• Feminist = a political position
• Female = a matter of biology
• Feminine = a set of culturally defined characteristics

First wave of Feminism

‘sexism was coined by analogy with the term racism in the American civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Defined simply, sexism refers to the systematic ways in which men and women are brought up to view each other antagonistically, on the assumption that the male is always superior to the female‘

Was galvanised by organisations such as, the British Women’s Suffrage Committee (1867), the International Council of Women (1888), the The International Alliance of Women (1904).

Second wave of Feminism

‘the feminist literary criticism of today is the product of the women’s movement of the 1960’s’

 -The facilitation of birth control and divorce, the acceptance of abortion and homosexuality occurred. Set great store by the process of consciousness raising’ ‘influencing everyday conduct and attitudes.’ and ‘exposing the mechanisms of patriarchy, that is the cultural ‘mind-set’ in men and women which perpetuated sexual inequality’.

Third wave of Feminism

-coined by Naomi Wolf

‘rebellion of younger women against what was perceived as the prescriptive, pushy and ‘sex negative’ approach of older feminists.’

Emerged in the mid-1990’s as a response to the generation gap between the feminist movement of the 1960’s and ’70’s. It had challenged some of the definitions of femininity that was believed in the 60’s and 70’s. women’s lives were then seen as intersectional, which demonstrated pluralism.an emphasis on the differences among women due to race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion

Different Characteristics:

-individual and do-it-yourself (DIY) tactics

-fluid and multiple subject positions and identities

-cyberactivism

-the reappropriation of derogatory terms such as ‘slut’ and ‘bitch’ for liberatory purposes

-sex positivity

Fourth wave of Feminism

-Explores contradictory arguments 

 -Recognises emancipatory tools of new social platforms to connect, share and develop new perspectives.

Introduction of the idea of raunch culture= ‘Raunch culture is the sexualised performance of women in the media that can play into male stereotypes of women as highly sexually available, where its performers believe they are powerful owners of their own sexuality’