Misplaced Pages

Part of a series on
Feminism
History Feminist history History of feminism Women's history American British Canadian German Waves First Second Third Fourth Timelines Women's suffrage Muslim countries US Other women's rights Women's suffrage by country Austria Australia Canada Colombia India Japan Kuwait Liechtenstein New Zealand Spain Second Republic Francoist Switzerland United Kingdom Cayman Islands Wales United States states
Intersectional variants Fat Lesbian Lesbian of color Radical lesbianism Separatist Sex-positive Transfeminism Postgenderism Vegetarian ecofeminism Socialist Anarchist Queer Jineology Marxist Critical theory Standpoint Materialist Ecofeminist Postcolonial Global Transnational Xenofeminism Multicultural Africana womanism Black Hip hop Lesbian Ratchet Chicana Lesbian Indigenous Native American Multiracial Romani Womanism
Other variants Anti-abortion Equity Femonationalism Maternal Postfeminism Reactionary State Carceral Imperial Embedded Gender-critical or trans-exclusionary Victim White
Religious variants Atheist Buddhist Christian Mormon New Womanist Asian Neopagan Dianic Wicca Reclaiming Ecofeminist Hindu Islamic Jewish Orthodox Sikh
Movements and ideologies 4B movement Analytical Anti-fascist Anti-pornography Cyberfeminism HCI Networked Difference Cultural Neo Ecofeminism Eugenic Individualist Lipstick Stiletto Liberal Equality Social Labor Libertarian Post-structural Postmodern Radical Political lesbianism Separatist Technofeminism Women's liberation
Concepts Antinaturalism Choice feminism Cognitive labor Complementarianism Literature Children's literature Diversity (politics) Diversity, equity, and inclusion Effects on society Equality Female education Female genital mutilation Femicide Femonationalism Feminism in culture Feminist movement African-American women's suffrage movement Art movement In hip hop Feminist stripper Formal equality Gender equality Gender quota Girl power Honor killing Ideal womanhood Invisible labor Internalized sexism International Girl's Day and Women's Day Language reform Feminist capitalism Gender-blind Likeability trap Male privilege Matriarchal religion Media Men in feminism Misogyny Trans Oedipus complex Opposition to feminism Pro-feminism Protofeminism Purplewashing Racism Reproductive justice Sex workers' rights Sexual harassment Sexual objectification Substantive equality Toxic masculinity Transmisogyny Triple oppression Violence against women War on women Women's empowerment Women-only space Women's health Women's rights Women in the workforce
Outlooks Bicycling and feminism Criticism of marriage Views on BDSM Views on pornography Views on prostitution Views on sexual orientation Views on sexuality Views on transgender topics SCUM Manifesto
Theory Feminist method Gender studies Gender mainstreaming Gynocentrism Kyriarchy Male gaze Matriarchy Women's studies Men's studies Patriarchy Écriture féminine Areas of study Anthropology Archaeology Architecture Art Art criticism Literary criticism Film theory Science fiction Biology Composition studies Criminology Pathways perspective Economics FDPA Geography International relations Constructivism Legal theory Pedagogy Philosophy Aesthetics Empiricism Epistemology Ethics Justice ethics Existentialism Metaphysics science Political ecology Political theory Pornography Psychology Therapy Revisionist mythology Sex wars Sexology Sociology Technoscience Theology womanist theology
By continent/country Africa Democratic Republic of the Congo Egypt Ethiopia Ghana Mali Nigeria Senegal South Africa Albania Australia Bangladesh Canada China Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Republic of Ireland Israel Italy Japan Latin America Argentina Brazil Chile Haiti Honduras Mexico Paraguay Trinidad and Tobago Lebanon Malaysia Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Northern Cyprus Norway Pakistan Philippines Poland Russia Saudi Arabia South Korea Sweden Syria Taiwan Thailand Turkey Vietnam Ukraine United Kingdom United States History of women
Lists and categories Lists Articles Feminists by nationality Literature American feminist literature Feminist comic books Feminist songs Conservative feminisms Ecofeminist authors Feminist art critics Feminist economists Feminist philosophers Feminist poets Feminist rhetoricians Jewish feminists Muslim feminists Feminist parties Suffragists and suffragettes Women's rights activists Women's studies journals Women's suffrage organizations Categories Women's rights by country Feminists by nationality
Feminism portal
v t e

Feminism is aimed at defining, establishing, and defending a state of equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women. It has had a massive influence on American politics. Feminism in the United States is often divided chronologically into first-wave, second-wave, third-wave, and fourth-wave feminism.

As of 2023, the United States is ranked 17th in the world on gender equality.

Timeline

First-wave feminism

The first wave of feminism in the United States began with the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention, held at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19 and 20, 1848.

The Seneca Falls Convention was inspired by the experiences of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840. The conference refused to seat Mott and other women delegates from America because of their gender. Stanton, the young bride of an antislavery agent, and Mott, a Quaker preacher and veteran of reform, talked of calling a convention to address the condition and treatment of women.

An estimated three hundred people attended the convention, including notables Lucretia Mott and Frederick Douglass. At the conclusion, 68 women and 32 men signed the Declaration of Sentiments, which was written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the M'Clintock family.

The Declaration of Sentiments was written in the style and format of the Declaration of Independence. For example, the Declaration of Sentiments stated, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men and women are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights." The Declaration further stated, "The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation on the part of man towards woman."

The declaration went on to specify female grievances in regard to the laws denying married women ownership of wages, money, and property. Women were required to turn these things over to their husbands; the laws requiring this in effect throughout America were called coverture laws. A women's lack of access to education and professional careers, and the low status accorded to women in most churches was also addressed. Furthermore, the Declaration declared that women should have the right to vote.

Some of the participants at the Seneca Falls Convention organized the Rochester Women's Rights Convention two weeks later on August 2 in Rochester, New York. It was followed by other state and local conventions in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. The first National Woman's Rights Convention was held in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1850. Women's rights conventions were then held regularly from 1850 until the start of the Civil War.

The American women's suffrage movement began with the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention; many of the activists became politically aware during the abolitionist movement. The movement reorganized after the Civil War, gaining experienced campaigners, many of whom had worked for prohibition in the Women's Christian Temperance Union. By the end of the 19th century only a few western states had granted women full voting rights, though women had made other significant legal victories, gaining rights in areas such as property and child custody.

In 1866, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the American Equal Rights Association, an organization for white and black women and men dedicated to the goal of suffrage for all. In 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was passed, this was the first Amendment to ever specify the voting population as "male". In 1869 the women's rights movement split into two factions as a result of disagreements over the Fourteenth and soon-to-be-passed Fifteenth Amendments, with the two factions not reuniting until 1890. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the more radical, New York-based National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe organized the more conservative American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), which was centered in Boston. In 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment enfranchised black men. NWSA refused to work for its ratification, arguing, instead, that it be "scrapped" in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment providing universal suffrage. Frederick Douglass broke with Stanton and Anthony over NWSA's position.

In 1869 Wyoming became the first territory or state in America to grant women suffrage. In 1870 Louisa Ann Swain became the first woman in the United States to vote in a general election. She cast her ballot on September 6, 1870, in Laramie, Wyoming.

From 1870 to 1875 several women, including Virginia Louisa Minor, Victoria Woodhull, and Myra Bradwell, attempted to use the Fourteenth Amendment in the courts to secure the vote (Minor and Woodhull) or the right to practice law (Bradwell), and they were all unsuccessful. In 1872 Susan B. Anthony was arrested and brought to trial in Rochester, New York, for attempting to vote for Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential election; she was convicted and fined $100 and the costs of her prosecution but refused to pay. At the same time, Sojourner Truth appeared at a polling booth in Battle Creek, Michigan, demanding a ballot; she was turned away. Also in 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to run for president, although she could not vote and only received a few votes, losing to Ulysses S. Grant. She was nominated to run by the Equal Rights Party, and advocated the 8-hour work day, graduated income tax, social welfare programs, and profit sharing, among other positions. In 1874 the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded by Annie Wittenmyer to work for the prohibition of alcohol; with Frances Willard at its head (starting in 1876), the WCTU also became an important force in the fight for women's suffrage. In 1878 a woman suffrage amendment was first introduced in the United States Congress, but it did not pass. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote; the first wave of feminism is considered to have ended with that victory.

Margaret Higgins Sanger, was one of the first American birth control activists. She was also a sex educator, writer, and nurse. She popularized the term "birth control", opened the first birth control clinic in the United States in 1916, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Post World War II feminism

World War II led to an increase in women in the workforce and pushed women into breadwinning jobs in traditionally male spheres. From 1940 to 1945, the number of women in the workforce went from 28% to 37%. The lack of men at home led to many women taking industrial jobs: by 1943, 1/3 of the workers in Boeing's Seattle factory were women. According to historian Jane Marcellus, women experienced a never before seen shift in public praise, as they were commended as being competent and intelligent. This is exemplified in media such as Rosie the Riveter's 'We Can Do It!' Slogan and the 1941 creation of Wonder Woman. This influx of women into the workforce and the media's positive portrayal of them led to many women seeing more routes to take than housewife.

However, this narrow definition of female empowerment was exclusive and not intended to be long-lasting. Women of color were the last to be considered for high paying industrial jobs. African American women were stuck doing domestic work for $3-$7 a week compared to white women earning up to $40 a week in factories. Furthermore, propaganda such as Rosie the Riveter presented a narrow view of working women: white, beautiful, and motivated by patriotism rather than economic necessity. For women of color and working-class women, World War II did not change their economic or societal position. Many of the women joining the workforce returned to the domestic sphere after the war. Workplace periodicals such as Bo'sn's Whistle framed women in sexual language and as oddities in the male industrial sphere.

Yet after World War II, the 1946 Congress of American Women's "Position of the American Woman Today" advocated for the rights of black and minority women. After serving together in factories, white feminism began to embrace intersectionality in the wake of World War II. A growing body of literature illustrates that there was no substantial long-run wage for women in this time. However, the incremental gains in income and societal status that women of color made during the 1940s had long-term effects on feminist thought. By 1950, the wage gap between white and African American females narrowed by 15%.

Opposition to domestic roles began to crop up in the late 1940s as more women were encouraged to become housewives. Edith Stern's 1949 essay, "Women are Household Slaves", emerged as an early preface to second-wave feminist thought. Stern argued that "as long as the institution of housewifery in its present form persists, both ideologically and practically it blocks any true liberation of women". She compared the position of women to that of sharecroppers and spoke out against the emotional and intellectual dissatisfaction of American women. Stern's essay was one of the first arguments that addressed female liberation in the context of the domestic sphere.

However, the 1950s did witness a return to traditional gender roles and values. The number of women in the workforce decreased from 37% to 32% by 1950 due to women giving up their jobs for men returning from war. The media also emphasized the domestic role of women rather than encouraging women to work as it had just a decade earlier. By 1956, 67% of American families had a television compared to just 6% in 1949. Characters such as June Cleaver in "Leave it to Beaver" glorified female characters as subservient housewives to a large, influenceable audience of American women.

However, according to Anna Lebovic, women's magazines such as Vogue in the 1950s set up the groundwork for second wave feminism by advocating for self-actualization and individuality of women. Similarly, 1951 surveys conducted on women who had previously worked at or did work in factories showed that women were expressing irritation with workplace discrimination. Specifically, 75% stated that they wanted to remain in their industry and expressed dissatisfaction that it was difficult to pursue careers such as "sales, academia, or journalism".

Despite the fact that the 1950s were characterized as a return to the domestic sphere for women, there are examples that the labor women conducted during World War II set the stage for the second wave feminism of the 1960s. College reunions in the 1950s, which inspired Betty Friedan's landmark "The Feminine Mystique" were hotbeds for middle-class women to vent about their boredom working at home and by doing so discover shared irritations at the "drudgery" of being a housewife. While the 1940s and 1950s did not entirely foster a new wave of feminism or a substantive amount of feminist literature, this time period did lay some foundations for future feminist thought.

Second-wave feminism

Second-wave feminism in the United States began in the early 1960s. Throughout most of the 60's and ending in 1970, second wave feminism commonly followed the motto, "the personal is political". In 1963 Betty Friedan, influenced by The Second Sex, wrote the bestselling book The Feminine Mystique in which she explicitly objected to the mainstream media image of women, stating that placing women at home limited their possibilities, and wasted talent and potential. The perfect nuclear family image depicted and strongly marketed at the time, she wrote, did not reflect happiness and was rather degrading for women. This book is widely credited with having begun second-wave feminism in the United States.

Also in 1963, freelance journalist Gloria Steinem gained widespread popularity among feminists after a diary she authored while working undercover as a Playboy Bunny waitress at the Playboy Club was published as a two-part feature in the May and June issues of Show. Steinem alleged the club was mistreating its waitresses in order to gain male customers and exploited the Playboy Bunnies as symbols of male chauvinism, noting that the club's manual instructed the Bunnies that "there are many pleasing ways they can employ to stimulate the club's liquor volume." By 1968, Steinem had become arguably the most influential figure in the movement and support for legalized abortion and free day care had become the two leading objectives for feminists.

The movement grew with legal victories such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which banned sex discrimination in employment), and the Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court ruling of 1965 (which legalized birth control for married couples). In 1966 Betty Friedan joined other women and men to found the National Organization for Women (NOW); Friedan would be named as the organization's first president. Among the most significant legal victories of the movement in the late 1960s after the formation of NOW in 1966 were a 1967 Executive Order extending full affirmative action rights to women, Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972), in which the Supreme Court ruled that unmarried people had the same right to birth control as married people, and the legalization of no-fault divorce (although not legalized in all states until 2010).

The movement picked up more victories in the 1970s. The Title X Family Planning Program, officially known as Public Law 91-572 or "Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs" was enacted under President Richard Nixon in 1970 as part of the Public Health Service Act; it is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. The Supreme Court case Reed v. Reed (1971), was the case in which the Supreme Court for the first time applied the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to strike down a law that discriminated against women. Also, while the Equal Pay Act of 1963 did not originally cover executives, administrators, outside salespeople, and professionals, the Education Amendments of 1972 amended it so that it does. Also in 1972, the Supreme Court case Eisenstadt v Baird legalized birth control for unmarried people. Also that year Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 outlawed sex discrimination in public schools and public colleges. In 1973 the Roe v Wade Supreme Court case legalized abortion. In 1974 the Equal Credit Opportunity Act criminalized sex discrimination by creditors against credit applicants. Also in 1974 sex was added as a protected class under the Fair Housing Act, thus illegalizing sex discrimination in housing. Also in 1974 the Women's Educational Equity Act was enacted. The criminalization of marital rape in the United States started in the mid-1970s and by 1993 marital rape became a crime in all 50 states, under at least one section of the sexual offense codes. In 1978 the Pregnancy Discrimination Act was enacted; it is a United States federal statute which amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to "prohibit sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy".

A major disappointment of the second-wave feminist movement in the United States was President Nixon's 1972 veto of the Comprehensive Child Development Bill of 1972, which would have provided a multibillion-dollar national day care system.

The feminist movement in the late 1970s, led by NOW, briefly attempted a program to help older divorced and widowed women. Many widows were ineligible for Social Security benefits, few divorcees actually received any alimony, and after a career as a housewife, few had skills to enter the labor force. The program, however, encountered sharp criticism from young activists who gave priority to poor minority women rather than the middle class. By 1980, NOW downplayed the program as it focused almost exclusively on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative leader, moved into the vacuum. She denounced the feminists for abandoning older middle-class widows and divorcees in need, and warned that ERA would equalize the laws for the benefit of men, stripping protections that older women urgently needed.

The main disappointment of the second wave feminist movement in the United States was the failure to ratify the federal Equal Rights Amendment. It states, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." The deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment expired in 1982.

Although the United States signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1980, it has never been ratified.

Many historians view the second wave feminist era in America as ending in the early 1980s with the Feminist Sex Wars, a split within the movement over issues such as sexuality and pornography. These disputes ushered in the era of third-wave feminism in the early 1990s.

Commercial sex work

In San Francisco in 1973, Call Off Your Tired Old Ethics (COYOTE) was formed to be the first American sex workers' rights organization. Started by Margo St. James, a self-proclaimed feminist and sex worker, COYOTE worked to give sex workers basic occupational rights and sexual self-determination. That same year, the National Organization for Women (NOW) drafted a resolution in support of COYOTE, calling for the decriminalization of prostitution. After this, COYOTE and NOW worked together to fight to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which ultimately did not pass.

In 1978, the first feminist conference on the pornography industry was held in San Francisco. The next year, more than 5,000 women marched in Times Square against pornography, cementing the anti-pornography feminist movement. Anti-pornography feminists viewed porn as the graphic and sexually explicit way that men subordinated and dehumanized women. They blamed pornography for much of the rape, prostitution, and assault present in the United States. In 1983, an anti-porn ordinance, written and proposed by Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, was drafted in the Minneapolis City Council. Ultimately, the ordinance was defeated by a group of people who felt that the way anti-pornography feminists painted the effects of pornography was inherently sexist and made women, especially sex workers, seem as though they were incapable of giving consent. The backlash from the anti-porn movement resulted in a faction of feminists who called themselves "fuck me feminists". These were women who empowered themselves by reclaiming the sexual objectification and exploitation that had always been used against them. While this seems like an inherently pro-sex work view to have, many "fuck me feminists" viewed sex workers as being victims or being oppressed; so, they were unable to truly choose what happened to their bodies.

By 1985, support for prostitution and sex workers in the United States, especially by the feminists movement, hit a major decline. This was, in part, because of the divided views on the subject held by members of the feminist movement. The dominant point of view, one held by the U.S. Prostitutes Collective and Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt (WHISPER), supported decriminalization as an interim measure, but ultimately believe in the abolition of prostitution.

Different feminist views on sex work

There are many different factions within the feminist movement, and each faction took its own stance on the issue of sex work.

Marxist feminists believe that prostitution is a result of capitalism, and therefore, sex workers are exploited by the ruling class, whether that is the pimp or the patriarchy. Marxist feminists believe that prostitutes symbolize the value of women in society, and how a woman's worth is measured in her social, sexual, and economic subordination. Marxist feminists fall into the abolition faction of feminists, and they view abolition of prostitution as an integral pillar to the eventual overthrowing of the patriarchy.

The domination theory feminists believe the root of oppression of women rests in sexuality, and sexuality is a thing to be stolen, sold, bought, bartered, or exchanged by men. Dominant theory feminists view prostitution not as an industry, but, rather, as a state in which all women find themselves. Because they view all sexual intercourse as violent and victimizing to women, dominant theory feminists believe in the abolition of sex work.

Liberal feminists tend to be split between the argument of whether all sex work is degrading to women, and the argument that sex work is work, and should be treated as such. Either way, liberal feminists believe in the legalization of sex work, as criminalization prohibits women's ability to control their own bodies.

Radical sexual-pluralist theory feminists reject the binaries through which other feminists view the world. They do not view the world as having goods and bads, or normal and deviants, as it creates binaries where one form of thinking is praised, and another is condemned. When it comes to sex work, radical sexual-pluralist theory feminists do not have a specific opinion on legalization. Instead, they believe sex workers should speak out against their own marginalization created by the binary, and that feminists should take sex workers opinions and experiences into account when forming their own.

Because of the many divisions within the feminist movement on the topic of sex work, big organizations like NOW preferred to focus on more universal women's rights issues such as abortion. While still controversial, reproductive rights are much less nuanced and leave feminists divided into just two or so divisions, instead of many. Additionally, reproductive rights made an impact on every single woman in this country, instead of one group of women, which made it more appealing for large organizations.

Sex workers and feminist safe spaces

Feminists were not always welcoming to sex workers, even feminists who supported the decriminalization or legalization of sex work. They created safe spaces for women, especially lesbian women, where feminists could talk and be themselves. The ability to be comfortable with their bodies and sexualities was extremely important in these safe spaces, and women often danced together, sometimes taking their tops off as an expression of comfort with their femininity. Despite the purpose of these places being safe spaces for women, it was made very clear that these places were not meant to be lewd, meaning somewhere men could pick up women to have sex, paid or not. Because of the stigma associated with sex workers, especially with multiple sex workers frequenting the same place, sex workers were not generally accepted in these feminist safe spaces as the women felt it infringed on their comfort. Though never technically banned, sex workers felt isolated within these spaces and tended to avoid them.

Third-wave feminism

Third-wave feminism in the United States began in the early 1990s. In 1991, Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas, a man nominated to the United States Supreme Court, of sexual harassment. Thomas denied the accusations and, after extensive debate, the United States Senate voted 52–48 in favor of Thomas. In 1992, in response to the Anita Hill sexual harassment case, American feminist Rebecca Walker published an article in Ms. Magazine entitled "Becoming the Third Wave" in which she stated, "I am not a post-feminism feminist. I am the third-wave," which coined the term "third wave". Also in 1992 Third Wave Direct Action Corporation was founded by the American feminists Rebecca Walker and Shannon Liss (now Shannon Liss-Riordan) as a multiracial, multicultural, multi-issue organization to support young activists. The organization's initial mission was to fill a void in young women's leadership and to mobilize young people to become more involved socially and politically in their communities.

In the early 1990s, the riot grrrl movement began in Olympia, Washington and Washington, D.C.; it sought to give women the power to control their voices and artistic expressions. However, Riot grrrl's emphasis on universal female identity and separatism often appears more closely allied with second-wave feminism than with the third wave. Third-wave feminists sought to question, reclaim, and redefine the ideas, words, and media that have transmitted ideas about gender, gender roles, womanhood, beauty, and sexuality, among other things. Third-wave feminism saw many new feminist icons such as Madonna, Queen Latifah, Angelina Jolie, Emma Watson, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga, as well as fictional characters such as Buffy and Mulan. Third-wave feminists also used the Internet and other modern technology to enhance their movement, which allowed for information and organization to reach a larger audience. This larger audience also expanded to many male celebrities such as Aziz Ansari and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The increasing ease of publishing on the Internet meant that e-zines (electronic magazines) and blogs became ubiquitous. Many serious independent writers, not to mention organizations, found that the Internet offered a forum for the exchange of information and the publication of essays and videos that made their point to a potentially huge audience. The Internet radically democratized the content of the feminist movement with respect to participants, aesthetics, and issues.

— Laura Brunell, 2008 Britannica Book of the Year

Through the 1980s and 1990s, this trend continued as musicologists like Susan McClary and Marcia Citron began to consider the cultural reasons for the marginalizing of women from the received body of work. Concepts such as music as gendered discourse; professionalism; reception of women's music; examination of the sites of music production; relative wealth and education of women; popular music studies in relation to women's identity; patriarchal ideas in music analysis; and notions of gender and difference are among the themes examined during this time.

Fourth-wave feminism

Fourth-wave feminism refers to a resurgence of interest in feminism that began around 2012 and is associated with the use of social media. According to feminist scholar Prudence Chamberlain, the focus of the fourth wave is justice for women and opposition to sexual harassment and violence against women. Its essence, she writes, is "incredulity that certain attitudes can still exist".

Fourth-wave feminism is "defined by technology" according to Kira Cochrane, and it is characterized particularly by the use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, and blogs such as Feministing to challenge misogyny and further gender equality. Fourth-wave feminism can be further defined by its focus on intersectionality and broadening views on gender-identity.

Issues that fourth-wave feminists focus on include street and workplace harassment, campus sexual assault and rape culture. Scandals involving the harassment, abuse, and murder of women and girls have galvanized the movement. In the United States, these have included the Bill Cosby sexual assault cases, the 2014 Isla Vista killings, and the 2017 Harvey Weinstein allegations, which kickstarted the American Me Too movement and led to similar movements worldwide.

Examples of fourth-wave feminist campaigns in the United States include Mattress Performance, The Time's Up Now movement, and 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman.

Criticism

Racism in feminism

Critics of mainstream feminist discourse point to the white-washed historical narrative that omits and/or minimizes the roles played by women of color within and without the feminist movement, as well as the differing obstacles faced by women of color. Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, a key figure in the early feminist movement, faced opposition from white feminist leaders such as Rebecca Latimer Felton and Frances Willard, who saw the feminist movement as an Anglo Saxon pursuit and built their rhetoric on white supremacy: "The Anglo-Saxon race," Willard wrote, "will never submit to be dominated by the Negro so long as his altitude reaches no higher than the personal liberty of the saloon."

By the 1970s and 1980s, African-American women had developed a social consciousness by publicly voicing dissatisfaction with black women's representation in feminist discourse. In 1981, feminist and essayist Audre Lorde stated: "What woman here is so enamored of her own oppression that she cannot see her heel print upon another woman's face? What woman's terms of oppression have become precious and necessary to her as a ticket into the fold of the righteous, away from the cold winds of self-scrutiny? ... We welcome all women who can meet us, face to face, beyond objectification and beyond guilt." In 1989, Black scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality in her essay "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics." Crenshaw argued that discrimination against Black women is a combination of racism and sexism and is thus difficult to fit into one category or the other. She stated, "The goal of this activity should be to facilitate the inclusion of marginalized groups for whom it can be said: "When they enter, we all enter."

See also

• Abortion in the United States
• Betty Friedan
• Birth control movement in the United States
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Feminist art movement in the United States
• Feminist Majority Foundation
• Feminist movements and ideologies
• Feminism of Madonna
• Gender equality
• Gloria Steinem
• Goddess movement
• Go Topless Day
• Homeless women in the United States
• List of women's rights conventions in the United States
• Married Women's Property Acts in the United States
• Margaret Sanger
• Nevertheless, she persisted
• Radical Women
• Reproductive rights
• Roe v. Wade
• Sexism
• Sex-positive feminism
• Timeline of feminism in the United States
• Violence Against Women Act
• Woman's club movement in the United States
• Women's education in the United States
• Women's health movement in the United States
• Women in the United States Prohibition movement
• Women's suffrage in the United States
• Women's Equality Day

References

1. "Feminism – Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
2. "Definition of feminism noun from Cambridge Dictionary Online: Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus". dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
3. ^ Engel, Kerilynn. "What Are the Three Waves of Feminism?". Answers. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
4. ^ Cochrane, Kira (10 December 2013). "The Fourth Wave of Feminism: Meet the Rebel Women". The Guardian.
5. "These Countries Have the Most Gender Equality". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
6. Keller, Rosemary Skinner; Ruether, Rosemary Radford; Cantlon, Marie (2006). Encyclopedia of women and religion ... – Google Books. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253346865. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
7. ^ "seneca falls". Npg.si.edu. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
8. ^ "The Susan B. Anthony Center for Women's Leadership :: Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton". Rochester.edu. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
9. ^ "Women's Rights National Historical Park – Women's Rights Movement (U.S. National Park Service)". Nps.gov. August 17, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
10. "Legacy '98: A Short History of the Movement". Legacy98.org. September 19, 2001. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
11. Rebecca J. Mead, How the Vote Was Won: Woman Suffrage in the Western United States, 1868–1914 (2006)
12. Glenda Riley, Inventing the American Woman: An Inclusive History (2001)
13. ^ "Votes for Women: Timeline". Memory.loc.gov. August 26, 1920. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
14. Wyoming grants women the vote — History.com This Day in History — 12/10/1869
15. Beeton, Beverly (1986). Women vote in the West: the Woman Suffrage Movement, 1869–1896. New York: Garland Science. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-8240-8251-2.
16. Danilov, Victor J. (2005). Women and museums: a comprehensive guide. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7591-0854-7.
17. Linder, Doug. "The Susan B. Anthony Trial: A Chronology". Law.umkc.edu. Archived from the original on October 21, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
18. "The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : The First Woman to Run for President ... 50 Years Ago?". Loc.gov. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
19. "Who Is Victoria Woodhull?". Victoria-woodhull.com. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
20. "Featured Document: The 19th Amendment". Archives.gov. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
21. ^ "How World War II Empowered Women - HISTORY". www.history.com. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
22. Wayne, Tiffany (2019). Women's Rights in the United States: A comprehensive encyclopedia of issues, events and people. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC. pp. 33–343. ISBN 9781610692151.
23. ^ Marcellus, Jane (2005). "Bo's'n's Whistle': Representing "Rosie the Riveter" on the Job". American Journalism. 22 (2): 83–108. doi:10.1080/08821127.2005.10677641. S2CID 153254189.
24. ^ Honey, Maureen (2003). Creating Rosie the Riveter: class, gender, and propaganda during World War II. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. pp. 83–108. ISBN 1-122-05179-4.
25. ^ Mullenbach, Cheryl (2013). Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. pp. 5–38. ISBN 978-1-56976-808-2.
26. Congress of American Women (2015). "The Position of the American Woman Today". Women's Rights in the United States: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Issues, Events, and People. 3: 329–330 – via Ebook Central.
27. Bailey, Martha J.; Collins, William J. (September 2006). "The Wage Gains of African-American Women in the 1940s". The Journal of Economic History. 66 (3): 737–777. doi:10.1017/S0022050706000313. hdl:1803/29. ISSN 1471-6372. S2CID 5664421.
28. ^ "'Only a Housewife'", Sentenced to Everyday Life : Feminism and the Housewife, Bloomsbury Academic, 2004, doi:10.5040/9781474215473.ch-001, ISBN 978-1-84520-031-2, retrieved 2020-10-19
29. ^ Stern, Edith (1949). "Women are Household Slaves". American Mercury. 68: 71–76 – via ProQuest.
30. McDermott, Annette. "How World War II Empowered Women". HISTORY. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
31. ^ Lebovic, Anna (2019). "Refashioning Feminism: American Vogue, the Second Wave, and the Transition to Postfeminism". Journal of Women's History. 31: 109–132. doi:10.1353/jowh.2019.0005. S2CID 151058572.
32. Laura Katz Olson. (2003). Whatever Happened to June Cleaver? The Fifties Mom Turns Eighty. Race, Gender & Class (Towson, Md.), 10(1), 129–143.
33. ^ Wayne, Tiffany (2014). Women's Rights in the United States : A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Issues, Events, and People. ABC-CLIO. p. 339. ISBN 9781610692144.
34. "Second Wave Feminist". Association of Women Professionals. Jan 2014. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
35. Epstein, Cynthia Fuchs. 1988. Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender, and the Social Order. New Haven: Yale University Press
36. Sweet, Corinne (February 7, 2006). "Betty Friedan". The Independent. London.
37. ^ Farber, David (2004). The Sixties Chronicle. Legacy Publishing. p. 150. ISBN 141271009X.
38. Farber, David (2004). The Sixties Chronicle. Legacy Publishing. p. 377. ISBN 141271009X.
39. Hornig, Lilli S. (Jan 1, 1979). Climbing the Academic Ladder: Doctoral Women Scientists in Academe : a Report to the Office of Science and Technology Policy from the Committee on the Education and Employment of Women in Science and Engineering, Commission on Human Resources, National Research Council. Washington DC: National Academy of Sciences. p. 135. ISBN 0309028809.
40. ^ "Teaching With Documents: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission". National Archives and Records Administration Website. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
41. "Griswold v. Connecticut, The Impact of Legal Birth Control and the Challenges that Remain". Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Katharine Dexter McCormick Library. May 2000. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
42. Farber, David (2004). The Sixties Chronicle. Legacy Publishing. p. 256. ISBN 141271009X.
43. Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972)
44. McCarthy, Angie (November 14, 2011). "Reed v. Reed at 40: A Landmark Decision". National Women's Law Center (NWLC). Retrieved July 12, 2014.
45. U.S. News & World Report, Vol. 73, p. 69
46. Climbing the Academic Ladder: Doctoral Women Scientists in Academe, a Report to the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Washington DC: National Academies and The Committee on the Education and Employment of Women in Science and Engineering, Commission on Human Resources, National Research Council. 1979. p. 135. ISBN 9780309028806. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
47. Dunlap, Bridgette (March 22, 2013). "Eisenstadt v. Baird: The 41st Anniversary of Legal Contraception for Single People". RH Reality Check. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
48. Greenhouse, Linda (February 27, 1992). "Court opens path for student suits in sex-bias cases". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
49. "Abortion Rate in 1994 Hit a 20-Year Low". The New York Times. January 5, 1997. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
50. "President Ford '76 Fact Book, Women". Gerald R. Ford Library. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
51. "The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, by the United States Department of Justice". United States Department of Justice. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
52. "1968: Federal Fair Housing Act". bostonfairhousing.org. The Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
53. Text of the Act from the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
54. Cohen, Nancy L. (24 April 2013). "Child Care: America was very close to universal day care - New Republic". New Republic. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
55. Roth, William. The Politics of Daycare: The Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971. Discussion Papers 369-76. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, DC., 1976.
56. Rosenberg, Rosalind. Divided Lives: American Women in the Twentieth Century. New York: Hill and Wang, 1992.
57. Lisa Levenstein, "'Don't Agonize, Organize!': The Displaced Homemakers Campaign and the Contested Goals of Postwar Feminism." Journal of American History (2014) 100#4: 1114-1138. online
58. "The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers for Women". tavaana.org. E-Collaborative for Civic Education. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
59. "The Equal Rights Amendment Unfinished Business for the Constitution". www.equalrightsamendment.org. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
60. "Social Revolution and the Equal Rights Amendment". Retrieved 27 November 2014.
61. "UNTC". Treaties.un.org. Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
62. Duggan, Lisa; Hunter, Nan D. (1995). Sex wars: sexual dissent and political culture. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-91036-6.
63. Hansen, Karen Tranberg; Philipson, Ilene J. (1990). Women, class, and the feminist imagination: a socialist-feminist reader. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-630-X.
64. Gerhard, Jane F. (2001). Desiring revolution: second-wave feminism and the rewriting of American sexual thought, 1920 to 1982. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11204-1.
65. Leidholdt, Dorchen; Raymond, Janice G (1990). The Sexual liberals and the attack on feminism. New York: Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-037457-3.
66. Vance, Carole S (1989). Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality. Thorsons Publishers. ISBN 0-04-440593-6.
67. ^ Weitzer, Ronald (1991). "Prostitutes' Rights in the United States: The Failure of a Movement". The Sociological Quarterly. 32 (1): 23–41. doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.1991.tb00343.x. ISSN 0038-0253. JSTOR 4121439.
68. ^ Whisnant, Rebecca; Mantilla, Karla (2007). "Pornography and Pop Culture: Backlash And a Feminism that is Contrary to Feminism". Off Our Backs. 37 (1): 58–61. ISSN 0030-0071. JSTOR 20838776.
69. ^ Kahn, Karen (1995). Frontline feminism 1975-1995: essays from Sojourner's first 20 years. Aunt Lute Books. ISBN 1-879960-43-5. OCLC 33014111.
70. ^ Beloso, Brooke Meredith (2012-09-01). "Sex, Work, and the Feminist Erasure of Class". Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 38 (1): 47–70. doi:10.1086/665808. ISSN 0097-9740. S2CID 144512425.
71. ^ Robinson, Cynthia Cole (2007). "CHAPTER TWO: Feminist Theory and Prostitution". Counterpoints. 302: 21–36. ISSN 1058-1634. JSTOR 42979426.
72. ^ Critchlow, Donald T. (2020). In Defense of Populism: Protest and American Democracy. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-5276-7. JSTOR j.ctv16qjz6b.
73. ^ Enke, Anne (2003). "Smuggling Sex through the Gates: Race, Sexuality, and the Politics of Space in Second Wave Feminism". American Quarterly. 55 (4): 635–667. doi:10.1353/aq.2003.0038. ISSN 0003-0678. JSTOR 30041999. S2CID 145331696.
74. Dicker, Rory (2008). A History of U.S. Feminisms. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press. ASIN B004KPLWGM.
75. ^ Dicker, Piepmeier; Rory, Alison, eds. (2003). Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century. Boston, MA: Northeastern. ISBN 978-1555535704.
76. Walker, Rebecca (1995). To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism. New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 978-0-385-47262-3. OCLC 32274323.
77. Heywood, Leslie; Drake, Jennifer, eds. (1997). Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-3005-9. OCLC 36876149.
78. Gillis, Stacy; Howie, Gillian; Munford, Rebecca (2004). Third Wave Feminism: A Critical Exploration. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-1821-5. OCLC 54454680.
79. Rebecca, Walker (January 1992). "Becoming the Third Wave". Ms. New York: Liberty Media for Women: 39–41. ISSN 0047-8318. OCLC 194419734.
80. Third Wave Foundation. "History". Third Wave Foundation. Archived from the original on 2012-10-07. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
81. Rowe-Finkbeiner, Kristin (2004). The F-Word. Emeryville: Seal Press. ISBN 978-1-58005-114-9. OCLC 55504351.
82. Rosenberg, Jessica; Garofalo, Gitana (1998). "Riot Grrrl: Revolutions from Within". Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 23 (3: Feminisms and Youth Cultures). University of Chicago Press: 809–841. doi:10.1086/495289. ISSN 0097-9740. OCLC 486795617. S2CID 144109102.
83. ^ Brunell, Laura (May 13, 2007). "Feminism (sociology)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
84. Brunell, Laura (2008). "Feminism Re-Imagined: The Third Wave." 2008 Britannica Book of the Year. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
85. Chamberlain, Prudence (2017). The Feminist Fourth Wave: Affective Temporality, pg. 115,. Palgrave Macmillan.
86. Solomon, Deborah (13 November 2009). "The Blogger and Author on the Life of Women Online". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
87. Zerbisias, Antonia (16 September 2015). "Feminism's Fourth Wave is the Shitlist". NOW Toronto. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
88. "Special Issue: Gender Revolution". National Geographic. Retrieved 2023-01-13.
89. Maclaran, Pauline (2015). "Feminism's fourth wave: a research agenda for marketing and consumer research". Journal of Marketing Management. 31 (15–16): 1732–1738. doi:10.1080/0267257X.2015.1076497. S2CID 145666422.
90. For Cosby, Ghomeshi, #MeToo, and fourth wave, see Matheson, Kelsey (17 October 2017). "You Said #MeToo. Now What Are We Going To Do About It?", The Huffington Post.
91. For Isla Vista killings, see Bennett, Jessica (10 September 2014). "Behold the Power of #Hashtag Feminism". Time.
92. Ortega, Mariana (January 23, 2006). "Being Lovingly, Knowingly Ignorant: White Feminism and Women of Color". Hypatia. 21 (3): 56–74. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2006.tb01113.x. S2CID 146165336.
93. Feimster, Crystal (2009). Southern Horrors. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 82.
94. Hill Collins, Patricia. "What's in a Name? Womanism, Black Feminism, and Beyond". The Black Scholar. Winter/Spring 1996: 9.
95. "A quote from The Uses of Anger". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
96. Williams Crenshaw, Kimberlé (1989). "Marginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics". University of Chicago Legal Forum.

Further reading

• Flexner, Eleanor (1996). Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674106539.
• Echols, Alice (1990). Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967–1975.
• Rosen, Ruth (2006). The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America. Penguin Publishing. ISBN 0670814628.

• Feminism in the United States
• History of women in the United States