By Kelsey Sanchez
Feminism got off on the wrong foot, but it’s getting there. Today, people glorify the first wave of feminism as a gold standard for Women’s right. The Good Ole Days mentality particularly floats around the original suffragettes. One of the most historic leaders of the movement, Susan B. Anthony, is remembered as an advocate for women, but this is hardly the case. You can’t be an advocate for women, but only support white, upper-class women. Susan B. Anthony, was once quoted as saying, “I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will work or demand the ballot for the Negro and not the woman.” The leaders of the Suffragettes forced black women to march separately from them in the first Women’s Suffrage movement. White women got the right to vote in 1920, but black and Latina women did not have access to vote until the 1960’s.
The second wave of feminism focused on sexuality, gender roles, and reproductive and workplace rights. Occuring between the 1960’s and the 1980’s, the second wave really began in 1963 with Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique. The first chapter concludes, “We can no longer ignore that voice within women that says: ‘I want more than my husband and my children and my house.” Again, these problems were focused on upper- and middle-class white, straight, CIS gender women. There was a complete erasure of woman in the LGBTQ community, women of color and poor women again.
Today, feminism is more often being called intersectional feminism. The term, coined in the 80’s, was not mainstream until the past few years. Intersectional feminism advocates for women regardless of the race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or being a transwoman.
When asked the values of third wave feminism SCAD senior, Elle Friedle, said “You can’t really call yourself a feminist if you aren’t concerned with inequality everywhere.” In this way third wave, or intersectional feminism, women speak up for #MeToo and #Blacklivesmatter. Women advocate for Planned Parenthood and free the nipple. It is a multi-faceted movement willing to engage with and learn from all points of view.
Feminism is not, and never has been, one-size-fits-all. Women experience misogyny differently depending on other parts of their identity. Intersectional feminism is not about weighing our marginalization against one another, like some oppression Olympics, but to move forward together women must be aware of and acknowledge the traumas of the past.