Critical Perspectives on Feminism by Anne C. Cunningham

Author:Anne C. Cunningham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Enslow Publishing, LLC

1.Have any of the author’s predictions about a Trump presidency come to pass? Which predictions have been most accurate?

2.Supreme Court justices are supposed to evaluate laws impartially. Why might conservative justices be more likely to restrict or repeal Roe v. Wade?

CHAPTER 4

WHAT ADVOCACY GROUPS SAY

As with feminist studies in academia, the contemporary landscape of feminist advocacy is marked by differing approaches to understanding and doing feminism. These primarily break down along generational lines. Established groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), founded in 1966 by Betty Friedan and Pauli Murray, and the Feminist Majority Foundation, founded in 1987, have a combined membership of nearly one million Americans. These and similar wellfunded organizations emerged from the second-wave feminist movement, and focus tirelessly on liberal policy issues such as reproductive rights, equal pay, and anti-discrimination.

Starting around the 1990s, younger voices began infusing feminist advocacy with renewed energy and more nuanced perspectives. These so-called third-wave feminist advocates tend to be less trusting of institutional channels and the mainstream political system, favoring instead to articulate their concerns through micro-politics and other decentralized sites of action. Third-wave feminist advocacy discourses question the primacy of white, middle class women’s experience, and are more inclusive of, and responsive to, the need of women of color, the disabled, the LGBT community, and other marginalized groups.

The relative importance of the internet and social media also constitutes a key difference between these approaches to advocacy. Not to suggest that “old-school” feminist advocates cannot operate a computer or use social media effectively, but it would be difficult to imagine establishment feminists getting behind the SlutWalk, chronicled below by Alyssa Teekah. Judging by the backlash this event garnered, it is possible younger feminists can learn from their seniors. Indeed the critique of “hashtag” feminism is that it is ineffectual and exists mostly to serve the psychological needs of its atomized participants.

We will also hear in this chapter from those who reject feminism’s liberal predisposition. The conservative Empowered Women group believes “feminism” is a toxic term and wishes to provide “an alternative of fun, engaging accomplished women.” Other groups have similarly argued against the label of “feminist” or “feminism,” particularly in order to challenge the assumption that only women can be feminists or that feminism affects only women.

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