A Brief History 2nd wave feminism motivated
Bednarska, Passing Last Summer; keyword: queer Keyword: Queer Bednarska does not directly define “queer” or “queerness,” but a few sentences hint to its definition. The second to last page, “I’m fully aware that my desires around the kind of sex I want could change over time, depending on the partner and the possibilities and the mutability of our own desires.” Main Argument: Bednarska gives an overview of the dynamic complex fluidity that gender and sexual attraction should have and those that exist outside the limited categories. Throughout, she explains that many people she knows that activities and interests change over time, just like emotions do.
When analyzed correctly, the texts provided by these scholars may offer an excellent insight into the elements of queer politics. One important factor within queer politics is the goal of disrupting social norms and heteronormativity. Many individuals, such as Cathy Cohen and Dean Spade, believe that in order to create an impact, queer politics need to refrain from striving for acceptance and integration within the larger majority. Instead, they support the disruption of social norms and expectations. For example, Cathy Cohen states, “Thus, if there is any truly radical potential to be found in the idea of queerness and the practice of queer politics, it would seem to be located in its ability to create a space in opposition to dominant norms, a space where transformational political work can begin” (Cohen 438).
Third wave feminists believe that it is a woman's right to decide how she wants to live. Kimberle Crenshaw, in 2014 introduced the term “intersectionality” in her very famous book On Intersectionality: The Essential Writings. She stands out against inequalities based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, and ethnicity. Since the fourth wave of feminism is more about the movement's ongoing expansion than it is about any significant transition, some believe that we are still in the third wave of the movement. The third wave expands on the inclusivity-focused mindsets, and puts challenging inquiries regarding the true meanings of liberty, fairness, equality, and self-determination.
People associated with this group are labeled based on how they identify themselves either lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, or asexual. To emphasize these labels, lesbians are women who have sexual/affectional attraction to same gender, gay is a person with sexual/affectional attraction to the same gender, bisexual is a person with sexual/affectional attraction to the same or other gender, trans is a more inclusive term for non-conforming and non-binary gender, questioning is the process of exploring one’s gender identity, gender expression, or sexuality; intersex is the desire of someone with primary/secondary sex characteristics that are not distinctly male or female, and lastly asexual is not feeling or desiring sexual orientation. Although there are not a lot of historical background on this community, it has become problematic in several places. For example, the LGBTQ community has created 3rd spaces where it became a commonplace for those who are gay to be themselves. 3rd spaces include public spaces, bath houses, parks, libraries, bars, restaurants, and etc.
(3) While second wave feminism may be over, the movement for womens rights will never be over, not unless women are over. Women still have to fight on a regular basis against sexism in the work place, the stay-at-home-mom stereotype, a pay gap based on gender, and our right to birth control. Second wave feminism gave women in the 21st century a voice, Friedan taught us that our peers end up with MRS degrees too, and Eleanor Roosevelt taught us that even Madam President won't sit down and take it. We must embrace our femininity and our power to continue this fight for our
A stable and strong middle class is important to any society, but particularly Democratic countries, since the majority of the voter base is made up of the educated middle classes. The fortunes of the middle class are tied to economic policy and the current market system, however effecting a change in economics, and therefore the middle class through policy, is a very complex process, often taking years to be fully realized. It is not simply a question of passing a new policy bill and having a change overnight. This is even truer today in an era of mass globalization where national markets are tied together by the American dollar, and the fortunes of one affects the fortunes of all, to a greater or lesser degree. Therefore to examine the policy
The second wave of feminism, unlike the first wave, was notably more diverse in terms of race, color and sexual orientation. For once, non-heterosexual females and women of color saw their potential and joined the movements. Furthermore, alliances with other progressive movements such as the civil right movement and the gay rights movements made the women rights movement strong-er. The unity with different reformist movements enabled it to incorporate many areas of interest, unlike the first one which solely concentrated on women suffrage rights. The aspects addressed in the 1980s movements included racial matters and different sexual orientations (Epstein, 'What happened to the women’s movement', 2001, para
The first wave began in the 1930’s with primarily highly educated white women demanding the right to vote. This wave only had upper class women, but the main challenge was the sexist society. Sexism was and still is one of the biggest obstacles for the feminist movements because it can make women seem seem inferior to men. The second wave consisted of a variety of feminists who were concerned about gender equality and patriarchy. The feminists during that time realized that sexism was not just limited to men (Pharr, 167).
Queer theory can be used to understand
Both Feminist Theory and Queer Theory are critical analyses to better understanding the formation of the social Self and sociopolitical Subject. How the individual and/or their community profiles are constructed through understandings of Gender and Sexuality reveals a richly woven tapestry of interpersonally and institutionally-constitutive relations. Because these associations are relational (and often dichotomous), interactive, and emerge from intersections of oppressive social indexes such as gender, race and class, they carry (and are carried by) significant political freight. The mapping of such networks exposes discursive flows of power and the societal scaffolding they reciprocally shape and are shaped by.
Moreover, it challenged the compulsory heterosexuality, a woman can only be successful in society if she is married to a man and be a good ‘housewife,’ which consolidates patriarchy. Radical Feminism challenged many social ideas from reproductive rights to workplace which inevitably led them to examine the traditional gender roles. Finally, Third Wave Feminism, or Transversal Feminism, ultimately seeks to overthrow essentialism, that there exists a single definition of man-ness and woman-ness. Instead, gender is a spectrum of
Here it is evident that not only discrimination regarding sexual orientation is apparent, but also within that there is discrimination of race and class, where still white supremacy is dominating. Overall, Owen becoming a spokesperson successfully demonstrates the controversies surrounding “Queering the normal or Normalizing the queer” (Owen,
He was so insulted he even filed a formal complaint with the state of Colorado for having queer as an option for gender identity on a job application for Colorado College (Marusic). Despite much negative backlash from the older generation, many younger members of the LGBT community consider queer to be a part of their identity; a positive connotation. Younger members see the word queer as way of uniting members of the community, not separated by labels of gay or lesbian. Jenny Block, an author for Huffington Post explains why she uses the “Q” word. “Queer is the most inclusive word that we have,” she says, “‘LGBT’ leaves out some of our family” (Marusic).
Over the last five decades, there have been major alterations in the language around sexuality and gender. Many words have changed meanings and usages while new ones have been born. One good example of these words is "queer." Originally regarded as a derogatory term which was demeaning and often accompanied by violence, "queer" is now a term embraced by many with pride. "
