feminist advocacyfinal

The Movement that Dare Not Speak Its Name?Why Feminism is Misunderstood

On November 12, 2014, TIME magazine’s blog published a reader poll.

The purpose?

To find out which words readers thought should be banned in 2015.

The words and phrases became nominees, says TIME blogger Katie Steinmetz, because of the reactions evoked:

“If you hear that word one more time, you will definitely cringe.

You may exhale pointedly. And you might even seek out the nearest the pair of chopsticks and thrust them through your own eardrums like straws through plastic lids.

What word is this? You tell us.”

Source:http://time.com/3576870/worst-words-poll-2014/

Proposed words and phrases were largely overused “netspeak” such as:

“I can’t even”

“Om nom nom”

“Sorry not sorry”

Also on the list?

“Feminism.”

TIME’s reasoning?

“…nothing against feminism itself, but when did it become a thing that every celebrity had to state their position on…like some politician declaring a party?

Let’s stick to the issues and quit throwing this label around like ticker tape at a Susan B. Anthony parade.”

Response to the poll was swift.

“I keep trying to imagine a universe in which too many public figures declaring themselves feminists would be a bad thing. This would have to be a universe where ‘the issues,’ as the poll vaguely mentions, no longer exist.

…But we don’t live in that universe. We are nowhere close. To include ‘feminist’ in this poll was irresponsible and lazy. It was a provocation without substance, designed to amuse.”

—Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist, 11/14/2014

Source:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ban-the-word-feminist-i-can-think-of-a-few-others-to-get-rid-of/2014/11/14/e2f970e4-6b86-11e4-a31c-77759fc1eacc_story.html

On November 15, 2014, TIME issued an apology in the form of an editor’s note from Nancy Gibbs, saying, in part:

“While we meant to invite debate about some ways the word was used this year, that nuance was lost, and we regret that its inclusion has become a distraction from the important debate over equality and justice.”

It is unclear how talk of banning something was intended to “invite debate.”

Before the editor’s note was published and shortly after the TIME poll was put up, “feminism” was in the lead by a vast majority with a 49 percent vote, largely due to a mass voting effort by the image-based bulletin board site 4Chan.

Source:

http://www.dailydot.com/news/4chan-wants-to-ban-word-feminist/

4Chan has a history of Internet trolling such as:

Pranking TIME polls since 2009.

Creating a fictional Fourth Wave of feminism “which emphasizes the attractiveness and sexualization of skinny and fit female bodies.”

Sources:

http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/weirdwebculture/f/what-is-an-internet-troll.htm

http://www.dailydot.com/news/4chan-wants-to-ban-word-feminist/

http://www.dailydot.com/news/4chan-fourth-wave-feminism/

Elsewhere on the Internet, the website Women Against Feminism gained steam on the social media site Tumblr around July, 2013.

It features nearly universally white, Western, 20-something women taking selfies with signs claiming to “not need feminism” because they currently enjoy rights (which feminism fought for) and hold mistaken notions about what feminism means.

Source:http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/women-against-feminism-tumblr/

How did we get here?

How do we define feminism?

How does the public perceive it?

In August, 2014, the U.K. online market research firm YouGov conducted a survey of Americans, posing the question:

“Are you a feminist?”

The responses were:

Yes – 25%

No – 75%

Source:

http://today.yougov.com/news/2014/08/01/feminism-today-what-does-it-mean/

However…

When YouGov then asked:

“The dictionary defines a feminist as ‘someone who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of women.’

Are you a feminist?”

The responses were:

Yes – 60%

No – 40%

That 12 word definition caused enough of a perception shift to change 45 percent of the respondents’ answers.

Clearly, words matter.

That opinions were swayed so easily means a large cross section of respondents held skewed perceptions that they were not very attached to.

Historical Perspective

Modern feminism as we know it has come in phases commonly called waves.

Feminism’s “first wave” occurred in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Their major victory was getting women the right to vote in the U.S. in 1920.

Feminism’s “second wave” began in the 1960s. Their major victories include the 1967 Executive Order extending Affirmative Action rights to women, the 1973 passage of Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion, and the inclusion of more women of color.

Source:

http://www.civilrights.org/resources/civilrights101/affirmaction.html

The “third wave” began in 1992 with the publication of Rebecca Walker’s Ms. magazine article “Becoming The Third Wave” and the creation of The Third Wave Foundation (later the Third Wave Fund), a philanthropic organization devoted to working for gender, racial, social, and economic justice.

Source:

http://www.thirdwavefoundation.org/about-us/

Third wave feminism strives to be more inclusive, their literature largely focused on personal narrative.

In Clare Snyder’s 2008 article, “What is Third Wave Feminism: A New Direction Essay,” she calls out the editors of BUST, a third-wave feminist magazine, for defending the choice of breast augmentation. “[It’s] a position that legitimizes potentially everything a woman chooses to do as feminist,” Snyder says.

Source:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/588436

A lot of the confusion in defining what feminism is arises from tensions between “second wave” and “third wave” feminists.

Third wave feminist and Beauty Myth author Naomi Wolf calls second wave feminism “victim feminism” that is “sexually judgmental” and “self-righteous.”

“While this picture clearly paints a popular caricature of second‐wave feminism, it also provides a convenient foil against which third‐wave feminism can define itself,” says Clare Snyder in, “What is Third Wave Feminism?”

Source:http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/588436

“Second‐wave feminism still exists,” Snyder says, “and…a woman’s understanding of what feminism means has more to do with where and when she entered the discourse than it does with the year of her birth.

It is more helpful to understand third‐wave feminism as a particular approach rather than using it to label women born within certain years or who occupy a certain age group.”

Source:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/588436

Thus, differences amongst feminist ranks over which approach is most effective contributes to common misunderstandings of what feminism is, and what it stands for.

Ultimately, feminists may take different approaches but share the same goals of equality and justice for all women.

Why do we still need feminism?

Because the right to a legal abortion and a woman’s autonomy over her own body is constantly under attack.

“Instead of trying to overturn Roe v. Wade, which both sides see as politically unviable, [U.S. politicians] have been working instead to chip away at reproductive rights in a way that will render Roe's protections virtually irrelevant.”

—Janet Reitman, Rolling Stone, 01/15/2014

Source:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-stealth-war-on-abortion-20140115#ixzz3Kl7C3Qim

Because all 50 United States have laws limiting abortion coverage on health care plans.

Ten states have laws preventing abortion coverage on any health care plan.

Source:

https://www.aclu.org/maps/bans-insurance-coverage-abortion

Because in some states, you can get a gun faster than you can get a certain legal medical procedure for women.

Source:

http://www.vocativ.com/usa/justice-usa/missouri-abortion-waiting-period/

Because, if you are a woman, the religious rights of your boss are more important than what is best for your health.

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/what-the-hobby-lobby-ruling-means-for-america.html

Because women make up less than 20 percent of the

U.S. Congress.

Source:

http://time.com/3326895/women-congress-twenty-percent/

Because women statistically earn 22 percent less than men.

• As of 2013, this statistic has barely budged in a decade.• This is true in nearly every occupation.• This gap also exists for childless women.

Source:http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/

Because in 2012, a woman (a minor, at that) can be drugged, raped, left for dead in the snow, even have cell phone camera footage of her attack—and have her case dismissed in a court of law.

(After a two year battle, with social media awareness help from the “hacktivist” group Anonymous, the victim’s attacker received two years of probation and a four month suspended jail term).

Sources:

http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/daisy-coleman-maryville-rape

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/09/daisy-coleman-rape-case_n_4569706.html

If you believe in the social, political, and economic equality of women, what can you do?

Get educated: http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en&vq=hum_feminismwomensstudies

Get involved:

http://www.feminist.org/

http://now.org/

If not for your sake, get involved for the sake of your mother, wives, sisters, and daughters.