Third-wave feminism

thumb|[[Rebecca Walker in 2003. The term third wave is credited to Walker's 1992 article "Becoming the Third Wave". Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second wave, Gen X third-wave feminists born in the 1960s and 1970s embraced diversity and individualism in women, and sought to redefine what it meant to be a feminist. The third wave saw the emergence of new feminist currents and theories, such as intersectionality, sex positivity, vegetarian ecofeminism, transfeminism, and postmodern feminism. According to feminist scholar Elizabeth Evans, the "confusion surrounding what constitutes third-wave feminism is in some respects its defining feature."

The third wave is traced to Anita Hill's televised testimony in 1991 to an all-male all-white Senate Judiciary Committee that the judge Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her. The term third wave is credited to Rebecca Walker, who responded to Thomas' appointment to the Supreme Court with an article in Ms. magazine, "Becoming the Third Wave" (1992). As feminists came online in the late 1990s and early 2000s and reached a global audience with blogs and e-zines, they broadened their goals, focusing on abolishing gender-role stereotypes and expanding feminism to include women with diverse racial and cultural identities.

Background

The rights and programs gained by feminists of the second wave served as a foundation for the third wave. The gains included Title IX (equal access to education), public discussion about the abuse and rape of women, access to contraception and other reproductive services (including the legalization of abortion), the creation and enforcement of sexual-harassment policies for women in the workplace, the creation of domestic-abuse shelters for women and children, child-care services, educational funding for young women, and women's studies programs.

Feminists of color such as Gloria E. Anzaldúa, bell hooks, Cherríe Moraga, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, Leslie Marmon Silko and the members of the Combahee River Collective sought to negotiate a space within feminist thought for consideration of race. Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa had published the anthology This Bridge Called My Back (1981), which, along with All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave (1982), edited by Akasha (Gloria T.) Hull, Patricia Bell-Scott, and Barbara Smith, argued that second-wave feminism had focused primarily on the problems of white women. The emphasis on the intersection between race and gender became increasingly prominent. However, allowing third wave feminism to adopt the paradigm of intersectionality can erase the narrative of second-wave feminist of color who worked towards inclusion.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the feminist sex wars arose as a reaction against the radical feminism of the second wave and its views on sexuality, countering with a concept of "sex-positivity", and heralding the third wave.

Another crucial point for the start of the third wave is the publication in 1990 of Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity by Judith Butler, which soon became one of the most influential works of contemporary feminist theory. In it, Butler argued against homogenizing conceptions of "women", which had a normative and exclusionary effect not only in the social world more broadly but also within feminism. This was the case not only for racialized or working-class women, but also for masculine, lesbian, or non-binary women. They outlined their theory of gender as performativity, which posited that gender works by enforcing a series of repetitions of verbal and non-verbal acts that generate the "illusion" of a coherent and intelligible gender expression and identity, which would otherwise lack any essential property. Lastly, Butler developed the claim that there is no "natural" sex, but that what we call as such is always already culturally mediated, and therefore inseparable from gender. These views were foundational for the field of queer theory, and played a major role in the development of third-wave feminist theories and practices.

Global Influence

Third-wave feminism has spread beyond the US and inspired activists and feminist movements worldwide. In Europe, younger feminists used the ideas of individuality and intersectionality to fight against gender inequalities, such as discrimination at work and reproductive rights. In Latin America, newfound feminist ideas influenced campaigns against male violence towards women and helped grow public conversations about women's autonomy and social justice. Feminist organizations in South Asia integrated third-wave ideas by creating digital spaces for women to question traditional gender roles and advocate for legal and cultural reforms. Africa's activists drew on the movement's emphasis on diversity and personal empowerment to strengthen reforms for girls' education and leadership, as well as political participation.

Early years

Anita Hill

left|thumb|upright|[[Anita Hill, 2014]]

In 1991, Anita Hill, when questioned, accused Clarence Thomas, an African-American judge who had been nominated to the United States Supreme Court, of sexual harassment. Thomas denied the accusations, calling them a "high-tech lynching". After extensive debate, the United States Senate voted 52–48 in favor of Thomas. In response, Ms. Magazine published an article by Rebecca Walker, entitled "Becoming the Third Wave", in which she stated: "I am not a post-feminism feminist. I am the third wave." Many had argued that Thomas should be confirmed, despite Hill's accusations, because of his plans to create opportunities for people of color. When Walker asked her partner his opinion and he said the same thing, she asked: "When will progressive black men prioritize my rights and well-being?" She wanted racial equality but without dismissing women. The triple "r" in grrrl was intended to reclaim the word girl for women. Alison Piepmeier writes that riot grrrl and Sarah Dyer's Action Girl Newsletter formulated "a style, rhetoric, and iconography for grrrl zines" that came to define third-wave feminism, Based on hard-core punk rock, the movement created zines and art, talked about rape, patriarchy, sexuality, and female empowerment, started chapters, and supported and organized women in music. An undated<sup>but collected by 2013</sup> Bikini Kill tour flier asked "What is Riot grrrl?":

Riot grrrl was grounded in the DIY philosophy of punk values, adopting an anti-corporate stance of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. Bands associated with the movement included Bratmobile, Excuse 17, Jack Off Jill, Free Kitten, Heavens to Betsy, Huggy Bear, L7, Fifth Column, and Team Dresch,

Riot grrrl culture gave people the space to enact change on a macro, meso and micro scale. As Kevin Dunn explains:<blockquote>Using the do-it-yourself ethos of punk to provide resources for individual empowerment, Riot Grrrl encouraged females to engage in multiple sites of resistance. At the macro-level, Riot Grrrls resist society's dominant constructions of femininity. At the meso-level, they resist stifling gender roles in punk. At the micro-level, they challenge gender constructions in their families and among their peers.</blockquote>The demise of riot grrrl is linked to commodification and misrepresentation of its message, mainly through media coverage.

El Hunt of NME states, "Riot grrrl bands in general were very focused on making space for women at gigs. They understood the importance of giving women a platform and voice to speak out against abusers. For a lot of young women and girls, who probably weren't following the Riot grrrl scene at all, The Spice Girls brought this spirit into the mainstream and made it accessible."

Purpose

thumb|upright=0.8|[[Jennifer Baumgardner, co-author of Manifesta (2000), in 2008]]

Arguably the biggest challenge to third-wave feminism was that the gains of second-wave feminism were taken for granted, and the importance of feminism not understood. Baumgardner and Richards (2000) wrote: "[F]or anyone born after the early 1960s, the presence of feminism in our lives is taken for granted. For our generation, feminism is like fluoride. We scarcely notice that we have it—it's simply in the water."--> Third-wave feminism therefore focused on Consciousness raising—"one's ability to open their mind to the fact that male domination does affect the women of our generation, is what we need.

Third-wave feminists often engaged in "micro-politics", and challenged the second wave's paradigm as to what was good for women. Proponents of third-wave feminism said that it allowed women to define feminism for themselves. Describing third-wave feminism in Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism And The Future (2000), Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards suggested that feminism could change with every generation and individual:

Objection to "wave construct"

Feminist scholars such as Shira Tarrant objected to the "wave construct" because it ignored important progress between the periods. Furthermore, if feminism is a global movement, she argued, the fact that the "first-, second-, and third waves time periods correspond most closely to American feminist developments" raises serious problems about how feminism fails to recognize the history of political issues around the world. The "wave construct", critics argued, also focused on white women's suffrage and continued to marginalize the issues of women of color and lower-class women.

"Girly" feminism

Third-wave feminism was often associated, primarily by its critics, with the emergence of so-called "lipstick" or "girly" feminists and the rise of "raunch culture". This was because these new feminists advocated "expressions of femininity and female sexuality as a challenge to objectification". Accordingly, this included the dismissal of any restriction, whether deemed patriarchal or feminist, to define or control how women or girls should dress, act, or generally express themselves. These emerging positions stood in stark contrast with the anti-pornography strains of feminism prevalent in the 1980s. Second-wave feminism viewed pornography as encouraging violence towards women.

|May 1991||Release of the film Thelma and Louise: "It took all those feelings of alienation and anger—which until that point had mostly found expression in things like 'Take Back the Night' rallies—and turned them into something rebellious, transgressive, iconic, punk rock and mainstream." – Carina Chocano, New York Times.

|31 July 1991||The US Senate votes overwhelmingly to open combat positions for women aviators.

|1991||Susan Faludi publishes Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women.

|July 1991||Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination and the televised testimony in October of Anita Hill that he had sexually harassed her.

|October 1991||"Opportunity 2000" is launched in the UK to increase women's employment opportunities.

|January 1992||In response to the Thomas nomination, American feminist Rebecca Walker publishes "Becoming the Third Wave" in Ms. magazine. organized Freedom Ride 1992, a nationwide bus tour to register voters.

|1993||Family and Medical Leave Act becomes law in the US.

|1993||Janet Reno nominated and confirmed as the first female US Attorney General after President Bill Clinton's previous choices, Zoë Baird and Kimba Wood, fail because of Nannygate.

||1993||"Take Our Daughters to Work Day" debuts in the US to build girls' self-esteem and open their eyes to a variety of career possibilities for women. It was later renamed Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

|1993||First edition of Bust magazine appears, founded by Laurie Henzel, Marcelle Karp, and Debbie Stoller.

|1994||Women taking back the word bitch are helped by the single "All Women Are Bitches" by the all-woman Canadian band Fifth Column.

|1994||Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 confirms that marital rape is illegal in the UK.

|1995||Publication of Rebecca Walker (ed.), To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism.

|1995||Fourth World Conference on Women held in China.

||1996||In United States v. Virginia, the US Supreme Court rules that male-only admissions policy of state-supported Virginia Military Institute violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

|1996||First edition of the magazine Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture appears.

|1997||Publication of Leslie Heywood and Jennifer Drake (eds.), Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism.

|1998||Eve Ensler and others, including Willa Shalit, a producer of the Westside Theatre production of The Vagina Monologues, launch V-Day, a global non-profit movement that raises over $75 million for women's anti-violence groups.

|1999||Publication of Germaine Greer, The Whole Woman

|1999||Publication of Marcelle Karp and Debbie Stoller (eds.), The BUST Guide to the New Girl Order.

|2001||The Isle of Man passes its first sex-discrimination bill.

|2001||Condoleezza Rice becomes the first female US national security adviser.

|2004||Asylum Gender Guidelines are introduced by the UK for female asylum seekers.

|2008||Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 comes into force in the UK.