or tweet. The accounts of abuse are collated by a small group of volunteers who can post about their experiences or incidents anonymously. At the time of the 2012 foundation of Everyday Sexism website, Bates had "hoped to gather 100 women's stories", but a year after the launch she wrote in The Guardian that it had grown very rapidly "as more and more women began to add their experiences – women of all ages and backgrounds, from all over the world", and was then "about to spread to 15 countries".
- HeForShe: HeForShe is a campaign for the advancement of women, initiated by UN Women. It is grounded in the belief that equality between men and women is an issue that affects everyone whether that be socially, economically, politically etc. Its main goal is to achieve equality by encouraging men and boys as agents of change and take action against negative inequalities faced by women and girls. It seeks to actively involve men and boys in a movement that was originally conceived as "a struggle for women by women".
- FCKH8: This is a for-profit company that was founded in 2010, selling merchandise such as t-shirts and accessories that features slogans with a social justice theme. For example, FCKH8 has had several campaigns and products that center upon LGBT issues. The company has released several media marketing campaigns to accompany sales of their products, some of which have been the focus of criticism. Most respondents criticizing the videos as a way to sell t-shirts claiming that they betray a social media marketing perspective devoid of ethics. The video’s ethos is so steeped in a “Generation Like” mindset that having the video widely “liked” and “shared” is clearly what matters most. FCKH8 has responded to this criticism by stating that their t-shirts could help spread awareness and spark conversations of the causes.
- This Girl Can: This Girl Can is a celebration of active women who are doing their thing no matter how well they do it, how they look or even how red their face gets. Funded by The National Lottery and developed by Sport England, we want to help women overcome the fear of judgement that is stopping too many women and girls from joining in.
4) What is your opinion with regards to feminism and new/digital media? Do you agree with the concept of a 'fourth wave' of feminism post-2010 or are recent developments like the Everyday Sexism project merely an extension of the third wave of feminism from the 1990s?
I do agree with the existence of the concept of the fourth wave of feminism that extended as a result of the third wave of feminism from the 1990s. I feel that from the 90s, the rapid growth of new and digital media was so intense that it is inevitable that the feminism movement had to graduate into a new wave. Examples of the fourth wave are the several series of campaigns and the exposure and subsequent downfall of predators, even those in high power.
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