From One Survivor to Another

1 year ago

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whiteness

April 11, 2012

Second Wave Feminism

feministhistorian:

Feminist (and everyone on tumblr really) keep throwing this term around like they actually know what it means. Second Wave feminism is not a monolithic movement. It is as diverse as the feminist movement today. Second wave feminism is not just Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan (if you don’t know who they are, just shut up while you are ahead). Second wave feminism is not just a movement of white cis straight middle class women who hate everyone else. You do realize some of tumblrs favorite feminist were active in the second wave movement, right? Women like Angela Davis, bell hooks, and Gloria Anzaldúa. These women were writing and actively involved in that movement you all hate because you think it was just radical feminist. Black feminism came out of the second wave feminist movement. Chicana feminism also came out of it. Lesbian feminism did too. Did I mention second wave feminism wasn’t just a bunch of white ladies complaining they wanted jobs? I recommend checking out both Living for the Revolution: Black Feminist Organizations, 1968–1980 by Kimberly Springer and Separate Roads to Feminism: Black, Chicana, and White Feminist Movements in America’s Second Wave by Benita Roth.

Remember how I complain that feminist[s] don’t know our history? I am convinced I give my “feminist don’t understand history” rant like once a week. This shit is starting to get old. Google is our friend. If you can use tumblr, you can use google. Ignoring that WOC, queer women, working class women, etc. were involved in the Second Wave Feminist movement makes you look like an asshole and kinda shows you are not as progressive as you think. By claiming second wave feminism is only a bunch of white elite straight cis women, you are ignoring the histories of many women and that is fucked up. History is important, learn it.

ALRIGHT. It’s time to finally critique this.

I am going to be blunt— your idea of history is fucked. No one is saying that literally, Women of Color feminists did not exist during the time of the 2nd wave. That’s ridiculous. We are saying that these women were not a part of the 2nd wave because White Woman Feminism dominated the discourse and did not allow space for them, at all. The fact of the matter is that yes, the 2nd wave was monolithic. Women of Color were outside of that wave.

If anything, people like Angela Davis, bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldua, Audre Lorde, Cherrie Moraga, etc., are more like 2.5 -3rd wave feminists. They are only now just starting to be taken seriously by Feminism with a capital F. The literal historical time during which these people is not what matters— what matters is whether or not they were actually influential and listened to, which they were not during the 2nd wave. Even today, it is still questionable whether or not Women of Color are actually included in the 3rd wave (as Slutwalk fiascos and other crap have proven), or whatever we are moving into next.

Regardless, there is a huge difference between historical interpretation and historical fact. Historical fact: WoC were living during the 2nd wave. Historical interpretation (that WoC feminists and a lot of notable White feminist historians like Gerda Lerner overwhelmingly agree with): WoC were not a part of that movement because they were excluded.

Also, your post is incredibly fucked up and racist. You’re basically telling all of us Women of Color that what we think and feel is wrong. So fuck you and your racist, white woman feminist bullshit still trying to defend itself and rewrite history decades later. Do you actually know your history? Because it sure sounds like you don’t.