Modern Day Feminism Vs Traditional Feminism Essay

Feminism is an empowering movement that inspires many women of many generations and is still an ongoing cycle that continues to motivate many girls in our generation today. It is a guide for many young women as well as women who have gone through many changes from their youth to adolescence. Empowerment of feminism is what makes this movement a popular and well-made phenomenon with empowerment meaning “the act or action of empowering someone or something: the granting of the power, right, or authority to perform various acts or duties” (Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary, 1999). It took many years for development and earning justice from other people since acceptance was what women needed as well as authority. From the start of what made feminism until now, we are still in a generation where women continue to thrive and rise up in the ranks of honor rolls, the business world, the workplace, and of course their very own school environment.

This goes way back to when women were at the bottom of society when they were considered to be unimportant from the perspective of other men. The late nineteenth century was a period of significant feminist activity, centered on issues like women’s property rights, their access to higher education and the professions, and, of course, the right to vote. (Cameron 2015). Men are often perceived as powerful and superior beings while women are still viewed to be in charge of household chores. When their husbands were off to war or working, they were given roles to do the cooking, cleaning, and other various household doings. They were given these household roles in order to satisfy men or husbands since they weren’t allowed proper jobs that would support their families.

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The first wave of feminism took place from the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries and was driven mainly by middle-class white women (Anderson 2015). This wave of feminism started as an act to battle against these beliefs of the government and their country, influencing other women to join in the acts of feminism. Legal issues were battled here like fighting for their right to vote and their right to own property. They wanted to let women see that there are more opportunities for them in a world where men or the law doesn’t control their lives. From here, many occurrences of feminism, movements, theories, and others were formed. Anderson (2015) elaborates:

“The driving forces of the women and men involved with the three separate waves of feminism throughout history have all worked towards lessening the oppression of women during their time. Be it during the first wave focusing on women’s suffrage, the second sexuality and reproductive rights, and the third focusing on body, gender, and sexuality.”

This led to the development of second-wave feminism where women wanted reproductive rights, mainly because of the idea that no one controls the body of the female. However, since the second wave of feminism has evolved, there have been controversies regarding this movement. It led to more diverse tones and voices for women of minorities speaking up for how only Western women have the privilege to fight for these kinds of things.

Second-wave feminism, however, has been criticized by “women of color” in the West, as well as by Third World feminists, for responding only to the needs of “white women” who continue to enjoy privileges produced by systems of racial and international oppression. (Arat 2015, pg. 677) Second-wave feminism reached out to more diversity and socially acceptable issues. Like reaching out to more minorities, the second wave gives more importance to not just women of the Western world but women of other cultures coming in together and looking for a sense of equality. Mainstream second-wave feminists such as Gloria Steinem primarily sought to gain rights and equality for women, not to destroy men (Allain 2015). This statement from Allain also emphasizes how feminism is about finding equality between women and men. Finding common ground is an important factor when it comes to feminism and the second wave gives importance to that through gaining equal rights and not women being more than men. This also produces a more positive view of the movement.

From there, feminism has been a development waiting to be heard and practiced. Going through a third wave of feminism where women have been practicing it in different aspects of their lives makes them feel more inspired when it comes to everyday feminism. It was a practice that was being implemented and more empowered as the years went by, inspired by the doings from the earlier centuries. It is driven by post-colonial and post-modern thinking. In this phase many constructs have been destabilized, including the notions of a “universal womanhood;” through the filters of body image, gender, and sexuality. (Anderson 2015)

The development of the waves gives a range of views from different females in different cultures. From school dress codes to gender inequalities, we have been through a lot as a developed generation. Third-wave feminism would be more of an everyday kind of feminism where women find empowerment in little things that they do like choosing a dress on their own or saying yes to self-care and no to something that they know would harm them. As stated by Lovell (2016),

“Teenage feminists wanted control over their fashion as freedoms of expression and privacy. They wanted comprehensive sex education to combat teenage pregnancy and homophobia. They wanted to pursue male-dominated courses, subjects, schools, and sports which they had been barred from taking, and argued that sexual discrimination in the education system perpetuated both institutional and intimate forms of sexism.”

The differences between both sexes have been a battle to overcome by many people including ourselves. Feminism is seen as a bad thing when it’s really about the equality of both genders. Women are taught at an early age that they are supposed to be feminine and conform to society’s standards. Once we are involved with things the stereotypical “boy things”, women at a young age will be labeled “tomboys”. This has affected women physically, emotionally, and mentally. What we are taught from an early age concerning what we are supposed to like, how we are supposed to act, and even what we are supposed to know, is information that leads to the belief that there is a certain way a boy has to act and a certain way a girl has to act (Stefanovici 2016).

Today, feminism is a movement that continues to empower women of different aspects of the world such as women of color and other cultures and diversities. Feminist groups who fight for the recognition of their identity and for gaining rights as minorities are diverse (Jouët 2018). From here, women are a statement that we need equal rights between men and women and that they are beyond what they can think of. The girl boss movement proves that women can be inspiring and motivating to younger girls of this generation. It gives them a perspective on how they can become empowered in their own ways and in their own daily lives. With regards to modern feminism, there have been many ways in the past years to how it has been implemented in our daily lives and that revolves around technology and social media. Digital media are commonly perceived as a new source of empowerment for feminist activism and are often considered as having largely contributed to its revival (Jouët 2018). This speaks about how we as modern women living in a modern world seemed to regain our sense of empowerment because of the standards we live in now. The internet seemed like a great place to express and give views on certain topics.

However, there are downsides to the media and how they portray women. There has been a big over-sexualization of how magazines, articles, and sites show women’s bodies. Stefanovici (2016) elaborates more on the topic:

“One does not even have to open it; the cover shows enough to make one notice the gender inequality: while all the men on the cover express power and confidence from their expressions (because, of course, their faces are the only parts of their bodies captured in the photo), then women, who are mostly half naked, are used on the cover because they are sex sells.”

As a summary of the history of the study, feminism has gone through a lot of fights and waves that always needed validation of society’s standards. There is a big difference in how morals and ideas are from the first wave to the third wave. The strong empowerment that older feminists have shown continues to leave their legacy in history which leaves a big influence on younger generations and would possibly lead to a fourth wave. The general idea of feminism opens minds, though still misunderstood by many, and continues to give many definitions as to how it came up to society now. With modern feminism ranging from postmodern to digital, there are many categories to still be researched.

Though feminism seems to be simple to the eye of a millenial, there have been many battles as mentioned through its history, and on a larger scale, it can be very overwhelming. As Arat (2015) elaborates:

“Feminism can be broadly defined as a theory that problematizes the subordination of women, but feminisms vary in terms of what they see as the cause of women’s subordination, their alternatives to patriarchal systems, and strategies for change.”

As women of a minority, feminism provides as an empowerment that could be implemented in many ways such as modern technology to hopefully be adapted into more young women’s minds to improve the societal standards that they set for women. Arat explains that feminism varies in terms based on women’s points of view, making women view differently based on their own understanding of feminism. Since today’s media involves so many apps and ads that are based on the younger community, there are many people who try and convince their younger audience of various things.

As cited and quoted by Swirsky and Angelone (2016): “Social identity (intergroup) theory posits that belonging to a group can influence an individual’s attitudes and behavior by aligning them with like-minded individuals (Deaux, Reid, Mizrahi, & Cotting, 1999; Leaper & Arias, 2011; Tajfel, 1982)”.

The influence of other authorities or higher figures on younger women has a big influence on who they idolize and who they wish to be. “Influencing” in the Merriam-Webster (1999) definition would be “the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways”. This makes feminism an act of influence from one person to the other, spreading awareness and the publicity it needs. Though some people would argue that feminism isn’t needed now, there have been many examples shown as to why it is still necessary in this generation. Whether the impact of feminism is negative or positive to others, there is still an idea in their heads that would change or stay as it is. As we have mentioned, young people need an influence to feel inspired as studied by Bonnet (2015). Her study is based on the empowerment of a female voice which is important to the purpose of our gathered information.

Also cited and quoted by Fitch, James, and Motion (2015): “Positioning theory focuses on the phenomenon of one’s position in terms of “what it is relative to others, who constructs it, and whether or not it is accepted” (Dennen, 2011, p. 529). The theory has implications for both opening up and shutting down dialogue, relationships, engagement, and communication generally.”

This theory is related to the intergroup theory that both focus on influencing and communication. The feminist theory and both of these theories can apply to modern feminism and how it empowers the voices of high school students. These statements are building blocks to the main topic of our study.

In a high school setting, there are many ways in which women can feel empowered in their own sense. The third wave of feminism which will be mentioned later on in the paper is a great example of how young women influenced others to stand up for what they believe in. Classrooms have been a setting to where women can freely voice their opinions on a small scale however how do we practice this kind of empowerment? Students are still experiencing microaggressions in their classrooms and women are still being silenced by both male and female interlocutors (Bonnet 2015). This wouldn’t give them a proper perspective regarding feminism, but would only lessen their knowledge about it. With history being dominated by male authors, there wouldn’t be enough room for a female author to stand out. Bonnet (2015) also states that high school students also need characters they can identify with in the literature that is presented to them. The current model seems to forget that women, too, need characters with whom they can align themselves socially, morally, and creatively.

Students would want an authority or role model who would inspire them throughout their learning process, may it be a character or an instructor. This gives them a sense of responsibility towards themselves and that person. It would give them the motivation that they deserve to lead to a better mindset and take upon the roles that society wouldn’t usually label women. Given the societal standards of women, there has been a complete change as to the industry and that was because of the chain reaction of feminism. The following study focuses on the empowerment of feminism among high school students and how they incorporate this through a small part of their everyday lives. Given that this study talks about the history of feminism and how we got here, we also talk about the effects of third-wave feminism on society today since we are still in this wave. With a focus on digital feminism as well as modern feminism, we expound on the effects of the movement and talk about its history. Pointing out how feminism got to this state and how it improved throughout the years.

Such observation for the simple battles of feminism is valid for students of high school when they try to empower feminism in their everyday lives and situations such as the classroom and social media which is the focus of the study.

With a clear and firm view of the movement, we then come to the statement of the problem which is how female students of Saint Louis University Laboratory High School can be empowered in their own little ways. How do they practice feminism in their daily lives in the age of third-wave feminism? Quoting Bonnet (2015),

“The more often female students raise their hand and don’t get chosen, the less often they will take the chance to raise it in the first place. Female students are already faced with tons of external factors that influence their self-esteem; educators could make a positive impact on this by simply including them in the conversation more frequently.”

We elaborate more on this in the following theories supported by different authors. However, since students may not have the exact definition of feminism that we have in this study, there will be answers that will be solely based on their definition of this movement. Their own definitions would give more context to how they view feminism and empowerment.

In response to this problem, we wouldn’t mention the idea of feminism itself but would present questions that are closely related to this so they wouldn’t be biased about their own definitions and context. This gives them a more open mind yet still answers the questions that we wish to be answered. These questions will be presented in the methodologies.

With feminism having a wide scope, we aim to only cover the topic of feminism with regard to the classroom and school setting. This limits our study to only the empowerment of students in these settings and how they feel empowered in their own way.

An empowered voice is one that expresses their thoughts and feelings freely while still maintaining composure and importance to logic. To give reason to our study, there are many factors to consider while also regarding the significance. One is to observe and study the way or behaviors of students regarding modern feminism, how it empowers the female voice, and whether there will ever be common ground between men and women. Another is to give a reason as to why young females experience the empowerment that they would normally do on a daily basis. With regards to importance, making these students realize how they feel more empowered would make them a person who would give importance to positivity and the feeling of empowerment. This makes the students who would be part of our research realize the importance of empowerment to society and the school environment. Such observation for the simple battles of feminism is valid for students of high school when they try to empower feminism in their everyday lives and situations such as the classroom and social media.