When you say "feminist," to what set of principles are you referring?

Question

There have been 3 waves of feminism. Which do you support? Which are you trying to unravel?

Answer 1

I support the one's that were needed.  The first and second wave.  I am not trying to unravel anything.

Answer 2

none. im trying to bury them all and erase feminism from history books

Answer 3

It's an intricate combination of the three. I consider myself on the cusp of the second wave and the third.

Answer 4

Aha, the infamous "three waves" of feminism! They're only the tip of the iceberg.

There are literally hundreds of different "feminisms". Too many to enumerate.

So what is REAL feminism? Impossible to say because every feminist has her own ideas about what it is so there can be no such thing. It's just a trendy label for young schoolgirls to wrap around themselves.

Answer 5

I'm not "smart" about the feminist movement . . . but this would be my idea of success . . . when it's just as accepted for my husband to stay at home with the children as it is for me . . . then we've made it . . . I'm referring to societal pressure, income variables and job security . . . things of that nature that make it crazy for a "man" to put his job on hold . . .

Answer 6

Mostly I think of a man hater.

Answer 7

1st wave: agree with the principals, do not agree with some of the methods used to accomplish  (like catering to southern white women for suffrage at the expense of black women)

2nd wave: agree with most principals and methods and especially love to dissect reasoning and necessity for radicalism, however I don't agree with the distinctly 2nd wave ideal that the working woman is the liberated woman and the housewife/SAHM is crippled with oppression

3rd wave: have a hard time swallowing it whole.  Agree with some principals but others I feel lack universal appeal as many 3rd wavers claim, like a lot of the pro-s*x stuff and especially the "equalist" and "humanist" approaches that have inspired pseudo-fems like Paglia and Hoff-Sommers

Answer 8

For me the word means a woman or a man who is well aware of the tough role women play in this world, providing full awareness of their ( full)femininity. For another, its just a woman who wants to be = to her fellow men. For a third, its a woman who wants to take the mans (position) & denies him even the role of a woman. The third is tough, doesn't go w/ nature, and so hard to unravel.

Answer 9

There have been waaaay more than three waves. There are people who consider themselves "no wavers" and there are different branches of feminism. Each diverse branch has specific goals they are trying to achieve. The only "unifying" thing is the belief that ALL people are equal and this includes women. Anti-female stances don't just hurt women, they hurt everyone. As long as one group is suffering, well nobody's really "free". Feminism is about freeing everyone from the shackles of narrowly constructed ideas about gender and gender identity. It's not about saying, "You can't play with trucks if you're a boy" or "you can't play with dollies if you're a girl." It's about saying, "You can do what you want and your gender shouldn't affect what choices you make."

Why is this bad? It's not.

Answer 10

I relate to 2nd and third wave feminism most.  The second wave set out to restore the dignity of feminity and I think a fine job of that was done.  I hope that the third wave of political feminism will eventually outgrow gender issues and become more ecological in outlook.  For me this business of equality is a given.  I'm beginning to abhor equalism because I feel the true goal of a lot of them is to  place women back in the homes baby-sitting kids full-time.  I've heard a lot of arguments from equalists on this forum that seem to steer in that direction.  One argument is that children are suffering because mothers are working, and that women should accept stay at home mother-hood as an equal role.  Equalists seem to want to take women's choices away.

The last thing we need is a setback because we have other species out here besides humans that we need to be liberating as well. I support post-modernism and eco-feminism.  I don't have time to try and unravel equalism. I just hope that most people will be able to see through the differing weights and double standards of it's biggest flag-bearers.  

So far I've seen some of the flollowing assertions from equalists:

1.  Women can't work and be adequate mothers at the same time while men can do both

2.  Feminism is feminizing men.

3.  Women are ruthless and agressive on the job.  I suppose men are not?

4.  Feminism is creating homosexuals.  

I can't be associated with an ideaology that can spawn the above 4 statements. Therefore I call myself a post-modern male feminist and not an equalist.

Principles I support:

1. No double standards regarding sexuality.

2. Equal access to wealth and financial independence.

3. The choice to be a working mother or working father  

     without stigma.

4.  The choice to be a SAHM or FAHM without stigma.

5.   Biological autonomy and integrity for both males and  females  which means protecting women's reproductive

rights.

6.  The right for both males and females to be free of physical abuse.