The Etymology Of The Third Wave Feminist

When thinking of profanity, minds often travel to the taboo list of four letter words that we have always been told to avoid. Some were raised as being chastised, and even punished for even muttering a word off this list. One word, the “f-word,” has been a particularly heinous word crime since its assumed inception in 1475. The etymology of the word “fuck” is obscure and uncertain, but one thing is known: the meaning and use of the word has evolved over time. Fuck may have not originated as an insult or an expletive like it was previously being used. Formerly considered one of the ultimate taboo words, this word can now be heard in common conversation and media today. By using and misusing the word we have taken away its power over people and

During this wave, people were becoming more and more conscious of minority groups but because of other political and social movements, it was marginalized as “less pressing” than the others. Currently, we are experiencing “third wave feminism” that started in the 1990s. This wave gave birth to the empowered women that Rampton describes as “the ‘grrls’ of the third wave have stepped onto the stage as strong and empowered, eschewing victimization and defining feminine beauty for themselves as subjects, not as objects of a sexist patriarchy. They have developed a rhetoric of mimicry, which reappropriates derogatory terms like "slut" and "bitch" in order to subvert sexist culture and deprive it of verbal weapons” (Rampton 2014). Not only is it an empowered movement, it is a technology driven feminism. Twenty-five years into the Western side of this movement, we are now seeing shift in the term “feminism” and are watching it backslide into the realm of taboo. Mary Dunlap, author of “Mainstreaming and Marginalizing Feminism” explains why she believes feminism has become “dirty.” She explains that causes central to women such as abortion, sexual violence, education, and lesbian rights have become the focus of feminist activism over the past decades. These topics, have been hot button issues since the inception of the feminist movement and will most likely always be so but they

That is roughly thirty one thousand women who do not like the word “feminism” and do not associate themselves with it. To them, the word is synonymous with man-hating and, to some, even hating women. Phrases such as “I do not need feminism because I enjoy being feminine” and “I don’t need anything that makes playing the victim empowering” have caused a gross negative disassociation with the term. Just as the meaning of fuck has evolved and developed over time, the meaning of feminism has followed suit. It has become the new “f-word” due to the negative stereotypes people have attributed to the movement. Until the power of the word is taken back, or taken away all together (such as the taboo words “fuck” and “queer”), “feminism” will continue to be misused and taboo. Until then, all that there is to be said about the misuse of feminism was coined best by Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it