I did women's studies at university but I have to ask what exactly were the the first three waves of feminism ? (seeing as this book tackles post third wave feminism).

Simon | May 06, 21:46 CET

And I dropped out of high school, and therefore had to look this up:

The first wave of feminism is the time of the abolitionists and suffragettes. These women fought for the abolition of slavery, the right for women to have the vote. They also won women the right to own and inherit property, the right to divorce and to joint custody.

The second wave came alive in the mid-1960s and it's most obvious rallying point was an Equal Rights Amendment, which has yet to come to pass. However, these women also helped legalize the pill, have the right to have an abortion, a mediocre equal pay bill--and they also named things that had previously been described as "life"--like sexual harassment, domestic violence. etc...

The Third Wave has come about mostly because young women who grew up with the Second Wave--wanted a voice of their own. Third Wave has goals similar to Second Wave--and is really meant to push the second wave along toward its goal of full-equality. In the millenium--hopefully we will have more men speaking up for feminism. And also while we have seen more women take on careers, responsiblities that have previously been labelled "masculine" hopefully we will have more men take on things that have been labelled "feminine," this will lead us to a place of not having our qualities defined--or even limited--by our gender.

Source: Feminist.com

faith1984 | May 06, 21:53 CET

Simon, the reviewer is mistaken: third wave feminism is contemporary feminism. I've never seen anyone else anywhere declare that we've moved on from it.

The first wave is generally considered to have started with the movement for women's suffrage in the 19th century. The second wave refers to the women's movement of the 1960's and 70's. But more progressive feminists pretty much reject the idea of waves altogether, given that they suggest that there were no feminists or feminism pre-1800's and they centralize organized movements in Europe and North America while ignoring the rest of the world.

keever | May 06, 21:56 CET

Thank you to both of you I figured the suffragettes and 60s would be in there somewhere (though why the economic benefits given to US and UK women during WW2 isn't taken into account I will never know) but didn't know about the third wave.

Simon | May 06, 22:11 CET

Yeah, my first reaction was what the hell is this person talking about with "post" third wave?! Cripes.

I agree with keever's take and also add that there is much common analyses between what is termed "second" and "third" but that conceptualization of the latter is partially due to a very limited reading of the former's body of theory.

And the "economic benefits" during WWII were not the result of a social movement but instead were compelled by the governments in order to maintain the economy. Also, I don't know about the UK but in the US these "benefits" did not constitute permanent gains. These events did, however, likely help to spur what is known as the second wave.

Now, how did I get here from Buffy?? Oh yeah, that book. I don't know, it sounds a little convoluted.

marmoset | May 07, 04:53 CET