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).
The reading this week brought to my attention that historic events have a way of repeating themselves. In Folklore of the Freeway, Eric Avila explains that during the “Freeway Revolt” there were different ways that communities organized and the types of issues they were fighting against. These issues and organization structures mirror current day protests. Likewise, the connections between how women were treated with respect to protests during the “Freeway Revolt” and the recent Women's match are astounding. In the context of these two events, white women are seen as saints for fighting a fight that doesn’t affect them, while women of color as ridiculed for making a big deal out of nothing.
The predominant ideas put forth in the piece from the Combahee River Collective were those that addressed the shortcomings of the feminist movement to include all women and to address the full range of issues that oppress individuals and groups of people in our patriarchal society. This greatly furthered my ongoing development and understanding of what intersectionality is, what its goals are, and how it can help everyone instead of the predominately white, cisgendered, heterosexual, upper middle class women that composed and continue to compose a large portion of the feminist movement. One of the biggest shortcomings that are addressed in this piece focused on the racism within the feminist movement and its limited or even minimal efforts
The movement for woman rights appears to have been lost in today’s events because there once was a period in America’s history where woman activisms and pride was on the front pages of America’s newspaper storylines. The struggle and preservation for feminism has not all been fully removed or forgotten by the American public since the Democratic political party maintains women equality as issue as on its national platform. There are a number of feminist, like Bell Hooks, Maya Angelou, and Betty Friedan, who have participated in the carrying women issues to the top of the mountain and placing them within the conscience of the American society. Perhaps one of the most distinguished bearers for women rights and issues, Gloria Steinem helped
In Junto Díaz’s book, “Drown”, the effect of No Face’s single story turning into Ysreal’s humanized struggle is to show when hearing an adjective, there’s a thought of a specific title that summarizes whatever is presented as one object; but when giving that object a name, there is a deeper analyzation and an identity is created. Displayed in the first chapter of Drown, “Ysreal”, numerous examples providing the generalization of the No Face adjective are exposed, telling the horrific story of an monster with no identity. Many facts are learned about No Face but none of those facts included his name (other than the title) or his best attributes, they were all hideous and bluntly exposed physical traumas and actions No Face did or what had happened to him. Those were the
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.
It is crucial for feminism, specifically white feminists, to acknowledge the shortcomings of the movement. Kendall argues that white women must recognize their privilege and how it can be used to perpetuate oppression. She notes that white women are not just “passive beneficiaries” of racist oppression. Instead, they have actively participated in white supremacy and racism. Throughout history, the myth of white women lacking the power to oppress others has been perpetuated.
“On the one hand there was liberal feminism; on the other hand, there was women’s liberation. People also sometimes talked about that wing as comprised of radical feminism and socialist feminism, with radical feminists regarding women’s oppression as the root of all oppression and socialist feminism placing women’s oppression within the other context of other forms of oppression, particularly race and class” (Finsterbusch, 2013, p.147). Epstein goes on to suggest that the women’s movement currently has narrowed its politics and as the women’s movement has aged it has become vulnerable to absorbing the current trends within its own class and as a result this has led to the movement not taking center stage. Epstein concludes that we need to “return to a sort of revised version of radical feminism and place feminism within the demand of an egalitarian society and a demand for a society that respects human connection and communities and promotes them rather than destroying them” (Finsterbusch, 2013,
It either includes all women, or it’s not feminism” (Makers). She frequently reminds individuals that it was disproportionately women of color, especially black women, who created the feminist movement. She contends that erasing black women’s integral contributions disgraces the founders of the movement and eradicates the efforts of feminism’s true founding
Gloria Steinem can ultimately be said to be a leader of the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Her involvement in the movement shaped the way feminism is viewed in the USA today, especially considering her role in causes such as abortion, and women in journalism, specifically Ms. Magazine. While she was not solely responsible for any part of the Women’s movement, as she was part of different groups of women who “led” the movement, her influence is undeniable, and most certainly pivotal to how modern feminism is viewed today. Second wave feminism came as a response to the reinstatement of the domestic role of women as women’s sole role in a post-World War Two society. A male centred society and the patriarchy were once again being accepted as the norm and perpetuated.
Latina Feminism Movement “Latina feminism is a group of social theories that analyze the historical, political, social and economic roles of American, Chicana and Hispanic women in the United States ( Gazzar, 2014). It is complex transnational in nature at often. Being a Latina means that one has a cultural identity and ethnicity shared by those from or with origins in Latin America. Latina Feminism in the United States started to take shape following the Civil Rights and Black Nationalist movements which saw all oppressed people, the gay, women and other ethnic groups coming forward and using solidarity to spark social changes in the middle of the 20th century. Despite the Latina women taking leadership in the other movements, their contributions
Love is an especially disputed topic throughout the world, and many have yet to figure out what love actually means to them. There are countless interpretations and beliefs of what love is and it is different for each person. The Sound Of Waves by Yukio Mishima and Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson both explores different ideas of love and how it works within one’s life by setting up certain gender roles, analyzing the environment, and using the genre of the book to design their vision of a love story. Gender roles in The Sound Of Waves have an incredibly traditional feel to the entire story, and for the characters in the book they are classic archetypes to portray. The man is the one who makes the move in the relationship, does all the heavy lifting, and has to win the father’s approval.
First Wave Feminism, or Liberal Feminism, is often times summarized as the Women’s Suffrage Movement, but it fight for much more than the right to vote. First Wave Feminism is better summarized as political and financial equality for women, but it also helped and fought for civil rights. Women’s suffrage was the major accomplishment from the First Wave but isn’t the movement itself. Alice Paul stated after the ratification of the 19th Amendment; “It is incredible to me that any woman should consider the fight for full equality won. It has just begun.”
Women created feminism because of the unfair treatment women face because of the male dominated patriarchy. Bell Hooks tries to convey her readers in “Feminist Politics: Where We Stand” by stating, “Feminist politics is losing momentum because feminist movement has lost clear
“We Can Do It!” -- Such are the words that symbolize the spirit of the feminist cause. The modern women’s movement stemming from the post-World War Two era idea of female individuality originates from the first wave feminist movement of the Nineteenth Century, which concerns the suffrage movement and women’s rights. The movement, from its inception to now, aims to confront issues experienced by women, such as the evident discrepancy between the wages of males and females, medical rights, and further issues that women have dealt with. Albeit being a movement with an honest pursuit, its critics have subjected it to scrutiny and have even considered it to have lost sight of its own politics.
