Third-Wave Feminism was about Girl Power, Inclusivity, and sharing experiences. It began in the nineties and lasted until 2010. What were their goals? What kind of change did they make? Who were Third Wave Feminists and what made them different from other waves? Let's dive into this and figure out Third Wave Feminism, its accomplishments, problems, and more.
The Third Wave Feminism Years (from the 1990s to 2010)
In 1991 people all over America gathered around their TVs to watch Anita Hill testify against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Thomas had sexually harassed Hill while she worked for him as a legal advisor. The all-white and all-male Senate Judiciary Committee asked Hill inappropriate questions and degraded and invalidated her. Thomas was still made a Supreme Court judge.
Though Hill's abuser was awarded the Supreme Court judge position, Hill awoke a new form of feminism. This was the first time that a woman spoke about workplace sexual harassment on television. Women across America saw her and related as they had experienced something similar.
Fig. 1 - Anita Hill as she testified in front of the Judiciary Committee
In 1992, Rebecca Walker, a Yale graduate, wrote an article for a feminist magazine called Ms. This article was called "Becoming the Third Wave" and was about the way Walker felt concerning current women's issues and her rage at the treatment of Anita Hill. This caused a massive outpour of feminists writing to Ms. declaring that they to were Third Wave feminists.
In the summer of 1992, Walker and Shannon Liss started the Third Wave Direct Action Corporation. That summer they participated in an event that got 20,000 young voters to register. In 1997, the Third Wave Direct Action Corporation became the Third Wave Foundation. The foundation created grants for women's projects, abortions, scholarships, and creating young women's reproductive rights organizations.
While the Third Wave Foundation was important for Third Wave feminism, it was not the entire movement. Let's look into Third Wave feminism outside of the foundation.
Third Wave Feminism Definition
Third Wave (TW) feminism is hard for historians to define. We do know that Third Wave feminists were from Generation X, also known as Gen X and that this movement did not spread from America. TW feminism wasn't meant to be definable. TW feminists wanted their brand of feminism to be about more than just women's issues. Some TW feminists didn't want TW feminism to be definable at all!
Generation X:
Generation of people born in the mid-1960s to the early 1980s.
TW wanted to be something that all women could relate to. It would accept women of any political party, race, gender, religion, or sexuality. Not only did TW feminists want to be different from any other wave of feminism but they also wanted to redefine feminism and what it meant to be a woman. TW feminists felt like the previous wave, Second Wave (SW), had created a box that women had to fit into. If you were not this kind of woman then you weren't a feminist.
Wave:
A metaphor used to describe different periods of the feminist movement.
Third Wave Feminism vs. Second Wave Feminism
TW believed that SW created a negative stereotype of women. A woman had to give up all femininity to be a feminist. No makeup, dresses, or nail polish. SW did not create this stereotype that women could not be feminine but it was forced on them by people who disagreed with their movement.
Stereotype:
A way that a person is seen based on untrue, previously assumed ideas; often segregating groups by reducing them to their distinctiveness.
By pushing this stereotype, TW feminists were falling into the same pattern of behavior that they were trying to right! Let's look at the chart below to see how different these waves were.
Fig. 2 - Comparison Chart of Third and Second Wave Feminism
The Third and Second waves were more alike than they were dissimilar. They both were active with more than gendered issues. Both used the media of their times to educate. While TW claimed to be non-judgmental, they heavily judged the previous wave. The Third Wave's largest difference was that they were more inclusive.1
Third Wave Feminism: Redefining "Woman"
TW feminists wanted to create an intersectional movement that represented all women. TW feminists drew from pop culture to show people what strong women looked like. These women were often from completely different races, classes, and sexualities. Let's look at some of the most influential pop culture women and organizations!
Intersectionality:
The connection between race, economic class, and gender.
Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah paved the way for many female feminist artists today like Beyoncé, Megan Thee Stallion, and Lizzo. In 1993, Latifah released U.N.I.T.Y. a song about the treatment of women within the rap industry and the Black community. Latifah places the blame for Black men's misogyny on the Black men who call women derogatory words and the women who allow them to do so.
Latifah calls for unity within the Black community. She did all of this at a time when women had to fight for their place as rappers! She won a Grammy for U.N.I.T.Y. for Best Rap Solo Performance making her the first woman to do so!
Willow Rosenberg and Buffy Summers
Willow was a character from the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Many women related to her and considered her a feminist icon because she was a Jewish, bisexual woman. Bisexuality was rarely seen on TV in the 1990s and early 2000s so when Willow began dating her first girlfriend on the show, people felt represented.
Buffy was the main character of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was a teenage girl often tasked with saving her town, Sunnydale, and the world. Buffy is treated the same as a male action hero and follows similar tropes. When she is in pain because the weight of the world is on her shoulders, it is the most important thing in the show. No other character's emotions overshadow Buffy's.
Guerrilla Girls
The Gorilla Girls challenged the art community's sexism by pointing out the issues within the community. At the time 5% of artists in museums were women but 85% percent of the art was of naked women. They took issue with wage inequalities, terrible behavior in male artists, and the male gaze. Guerrilla Girls would make art commentary on the issues, place installments in public areas, and leave plaques pointing out these problems.
Punk rock feminist bands began to spring up during the TW. These bands focused on race, gender, sexism, abuse, sexual assault, and other TW ideals. Emily Sassy Lime, Bratmobile, and Bikini Kill were a few of the popular bands. The music was written quickly, cheaply recorded, then distributed. Riot Grrrl music is a heavy marker for TW feminism.
Third Wave Feminism in Literature
The First and Second Waves of feminists wrote formal articles about feminism. TW feminists felt that this writing style pushed away people who did not have college educations; instead, they relied on publishing personal stories. These stories were written by feminists about their own life and experiences.
TW feminists would write to magazines like Ms. and tell about their lives or an experience. These magazines published stories written by women who were transgender, minorities, of different religions, and members of the LGBT+ community. Third Wave Feminists made an active effort to include communities that were often overlooked by previous waves.
Fig. 3 - Cover of Ms Magazine.
Even though TW feminists preferred easily understood material, feminist scholars still did their part to contribute to the movement. They wrote books on intersectionality and feminism, on Black women and feminism, and studied women's political theories.
Third-Wave Feminism Accomplishments
Third Wave feminism redefined "woman." For the first time, trans women and trans issues were considered feminist issues. Unlike the Second Wave, Third Wave feminists welcomed LGBTQ+ members and actively listened to them. While the Third Wave was mostly white middle-class women, they were still more inclusive than the Second Wave. The third Wave paved the way for Fourth Wave feminism to be even more inclusive–the wave that we are currently in.
Third Wave Feminism and Intersectionality
Third Wave feminists made inclusivity one of their core principles, but were they? While Rebecca Walker, one of the movement's leading activists, was a woman of color, some historians argued that she was out of touch because she came from a rich family.
TW magazines were full of stories from women from all walks of life. The Third Wave foundation made an active effort to award grants to women no matter their race, sexuality, or religion. Women like Queen Latifah and Mary J. Blige wrote feminist music. TW feminists held events where they discussed race. Was all of this enough?
Fig. 4 - Third Wave Feminist Pamphlet on Race, Wikimedia
African American historian Kimberly Springer argues that Feminist Waves were never inclusive of minorities and that this did not change with TW feminism. Springer notes that TW feminists did try to be inclusive but did not understand how. This was because the TW was still primarily white women.
These women often had a sense of entitlement. They were not grateful for feminists of the past who fought for their rights because TW feminists felt that they were owed these rights. African American feminists were often the opposite. They understood the hardships that their mothers went through for them to have their rights. Springer points to African American women who were active feminists during the 90s but did not consider themselves Third Wave because they simply could not relate.2
How did Black women influence the First Wave of feminism?
In 1848, First Wave feminists were fighting for the right to vote–"suffragists." These women did not know how to organize, write, or speak for a movement. They looked at the Black women who were trying to end slavery and incorporated all of their tactics into the First Wave.
Problems with Third-Wave Feminism
Third Wave feminism was able to redefine what it meant to be a woman but the movement had its flaws. The majority of their writings were personal experiences combined with their political goals being so diverse that it is very difficult to figure out what their goals and core beliefs were.
Third Wave feminists did not like being compared to the Second Wave. This went so far that TW feminists would claim that active Second Wave feminists of color were Third Wave. This erased feminist history. Many older women felt that the younger generation took the rights that the First and Second Waves earned for granted.
Third-Wave Feminism - Key takeaways
- Third Wave feminism began with the testimony of Anita Hill.
- The Third Wave Foundation was created by Rebecca Walker to fund feminist issues.
- Third Wave feminists redefined "women" by including LGBTQ+, women of color, and women from different economic classes.
- Third Wave Feminists used magazines, like Ms., and pop culture expressions to spread awareness.
1 R. Claire Snyder, "What is Third Wave Feminism? A New Directions Essay," pp. 175-196, 2008.
2 Kimberly Springer, "Third Wave Black Feminism," pp. 1059-1082, 2002.
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