This article:
https://medium.com/@badasswomen/last-wave-of-feminism-7d707afa47a0 brings out the cynical middleaged feminist in me.
Haven't we been hearing about post-feminism for years? I figure people are either ridiculously optimistic, or blind. Think about the driving forces between each so called wave of feminism. In the 1800s, relatively privileged women fought (and suffered) for suffrage and the right to own property. Whilst women theoretically have the right to vote or represent the people around the world now (except in some religious institutions!), there are still massive barriers to participation including freedom of movement, access to transport, cultural norms discouraging or preventing participation, education, literacy, socioeconomic issues and so on. Women remain massively underrepresented in politics and other powerful institutions worldwide. And whilst those of us in the developed world benefit from improved property rights, there remain many places where legislation or societal norms restrict women's right to ownership, and hence their capacity for independence and their safety. Even here, older women remain the fastest growing population of homeless and we see increasing feminisation of poverty. Does that make you think that something more might need to be done?
Let's wander on to the 70s. A combination of radical and liberal feminist ideas took hold. Reproductive rights, the unspoken experiences of women, safety and equality became the bandwagons. I'm not going to say we haven't made a lot of progress, but really - America is going backward on access to contraception and abortion, birth and unsafe abortions are major causes of maternal death and injury in the developing world, the world is full of people telling women what they can and can't do with their bodies, attacking women and judging women for their sexuality. I'm afraid the personal remains political.
The whole liberal feminist ideology fitted in nicely with the mainstream existing ideology, so it took hold fairly well. And why not? It certainly benefits the capitalist system to have extra workers, especially workers who remain responsible for the majority of unpaid work in our society as well. It's a double bonus for conservative society really. But we still have the wage gap, the glass ceiling, the infuriating "how can you combine work and motherhood" conversations, workplace sexual harassment and discrimination. Sorry, it seems like even this most palatable aspect of feminism seems to have a bunch of work cut out for it.
How about the 90s? Apparently I am a third wave feminist, but no one actually told me. The 90s brought into the conversation ideas about how other axes of oppression intersect with sexism, which is great - a long overdue consideration of layers of privilege, but also jumped back into the individualist focus. Postmodern ideas developed in this era remain completely remote to most of the population, who still argue about "natural" characteristics of men and women. The reclaiming of "femininity" can be useful when we use it to subvert societal norms, to participate in the reconstruction of meaning, but overall, there was a reactive response to the radicalism of the 70s and 80s and claiming it was possible to be a "real woman", "feminine" and feminist. Feminist punk and the radical femme look challenged the concept of femininity in spectacular ways. The "I shave my legs and wear make up for me" crew, not so much. Individualism took back the power of working together, claimed business as usual could go hand in hand with feminism and reinforced the neoliberalist ideas that one's situation is all the fault of the individual, not their context. Individualism is kinda contrasting to intersectionality really.
Finally, we get to what someone has called the fourth wave. Mostly, it seems to be defined by being online. But once you look past that, it all looks pretty familiar. What are we organising around online? Freedom from sexual harassment, rape, domestic violence and workplace discrimination, the pay gap, political representation, reproductive freedom. Haven't we heard this before? There's some popularism in feminism, but how feminist is this popularism anyway? The royal wedding isn't a giant leap forward for feminism or black rights. It's an irrelevant incident in the lives of some rich and famous people that also perpetuates the problematic institutions of marriage and monarchy. When some person claims they are feminist, please look first at their actions.
Whilst it is claimed that the online movement has spread the word of feminism more broadly than ever before, it has also spread misogyny and hate. MRAs, incels, antiabortionists and conservative groups equally use the internet. Women have a history of organising together. This is not new. Sure, the internet can be a useful tool. But it's easy to be a keyboard warrior. And similarly easy for the people threatened by their loss of privilege to yell back. There is an incredible amount of abuse of women on line, and the form and context of that abuse reflects the use of sexism to keep women in their place. This shit has not changed character, it has just changed format.
The #metoo movement was not a revelation. All women know sexual harassment and assault exists. We have be talking about it since, oh, maybe the dark ages. If anyone was not aware, it was because they weren't listening and weren't looking. But as long as we maintain an individualist focus - it's just these bad eggs - and do not challenge the culture that enables these people to justify their behaviour, not much will change. Until the #notallmen saga moves on to recognising how society enables and perpetuates this behaviour, until they stop refusing to listen to women's experiences, until they stop turning to abuse to cover their discomfort, we aren't changing much.
To claim we are on the brink of a post feminist world is to live in a bubble of privilege. Tell that to to the women kidnapped and raped by Boko Harum. To the woman living on the street. To the woman trying to access reproductive services in parts of South America. To the woman being beaten to death by her partner. Only 27 or so of them in Australia so far this year.
Feminism hasn't happened in waves. They haven't passed and been resolved. It's more like a building tsunami. Here we are, 150 years later still fighting for the same shit. Safety, freedom, reproductive choices, equal opportunity, equal pay, hell, simply to be bloody listened to. Women (or indeed men) in positions of privilege claiming to be feminist isn't a peak of feminism. The peak will be when we don't have to say this shit anymore. When we don't have to fight. Claiming to be feminist shouldn't be a radical thing. To some extent, most people actually are. If you believe women should be treated as people not property, that women have human rights along with men, well, these outrageous notions are feminist. But agreeing with these ideas is just the surface. Underneath that, when people are really willing to look at the ways in which different sorts of oppression are built into our culture, our understanding of the world, our behaviours and attitudes, until we look at how we participate in and perpetuate those oppressions, until we take the very uncomfortable step of acknowledging that we are part of a system built around these things, and that for real change to occur, we need to think outside the neoliberalist box, this wave needs to just get bigger.
