History of Feminism
Trigger Warnings: These notes will have something to offend or upset everyone. (sexual
violence (rape), rude/crude humor, brief glimpses of human bodies, the F word: ‘feminism,”
other profane language (bitch, slut), meninism and other -isms, shaming, Cumberbatch, loud
punk music, Roe v. Wade, abortion, the word “sex,” Mrs. K
We stand on the shoulders of giants.
Well-behaved women rarely make history. –Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Classical Period: Sappho
Medieval Era: Hildegarde of Bingen (Hilde from Sophie's World)
She had a vision of Sophia, the feminine side of God or wisdom
Romantic Period:


Focus: Dignity, intelligence and basic human rights, growing out of the national
revolutions in France and America
Mary Wollstonecraft
o Vindication on the Rights of Women (1792)
o “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
― Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

o
Jane Austen
o “I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational
creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.”
― Jane Austen, Persuasion

o
Olympe de Gouges
o The Declaration on the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen (1791)
o “Woman is born free and lives equal to man in her rights. Social distinctions can be
based only on the common utility.”
― Olympe de Gouges, The Rights of Woman
o
The Three Waves of Feminism
First Wave:
Late 19th to mid 20th centuries
Emerged from abolitionist movement and industrial revolution and liberal, socialist politics,
primarily middle class white women
Focus: New opportunities for women, especially voting rights, suffragette movement
Primary media: Speeches, books, and magazines (The Masses)
Seminal Work: Margaret Fuller Women in the 19th Century (1845)
Sojourner Truth “Ain’t I a Woman”
Seneca Falls Convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony
Cult of domesticity
Angel in the House
Bluestockings
Emma Goldman
Virginia Woolf


Professions for Women
Mrs. Dalloway
o “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” Virginia Woolf


Orlando
A Room of One’s Own
Simone de Beauvoir

The Second Sex
Second Wave
Late 1950s to 1980s
Focus: Reproductive Rights, Roe v. Wade, the Equal Rights Amendment
Grew out of civil rights movement and Viet Nam War protests, primarily middle class women
but included women of color and class struggle. “Women’s struggles are class struggles.”
Primary Media: Television, books, and magazines
Second Wave feminists viewed popular culture as sexist and created counterculture alternatives
“I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy
Seminal Work: Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique
National Organization of Women (founded 1966)
The Pill Time Magazine cover April 7, 1967
The Redstockings
Protests of the Miss America Pageant 1968-69
Bra Burners
The Bitch Manifesto (1968)
Gloria Steinem, Ms. Magazine (1971)

"I Want a Wife" by Judy Brady
o (Text)
Title IX
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be
denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity
receiving federal financial assistance.

Nine for IX About Women. By Women. For All Us. ESPN Documentaries for Title IX
o Branded
Adrienne Rich
Audre Lorde
Alice Walker

Womanism
The 1980s Bridge Between Second and Third Waves
Alison Bechdel
The Bechdel Test (1985)
Feminist Frequency on the Bechdel Test
Guerrilla Girls
Third Wave
1990s to present
Focus: Protests against the patriarchy, heteronormativity, gender binary, rape culture, and
reappropriation of the terms “girl, "bitch," and "slut"
Influenced by post-colonial and post-modernist thinking, global and multicultural, including all
identities without class, gender, and sexuality labels considered artificial
Primary media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr
Seminal Work: Manifesta by Jennifer Baumgarner and Amy Richards
GRRLS—The infusion of punk music with third wave feminism
Riot Grrls
Sleater-Kinney explain Riot Grrl movement
All women are bitches. (1992)
“After all, as it says on a needlepoint sampler or throw pillow or the occasional bumper sticker: Good
girls go to heaven, but bad girls go everywhere. In high heels. Or mules by Manolo Blahnik, the
strappy, tangly kind that give you blisters. And when their feet start to hurt, they bitch about it a lot,
until someone agrees to carry them home. Bad girls understand that there is no point in being good
and suffering in silence. What good has good ever done? We women still only make seventy-one
cents, on average, for every man's dollar. We still have to listen to studies telling us that a single
woman over the age of 35 had best avoid airplanes because she is more likely to die in a terrorist
attack than get married.”
― Elizabeth Wurtzel, Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women
The rise of cyberfeminism (1990)
Cybergrrls
Fighting the patriarchy in high heels, red lipstick, and pearls
From Sam Childers’ McIntosh Feminism Project
Pinkfloor expressed this new position when she said; "It's possible to have a push-up bra and a
brain at the same time."
Sluts


Slut Walks
Slut shaming

Dress Codes
Body Shaming
Post-Feminism
I am not a feminist, but . . .
This is what a feminist looks like.
Male Privilege Checklist
Meninism
#meninism on Twitter
“I don’t see what is so bad, it’s just a joke.”
Why I Still Need Feminism
Appendices
A Feminist Reading List
Mrs. K’s Girls and Problems Pinterest Board
Emma Watson’s Speech on Gender Equality at the UN He for She Campaign