Introduction
The relevance of feminist research stems from the fact that society’s improvement is inconceivable without developing programs that involve practical equality between men and women. Unexpectedly, the mass social activity of women has produced a kind of social and cultural revolution in the Western world, radically affecting the system of gender relations. Since its inception, the Women’s Revolution has been heterogeneous in its ideas, methods of struggle, and forms of collective action.
The Women’s March is at the head of resistance to politics. All indications are that feminism has reached unprecedented cultural significance in recent years. Nowadays, it is the preliminary entity of cultural controversy, which obscures the public since not all individuals are acquainted with or compromise with the fundamental vocabulary of feminism. Therefore, one of the foundational yet obscure terms is related to the waves of feminism. Waves of feminism are one of the central concepts of the movement. However, they share a global goal; they have different characteristics that reflect the aspirations of women in different historical periods.
Waves of Feminism
People started talking about feminism as a series of waves in 1968 when the New York Times published an article by Martha Weinman Lea titled The Second Wave of Feminism. Despite the vagueness of the term wave, the metaphor has caught on and is now actively utilized. It has become a convenient way to link the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s with the suffrage movement. It proved that feminist speech was an eccentric chronological rarity and a unique branch in women’s long collaborative struggle for their rights. Over time, the metaphor has come to be used to describe and divide different phases and generations of feminism, yet the expression is imperfect.
One sensation underlies specific chronological distinctions: feminism. It permeates all of the efforts to achieve equality of the sexes in U.S. history, and it, like a wave, reaches its highest point at some point and then goes into recession. In general, the wave metaphor implies that the equal rights movement in U.S. history has revolved chiefly around one set of ideas, which might be called feminism. Each surge of feminism may be a single entity with a common agenda, but the record confirms that it is a constant and fierce battle of numerous ideas.
Each wave can be simplified into a stereotype, and it can be assumed that there is a clear division between the different generations of feminism. In reality, each wave continues into the next. Assuming that a wave is not a single entity, the theories popular during one wave were often revealed in the works of the beginning or end of the previous wave. Thus, all waves of feminism have both standard and different features, and one can examine them by comparing second-wave feminism to contemporary feminism.
Comparison of Second-Wave Feminism with Modern Feminism
Firstly, it is necessary to comprehend what second-wave feminism is and what its merits are. During the second wave, women achieved the right to apply for credit cards in their names and to apply for mortgages. Laws against sexual harassment in the workplace appeared. Apart from these changes, however, there was an equally strong focus on changing society’s view of women. Participants in the second wave spent much energy combating a persistent and firmly entrenched systemic sexism. The common belief was that a woman’s highest purpose was to decorate the home and run a household. The social stamps that supported this belief were explicitly called sexism and eradicated by feminists. Despite its narrow range of activity, at its elevation, second-wave feminism was revolutionary enough to frighten individuals – hence the legend of the burning of lingerie. Nevertheless, there were no mass burnings of bras among second-wave feminists.
Reagan-era traditionalism thrived in providing second-wave feminists a standing as moody, hairy-legged melancholics who combated against ridiculous nonsense like bras rather than factual matters. As the second wave waned, the image of aggressive and lonely feminist misogynists would become canonical. It still haunts feminism today, but the image is fundamental to the emergence of the third and fourth waves of feminism. It is almost impossible to speak of the third wave with any certainty since few agree on what it is, when it began, and whether it continues. Since the period of the end of the duration of the third wave of feminism is debatable, it is rational to consider it. In the early stages, the aims of the second and third waves were similar, and the primary activity was against sexual harassment in the workplace.
Nevertheless, “girl” points to one of the most important differences between the second and third waves. Second-wave feminists battled for the liberty to refer to women rather than “girls” since they are no longer kids but thoroughly developed individuals who should be regaled respectfully. However, third-wave feminists liked being “girls” and wanted to make it sound powerful, even intimidating – hence the name of the grrrl movement. Over time, the trend continued, and third-wave followers promoted all the ideas in language and art that the second wave tried to abandon: makeup, high heels, and deliberate femininity.
Nevertheless, the 1980s anti-feminist backlash, which claimed that feminists were nasty, hairy, unfeminine and that no male would ever love one, in part inspired the third wave’s championing of femininity. Part of this policy was born out of the view that denying femininity was misogynistic. Third-wave feminists spoke and thought very differently from second-wave feminists. However, they lacked the powerful cultural uplift behind their predecessors’ significant achievements.
Modern feminism is best known for the flash mobs #Metoo and Time’s Up, which are gaining momentum. Due to the emergence of other distinctive features than those that characterized the third wave, scholars argue about the fourth wave. Opinion on this issue is ambiguous; some consider it a completely separate period in the history of feminism, while others regard it as an offshoot of the third wave.
Although many media describe the #Metoo flash mob as a movement influenced by the third wave, it is, in fact, at the center of a movement that lacks the characteristic disorganization. At the same time, internet activism is one of its most distinctive features. Feminist talks and debates occur online, where activists gather to plan their activities. It is a unique feature of the fourth wave of feminism that was not typical for feminism before.
As a result, the fourth wave frequently appears to have started around 2008. It was when feminist blogs like Jezebel and Feministing acquired popularity among Internet users, and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were ingrained in popular culture. The fourth wave is moving forward in the shadow of #Metoo and Time’s Up. Still, its members are also responsible for the cultural implications of earlier projects like Emma Sulkowicz’s performance art.
Like all feminism, the Fourth Wave is not a single entity because it means different things to different people. However, the essential characteristics that the online magazine Bustle identified in 2015 remain true for numerous followers of the fourth wave, namely queer, sexually liberal, trans-inclusive, body-positive, and digitally promoted. The fourth wave began to hold the most powerful men in society accountable for their behavior. It began to radically criticize systems of power that allow women to be attacked with impunity.
As the fourth wave fortifies its standing and the #Metoo flash mob persists, humanity acknowledges that the fourth wave’s most significant barrier is its precursors, the feminists of the second wave. It is inaccurate to think of the #Metoo controversy as a generational war between feminists. It is more reasonable to consider this struggle as furious disagreements between different strands, which history will eventually smooth down to one overarching wave of discussion.
The focus of conventional feminism is on discursive structures that determine conceptions of self and other people. In contrast, for second-wave feminism, the primary manifestation of discrimination was the actual obstacles experienced by women in everyday life. The root cause of gender inequality is that thinking is subject to binary oppositions that divide masculinity and femininity, reason and emotion, gender norms, and deviance. Building flexible, floaty queer subjectivities is one way to resist this matrix.
From this, one can conclude that the second wave of feminism and traditional feminism is significantly different. However, they are united by the common goal of equal rights and opportunities for women since they are the most frequent victims of gender discrimination. Thus, it is possible to identify the theses shared by all waves. Among them:
- objection of patriarchy, which is founded on the honor of the bodily essence of males and females but takes into account psychological facets;
- the necessity to enhance the friendly standing of women;
- the disparity between females themselves, which actualizes the socio-historical course.
Conclusion
There have been many radical and progressive, liberal and moderate, women throughout the history of feminism. It is rich with divisive and reactionary counteracting movements. It is part and parcel of an intellectual tradition and a social movement. Nowadays, feminism operates with incredible, glorious force. Instead of destroying their kind, feminists should recognize the tremendous work that followers of each wave have done and be willing to continue their work.
It is crucial to remember that classifying feminism into waves is a convention, an effort to organize and define a nuanced and complicated phenomenon. Each wave contains a robust internal development that needs to be understood in the context of the specific society. The waves of feminism should not be viewed as an evolutionary, linear progression.
Speaking of alternate and opposing viewpoints used to study the same contemporary situations is frequently more relevant. For instance, prostitution is criticized within the second wave of feminism as an extreme type of objectification and exploitation of women. At the same time, traditional feminism is characterized by the desire to abandon the stigmatization of this type of employment. It discusses sex employment, which is an entirely open professional option for both males and females.