The Third Feminist Wave: Transversal Politics

Third wave feminism has numerous definitions, but perhaps is best described in the

most general terms as the feminism of a younger generation of women who

acknowledge the legacy of second wave feminism, but also identify what they see as
its

limitations. These perceived limitations would include their sense that it remained too

exclusively white and middle class that it became a prescriptive movement which

alienated ordinary women by making them feel guilty about enjoying aspects of

individual self-expression such as cosmetics and fashion, but also sexuality –

especially

heterosexuality and its trappings, such as pornography.

Moreover, most third wavers would assert that the historical and political conditions in

which second wave feminism emerged no longer exist and therefore it does not chime

with the experiences of today’s women. Third wave feminists seem to largely be
women

who have grown up massively influenced by feminism, possibly with feminist mothers

and relations, and accustomed to the existence of women’s studies courses as the

norm as well as academic interrogations of ‘race’ and class.

These young, mainly university-educated women may well also have encountered
post-structuralist and postmodernist theories, so that their approach to staple feminist

concepts such as identity and sisterhood will be skeptical and challenging.

Beginning in the 1990s, after the end of second-wave feminism and the Feminist Sex

Wars, third-wave feminism began with a mixture of disgruntled and unsure feminists

and feminists born into a world where feminism had always existed. Third-wave

feminism began in a world with punk rock, and thus carved out the safe space of Riot

Grrrl. Third-wave feminism may be the most diverse and individualistic feminist wave
to

date.

The movement of third-wave feminism focused less on laws and the political process

and more on individual identity. The movement of third-wave feminism is said to have

arisen out of the realization that women are of many colors, ethnicities, nationalities,

religions and cultural backgrounds.

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.

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.

A Brief History of Third-Wave Feminism

Beginning in the 1990s, the third wave of feminism built upon the causes emphasized in the
movement’s first and second waves:

 The first wave: In the United States, the struggle for women’s equality and freedom began
around the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century with the issue of women’s voting rights.
After the Nineteenth Amendment passed in 1920, guaranteeing women the right to vote, the
intensity and momentum of first-wave feminism waned.
 The second wave: The second wave of feminism was characterized by an acceleration in political
activism and cultural prominence in the 1960s through the 1980s. Second-wave feminism focused
on gender-based discrimination and marginalization beyond the legal and political sphere—
sexism in the household, institutions of higher learning, and the media. Other key issues included
access to birth control and the intersectional effects of class and race.
 The Anita Hill Senate hearings: The beginning of the third wave of feminism is generally
marked by the Anita Hill Senate hearings of 1991. Hill testified that Clarence Thomas, a then-
nominee for the US Supreme Court, had sexually harassed her. Although he was confirmed
despite her allegations, the prominence of the hearings in the culture marked a new era of
activism and ferment that sought to dismantle gender exploitation and prejudice.
 “Becoming the Third Wave”: Rebecca Walker, daughter of writer and activist Alice Walker,
wrote the 1992 article “Becoming the Third Wave” in response to the Hill hearings. The article is
credited with coining the term “third wave.”
 The riot grrrl punk movement: The underground riot grrrl movement that emerged in Olympia,
Washington, was another catalyst for the third-wave feminist movement. The subculture of young
feminists focused on punk rock music, politics, and sex positivity. Third-wave feminism sought
to reclaim femininity and female sexuality.
  The intersectionality of feminism: Activism in the academy expanded the scope of women’s
studies and feminist theory in critical discourse and study areas. These studies focused on the
concept of intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in 1989. Noting how
the effects of class, race, and gender tended to overlap and compound was a crucial aspect of the
third-wave feminist movement.
5 Key Issues of Third Wave Feminism
Third-wave feminist activism covered a wide range of issues and theoretical positions. Some of
the most critical problems for third wavers included:

1. 1. Intersectionality: Many third-wave feminist theorists were concerned with how women
experienced layers of oppression, which tended to accumulate and intensify, particularly for poor
people of color. Women of color, nonbinary women, non-heterosexual women, and others sought
social justice for all, focusing on the adverse effects of class and racial discrimination.
2. 2. Reproductive rights: Like second-wave feminists, third-wave feminists prioritized women’s
ability to access safe, legal, and affordable abortions, as well as contraception, pregnancy care,
and child support. This was especially urgent given the political reactions against previous
feminist victories, many of which were being dismantled at the state level.
3. 3. Individual empowerment: Third-wave feminism tended to celebrate diversity and individual
differences in how women explore and expresse femininity. From the punk rock scene, in which
young women circulated zines and bootleg records, to the rise of the Internet, where blogs and e-
zines became popular, a prosperous exchange of ideas and styles flourished.
4. 4. Violence against women: The problem of violence against women was given particular
emphasis by third-wave feminist activists. Noting the persistence of rape, domestic violence, and
sexual harassment, activists and writers sought to highlight these problems and seek effective
social and legal redress.
5. 5. Sexual liberation: The issue of sex, a point of controversy within second-wave feminism, was
even more central to third-wave feminism. Third-wave feminist activists and artists sought to use
their sexuality as a means of empowerment and expression. Eve Ensler’s prevalent and influential
play The Vagina Monologues, which premiered in New York in 1996, was an example of this
trend.

Activism During third Wave

The movement has simultaneously criticized sexist language, appropriated derogatory

terms for girls and women, and invented new self-celebrating words and forms of
communication. As such, third-wave feminists have followed in the footprints of groups

like Queer Nation and Niggers with Attitude by deploying a kind of linguistic jujitsu

against their enemies. Instead of condemning the stereotypes used against them, they

exaggerate them, beginning with the very word girl.

Third Wave Direct Action Corporation was founded by American feminists Rebecca

Walker and Shannon Less as a multiracial, multicultural, multi-issue organization to

support young activists. The organization’s initial mission was to fill a void in young

women’s leadership and to mobilize young people to become more involved socially

and politically in their communities.

Objectives

Third-wave feminists are motivated by the need to develop a feminist theory and politics

that honor contradictory experiences and deconstruct categorical thinking. In To Be

Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism, editor Rebecca Walker

described the difficulty that younger feminists experience when forced to think in

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categories, which divide people into “Us” and “Them,” or when forced to inhabit

particular identities as women or feminists .

Walker claimed that this is not because they lack knowledge of feminist history or

because of the media’s horrific one-sided portrayal of feminism. Quite to the contrary,

younger feminists honor the work of earlier feminists while criticizing earlier feminisms,

and they strive to bridge contradictions that they experience in their own lives. They

embrace ambiguity rather than certainty, engage in multiple positions, and practice a

strategy of inclusion and exploration. Meanwhile, they propose different politics, one

that challenges notions of universal womanhood and articulates ways in which groups

of women confront complex intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, and age

related concerns.

The common denominator is the will to redefine feminism by bringing together an

interest in traditional and even stereotypically feminine issues, while remaining critical of
both narratives of true femaleness, of victimization and liberation. They flaunt their

femininity and seek to reclaim formerly derogatory labels such as “slut” and “bitch,”

while stubbornly venturing into male-dominated spaces with third-wave confidence to

claim positions of power: We—the new feminists—embrace power, said new feminist

Natasha Walter in The New Feminisms.

Third-wave feminists want to avoid stepping into mutually oppressive static categories,

and they call for acceptance of a chaotic world, while simultaneously embracing

ambiguity and forming new alliances. Thus, third-wave feminisms are defined not by

common theoretical and political standpoint(s), but rather by the use of performance,

mimicry, and subversion as rhetorical strategies.

Gender theorist Judith Butler signaled this paradigmatic feminist shift in her books

Gender Trouble and Bodies That Matter. She fueled new emergent movements such as

queer and transgender politics, which take an interest in the intersections of gender and

sexuality and helped articulate “performance third-wave feminism” as a theoretical

framework of the politics of transgression.

Another significant perspective that has contributed to third-wave feminism is Donna

Haraway’s (1987/1991) “cyborg,” which has also inspired the development of cyber

feminism. What makes this perspective unique is Haraway’s appropriation of technology

and her post human acknowledgment of the interaction between humans and

nonhumans, which blurs the distinctions between humans, animals, and machines.

Claims
1. Broader inclusion of recognition, spoken of color, sexual diversity, age (recognition

of young girls and older women), and men.

2. Inclusion becomes more trans global; activist activities become a fight for all women

everywhere, beyond US borders.( Transnational/ global feminism)

3. Volunteerism is new force activist activities.

4. Consciousness raising groups through new texts: the zone movement gives way to

the use of writing, new technologies( internet, filmmaking, music)

5. Women began stepping into male dominated cultural arenas.

6. Women health issues are recognized through activist activities.

7. Legal and social recognition of: date rape, sexual identity issues (custody battles,

gender reassignment, marriage rights), reclamation of language (bitch, slut),

objectification (body image is a major issue).

8. Shifting of second wave ideals on proper feminism: marriage, pornography.

9. Voter registration among women becomes driving force for many activist activities.

Some Third-Wave Writers and Feminists of Note:

 Joan W. Scott – “Deconstructing Equality-Versus-Difference: Or, the Uses of

Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism”

 Jennifer Baumgardner & Amy Richards – “Manifesta”

 Rebecca Walker – “To Be Real”

 Gloria Anzaldua & Cherrie Moraga – “This Bridge Called My Back , All the Women

Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s

Studies”

 Elizabeth Wurtzel – “Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women”

 Susan Faludi – “Backlash”

 Eve Ensler – “The Vagina Monologues”

Victories and Achievements

 In 1991, opportunity 2000 was launched in UK for more opportunities to

women

 1992 year of women

 1992 four women entered US Senate

 1993 family and medical leave act

 1994 marital rape was declared illegal

 1994 violence against women act in US

 1995 fourth world conference on women by UN

Conclusion
Third-wave feminism is tied up with the effects of globalization and the complex

redistribution of power, which challenge feminist theory and politics. It also mirrors the

diversification of women’s interests and perspectives and the breakdown of master

stories of oppression and liberation. For example, postcolonial, third-wave feminism is

concerned with establishing a new critical global perspective and creating alliances

between Black, diasporic, and subaltern feminisms, whereas queer theory and politics

create a platform for what has now split into the lesbian, gay, bi-, and transsexual and

transgender movements. Queer and transgender feminists attack what they see as the

crux of the problem: heteronormativity.