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The Role Of Second-Wave Feminism In The 1960s And 1970's

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If one were to examine the statement, “Second-wave feminism in the 1960s and 1970’s was the most impactful wave of feminism in the United States”, then one would find this statement to be more false than true because despite the second wave’s significant legislative victories it drastically lacked inclusivity; furthermore, the second wave prioritized gender equality over sexual autonomy and shamed women who indulged in porn or sex; lastly, while the third wave of feminism never produced the kind of social movement that existed in the second wave, it had a marginally more significant impact on society due to it having no illusions about reconstituting women and its main focus being on polyvocal feminism. To begin, despite the second wave’s …show more content…

The second wave primarily appealed to middle age white women and failed to recognize differences in lifestyle, age, race, and sexuality. These flaws began to create separation between women which caused many to stray away from the focus of the movement and start to renounce feminism. In Thompson's analysis of the second wave a new name for this wave arises,” hegemonic feminism” since this wave of feminism is “white led, marginalizes the activism and world views of women of color…and treats sexism as the ultimate oppression” (Thompson 337). This exemplifies how the second wave failed to address the concerns of colored women and simply cast aside their voices in the movement. Feminism feels different for every woman since not a single person has the same lifestyle and experiences as another, so to force the rhetoric that sexism is the ultimate oppression while racism is still widely prevalent goes to show the ignorance of the second wave. Additionally, colored women were not the only ones who felt their voices were not heard. The younger generation often felt feminism during this period was, “rigid, judgemental, and divisive” (Snyder-Hall 258). Younger generations are a key aspect in movements due to their open and moldable minds, and the fact they were so put off by a movement they should have been embracing

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307 Words | 2 Pages

In this paper I will be going over issue 17, “Has the Women’s Movement of the 1970’s Failed to Liberate American Women?”. Sara M. Evans and F. Carolyn Graglia each voice their opinions about the issue. They talk about the history of the women’s movement throughout time and the effects it had in our country. F. Carolyn Graglia writes about how she agrees the movement has failed to liberate American women. Her views on feminism concluded that the feminist movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s was a reasonable but a faulty idea, in that it was based on a worthy opinion (that all men and women should be equal).

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The generic feminist movement consists of “white, middle-class heterosexual women” (Tong 42). These women focus on their needs, and neglect the specific needs of many women of color, who are often of a lower socioeconomic standing. White feminists focus on liberating the oppressive “housewife role,” (Tong 214) and fail to even attempt to include minority women who may in fact dream of a life in which they were able to stay home with their children. White feminists “fail to realize that it is possible to oppress people by ignoring their differences” (Tong 214). This issue makes it difficult for many non-white women to relate to or desire to be a part of the feminist movement.

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208 Words | 1 Pages

Radical feminism arose out of the political activism present during the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s and soon spread to Canada and other parts of the western world (Reichert, 2016a) Whereas first wave feminists sought to fit women into existing structures, second wave feminists turned their lens to the public versus private sphere of women’s lives in the 1970s, particularly as they related to sexuality and violence. Domestic violence against women was perceived as a public issue rather than a personal family matter (Reichert, 2016b). Radical feminists sought to challenge patriarchal structures that both created and perpetuated violence against women. Their efforts led to reforms in public policy, the creation of

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800 Words | 4 Pages

Alice relates to second waves feminism because she is torn between becoming her own person and doing what she wants to do while listening to what everyone else tells her to do. For example, Alice knew selling drugs for Richie was wrong but she felt like she had to do it because he was a male and he could of been considered superior to her. She knew right from wrong but never used her voice to tell people she knew this was wrong. It didn’t take much convinced for any male to take advantage of her.

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“It would be unfair, in fact, to reproach the pioneers of second-wave feminism for lacking a wider vision and a higher ambition. ‘Unlike now, we didn’t want a piece of the pie. We wanted to change the pie,’ activist Alice Wolfson says in a recent documentary that chronicles the movement for women’s rights in the 1960s and the early 1970s. Social feminism has initially set out to elaborate such a new vision as an alternative to the two large strands of progressive

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The “second wave” of European feminists of the 1960s and 1970s is overwhelming. The amount of things that occurred and were fought for during just that small span of time was astounding. In Unit 5 women wanted child allowances and here in the second wave women wanted money for their children too and the government tried to make the same argument as before. In Britain and Germany there was an effort made to push women to stay at home and even though Germany had a child allowance it ended up just working for better off married couples and not the people that truly needed them. In Britain child allowances were also allowed but the husband had access to that money and the wife could only gain access through her husband.

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1549 Words | 7 Pages

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