Second-wave Feminism?

Question

I need to write a paper on it and prove a point, but I'm not sure what point to prove. I thought about maybe mentioning that most second-wave feminists don't really think first-wave feminists did much for women's liberation and then stating the ways first-wave feminists paved the way for second-wave feminists. More suggestions are welcomed.

Oh and I need someone who has actually done reading on the topic. Not some anti-feminism. Thank you.

Actually, second-wave feminism did not make first-wave feminism lose credibility. First-wave feminism was created in order to end official inequalities, such as women not getting the right to vote or own property. Second-wave feminism was started to end unofficial inequalities, such as abuse, discrimination, rape, unequal pay, and abortion rights.

The previous details weren't exactly well-phrased, but I did not really know how to put it. Hopefully you get the point.

I appreciate your help, but I've done some extensive reading on feminism. It is such a broad topic I really don't know what point to prove. I understand what you're saying, but not all feminists are like that. The feminists that are, are called radical feminists and they believe they are better than men. As for me, I believe in equality for both sexes. Feminism wasn't started to tell the woman to go out there and get a job and be a man. Feminsim was simply started so that women could have a choice and choose whether they wanted to stay home and clean and nurse the children, or go out there and try something else. Not all feminists look down upon men and housewives.

Okay, if you guys must know second-wave feminism was during the 1960s and the 1980s. I know that those inequalities are long gone. However, the paper does so happen to be on second-wave feminism.

Gosh, do you not listen? What did I just say? And by the way, the belief of patriarchy was started by radical feminists, the very branch of feminisism I strongly disagree with if you see the previous posts. I suggest you read up on second-wave and then try to answer my question. Thank you.

Okay, that last comment wasn't phrased properly. What I meant to say was that radical feminism is centered around the idea of patriarchy. And it really isn't necessary to be rude.

Answer 1

Second-wave feminism is what ruined feminism and is the reason why feminism is now obsolete. Second-wave feminism is what caused the rise of post-feminism among todays young women.

ps. Second-wave feminism was doomed from the start because it had Marxist ideology in it's foundations. Marxism is antithetical to biology and human nature. To put it another way, Marxism is anti-human.

Answer 2

Great article. Feminism hasn't failed, as these dumb young chicklettes have grown up expecting that they can do anything they want with their lives. And these same chicklettes will outgrow their stupid thought patterns. But yes, feminists should take a long hard look at their thinking and ask themselves why so many women and girls don't identify more. Feminism needs to go through the next change, not go underground and not erect its own tombstone. It's going to take more than 40 years to change the thought patterns mentioned in the article. Now the real work, the difficult part, has to begin. Apparently the author didn't notice that the growth of feminism has coincided with the growth of the women-as-sex-class culture.

Answer 3

Since second wave feminism is the preponderance of what is accepted as "feminism" today, you could easily just discuss its importance, its (associated) achievements, and maybe criticisms of it. You could also mention the strong role radical feminists had in both the struggle for "equality" and the label that feminism carries today.

EDIT: Baba Yaga, you appear to be obsessed with verbally assaulting an individual that is almost 1/3 your age. Do you honestly feel so threatened by my sensible rhetoric that you must demean yourself to such a status of attack after attack?

The question you posted in which I supposedly made a fool of myself is gone, by the way.

Answer 4

Feminism has always had Marxism and leftism as it's underpinnings, even the older, what you call "first-wave" feminists. Later feminists did not repudiate that, but picked it up and ran with it.

Women of the 1970s and 1980s allowed the discussion of this to be overly dominated by man-hating misandrists whose ultimate aim was destruction of the family unit, a reordering of society without men, with men's only function being sperm donors, sort of like a bee hive with it's drones, their view of an "ideal society". Their wrongheaded view was that all of our social problems would be solved and utopia could be attained here on earth if everything male were totally stamped out, or at the very least, if men became more "womanlike" (witness the modern "get in touch with your female side" propaganda, and the rise of "metrosexual" men)

Any way you cut it, it's been a disaster for Western Civilization, one that we may never fully recover from....

Answer 5

Each individual feminist would hold her own opinion, so I can't imagine they all believed the 1st wave was impotent. Those earlier ladies did - after all, earn our right to vote and that was a huge step.

I bet you would enjoy the film, "Iron Jawed Angels" in addition to your reading. Good luck!

To that last comment (edit)....what? Women are still paid less than men in most cases. Though some extreme femenists gave the rest of us a bad name, many of their issues are quite valid.

Nevermind, it was not you.

Answer 6

Prior to 1983 there were assault and battery laws by which men could be prosecuted. The very enactment of specific laws to protect women shows that by 1983, the conventional wisdom on the matter had already changed. And these laew are not measures of equality, but specifically aimed at one sex. They are, therefore, sexist.
___An increasing number of women are distancing themselves from feminism. Are they all women-hating pukes?

Answer 7

How second-wave feminism made feminism lose all credibility.

How third-wave feminism was created in a desperate attempt to get back some credibility.

And your two criteria are far from mutually exclusive, so how about this:

Why the more some people read about feminism (particularly second-wave feminism) the more of an anti-feminist they become.

EDIT: Let's analyse these claims from a standpoint of equality shall we?

1) unofficial inequalities such as made up ones you can't see. Hence the invention of the invisible patriarchy.

2) such as abuse:

http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm

196 scholarly investigations: 153 empirical studies and 43 reviews and/or analyses, which demonstrate that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners.

Hmm nope, no inequality there, second wave feminists seem to have addressed an equality and created an inequality.

3) rape

Sorry illegal before second wave feminism. Second wave feminists just tried to get as close to the wonderfully equal "men have to prove consent while women have to prove nothing" idea.

4) unequal pay

The wage gap was established as a myth based on choices women made long ago, yet second wave feminists are still fighting to redress this "inequality":

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/blog/2005/07/wage-gap-myth-is-hazardous-to-mens.htm

5) abortion rights.. oh so there is equality in abortion rights is there? Do men have equal say in abortion? yes/no. If a woman decides to have the baby does he have any say in whether to pay child support? yes/no.

Sounds like equality in abortion to me.

So actually, second wave feminists made feminists lose all credibility, cupcake.

EDIT AGAIN: No. There were no inequalities in those areas in the 1960s. I think even pay may have been equal then. Face it, second wave feminism made feminists lose all credibility for making up inequalities to fight against and you're going to fail if you tell the truth.

How about this: Why there are still feminists around trying to fight for more rights in terms of abuse, rape, pay and abortion rights when inequalities to the detriment of women in those areas are long gone.

Answer 8

my question is, why are all the people who are claiming that there is no need for feminism, or that feminism was the "biggest disaster for western civilization" all men?

happy bullet? "cupcake" is very patronizing. congrats on proving yourself wrong.

Answer 9

"I need to write a paper on it and prove a point, but I'm not sure what point to prove." maybe you can write your paper on why women feel that they have to be feminists or else they are looked down upon. I am a man, but i have numerous women friends who tell me that deep down they want to be a traditional wife and stay home and take care of the kids but they don't tell any of their female friends because they will be mocked and harassed as though doing that makes you a slave or something. Write the paper on this subject "Do women want to be modern women, but expect men to be traditional men? and is it fair? for example, it's the man's job to change the oil and mow the lawn, but ask a woman to make you a sandwich and it's "talk to the hand i aint your slave".