Waves of Feminism

I bought this book in a charity shop the other day, and have found it very useful.

I just wanted to write a little more about feminism, and talk about what change it promoted. I will then go on to analyse issues regarding how women are represented in contemporary media.

What is feminism?

'Women demanding their full rights as human beings!'
(Watkins, et. al, 1992)

Splitting feminism up into 3 different stages helps to understand the development of the movement, that is inevitably continual. First wave feminism came into existence in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Women were men's property and it was common knowledge that they experienced rape and physical abuse within marriage. Women were expected to ''obey'' and were considered intellectually inferior, physically weak and dependant on men. There was always an ideal beauty. In relation to the representation of women at this time, they were seen objects own, and be used only for sex, childbearing and unpaid household work. There was always an ideal beauty, and at this time, it was women with tiny waists but voluptuous bodies. 'Women's clothing symbolised their constricted lives' (Wojtczak, H). In relation to the media, which was the newspaper at this time, women fought for coverage.

Second wave feminism dramatically came to attention in 1960/1970's. Between the very first realisations and now, there had been two world wars, which gave women significant empowerment whilst men fought overseas. They took on 'masculine' job roles and were expected to return to their domestic lifestyles afterwards, or which some rebelled. In the 60/70's some changes had already been made, but women were still believed to be emotional, irrational, weak and expected to 'serve' their husbands. Now that women were able to be employed, they fought for more equal job opportunities and equal pay.

In relation to my project, feminist artists critiqued the position of women artists. They questioned what was considered women's art, and how 'feminine' arts/crafts were considered unimportant, whilst focus was on the paintings and sculptures of male artists. They identified this exclusion and fought against it. Women were restricted from becoming artists, and those that had been, were typically ignored by the patiarchal society. This made it hard to convince society that women could be successful artists, as the male dominated industry simply did not believe it was possible/should be possible for women to do so.

At this time, women were also analysing and raising awareness of how sexist the media is toward females. Second wave feminism challenged women being forced to adhere to unrealistic beauty ideals. Feminists critiqued the 'male gaze'.
'Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at'
(Berger, J. 1972).
Women were objectified and used for their visual value throughout all kinds of media. Their bodies disembodied and used to sell products. Usually, as women were only really beginning to make their way into the creative industries, the advertising agencies were predominately male employers/employees. This had a dramatic influence on how women were represented in the mass media.

Second wave feminism is one of the most renowned points in the revolution when it comes to art. Artists I have researched throughout this blog, from this period, include Judy Chicago, Georgia O'keeffe, Barbara Kruger and Yoko Ono. Judy Chicago's, The Dinner Party, 1974-1979, is a world famous piece of feminist art and one of the most important of this time.



The Guerrilla Girls, who formed in 1985, made protest art against the dramatic inequality in the art world. Their posters used humour but made strong statements about the position of women artists at that time. A well known poster states ''Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?'', whilst another says ''When racism and sexism are no longer fashionable, what will your art collection be worth?''.

Third wave feminism is thought to have started in the 1980's and continues up to present date. Although women have come a long way, for example women can now vote, there is a better legal system protecting women's rights, marriage is not forced and women are working successfully in previously male-dominated jobs, Third wave feminism deals with many issues that are familiar to the previous stages of the revolution. This includes fighting for equal pay, equal opportunities (in and out of employment), equal coverage in the media and equal civil and political rights. Feminists also fight for more inclusion and equal opportunities of black, lesbian and bisexual women. After 1980's feminist brought forward the realisation that it wasn't only women that were disregarded in the art world. It was also women of different ethnicity's and different sexual orientations.

In relation to my project, third wave feminism is also concerned with how women are represented in the mass media. Women are still treated as objects, used for their visual value. The male gaze is still extremely relevant in regards to women and women still have a huge pressure to adhere to unrealistic beauty ideals portrayed in the media. I will continue to analyse contemporary issues relative to this.