Feminism Reimagined: The Third Wave

▪ 2008

Introduction

Laura Brunell  The third wave of feminism emerged in the mid-1990s. Generation Xers, born in the 1960s and ‘70s in the developed world, came of age in a media-saturated, diverse world; they possessed significant legal rights and protections that had been obtained by first- and second-wave feminists. In some ways, however, third-wave feminism can be viewed as a reaction to the positions and unfinished work of second-wave feminism.

Background.

      First-wave feminism (1848–1920) focused primarily on obtaining the full legal personhood and the political enfranchisement of women. Second-wave feminism (1963–1991) continued these struggles through the ultimately unsuccessful push for an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (introduced 1923, approved by the Senate 1972, failed ratification 1982) and the founding of durable political organizations such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) and NARAL Pro-Choice America (originally National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws; later the National Abortion Rights Action League). Activists sought the enforcement of antidiscrimination laws through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, established in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and sex equality through legislation such as Title IX of the Federal Education Amendments of 1972. The streets and the courts were common venues for spreading the word and seeking redress for inequities.

      Feminism originated in critiques of the ways in which power and autonomy have historically been denied to women and to other people, purely on the basis of who they are. First-wave feminism focused on obtaining legal and political status—essentially personhood in the public sphere. As women became better educated and were accepted more fully as participants in the larger society, second-wave feminism focused on expanding women's economic power. Although protecting women's reproductive rights and expanding their educational and athletic opportunities were ends in themselves, second wavers also viewed them as the means to achieving greater economic power for women who were still largely absent from the upper echelons of power in business, government, and academia.

Foundations.

      The third wave was made possible by the greater economic and professional power and status achieved by women of the second wave, the massive expansion in opportunities for the dissemination of ideas created by the information revolution of the late 20th century, and the coming of age of Generation X scholars and activists.

      Some early adherents of the new approach were literally daughters of the second wave. Third Wave Direct Action Corporation (organized in 1992) became in 1997 the Third Wave Foundation, dedicated to supporting “groups and individuals working towards gender, racial, economic, and social justice”; both were founded by (among others) Rebecca Walker (b. 1969), the daughter of the novelist and second waver Alice Walker (b. 1944). Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, authors of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future (2000), were both born in 1970 and raised by second wavers who had belonged to organized feminist groups, questioned the sexual division of labour in their households, and raised their daughters to be self-aware, empowered, articulate, high-achieving women.

      These women and others like them grew up with the expectation of achievement and examples of female success as well as an awareness of barriers. They chose to battle sexism by standing sexist symbols on their heads, to fight patriarchy with irony, to answer violence with stories of survival, and to combat continued exclusion with grass-roots activism and radical democracy. Rather than becoming part of the machine, third wavers began both sabotaging and rebuilding the machine itself.

      Influenced by the postmodernist movement in the academy, third-wave feminists have sought to question, reclaim, and redefine the ideas, words, and media that have transmitted ideas about womanhood, gender, sexuality, femininity, and masculinity, among other things. There has been a decided shift in favour of viewing gender as existing along a continuum. Each person is not simply male or female but rather is seen as possessing, expressing, and suppressing the full range of traits commonly associated with males or females. For third-wave feminists, therefore, “sexual liberation,” a major goal of second-wave feminism, was expanded to mean a process of first becoming conscious of the ways one's gender identity and sexuality have been shaped by society and then intentionally constructing (and becoming free to express) one's authentic gender identity.

Manifestations.

      Third wavers inherited a foothold of institutional power created by second wavers, including women's studies programs at universities, long-standing feminist organizations, and well-established publishing outlets such as Ms. magazine and several academic journals. Nonetheless, these outlets became a rather small part of the culture of the third wave.

      In expressing more recent concerns, third-wave feminists actively subverted, co-opted, and played on seemingly sexist images and symbols. This was evident in the double entendre and irony of the language commonly adopted by people in their self-presentations. Slang used derogatorily in most earlier contexts became proud and defiant labels. The spirit and intent of the third wave shone through the raw honesty, humour, and horror of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, the righteous anger of punk rock's riot grrrls, and the playfulness, seriousness, and subversion of Guerrilla Girls, women who don gorilla masks in an effort to expose female stereotypes and fight discrimination against female artists.

      In reaction and opposition to images of women as passive, weak, virginal, and faithful, the third wave redefined women and girls as assertive, powerful, and sometimes promiscuous. In popular culture this redefinition gave rise to icons of powerful women and girls that include the singer Madonna and the Disney heroines Mulan (1998) and Giselle (Enchanted, 2007) as well as the women depicted in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) and Sex and the City (1998–2004) and the sassy self-expression of “Girl Power” merchandise.

      The increasing ease of publishing on the Internet meant that e-zines 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 movement with respect to participants, aesthetics, and issues.

Controversies.

      Predictably, third wavers faced critics. As the third wave found its voice in the early 1990s, some writers were declaring themselves postfeminist and arguing that the movement had lived beyond its usefulness. Meanwhile, established feminists of the earlier generation argued that the issues had not really changed and that the younger women were not adding anything of substance. Some writers from inside and outside the movement rushed to declare the wave broken by about 2000. In addition, questions of sexualized behaviour raised debate on whether revealing clothing, designer-label stiletto heels, and amateur pole dancing represented true sexual liberation and gender equality or old oppressions in disguise. Fissures and disagreements were present in each wave of feminism. The third wave, like the first and second waves before it, is a plural and multifaceted movement, comprising people of many gender, ethnic, and class identities, experiences, and interests.

Laura Brunell is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Wash.

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