"A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle."
-Irina Dunn, 1970
-Irina Dunn, 1970
Second-Wave Feminism, also known as the Women’s Liberation Movement, was a women’s rights movement that began in the later 1960s and continued to the 1990s. 40 years after the first wave of feminism granted women the right to vote, in the midst of a political atmosphere increasingly charged by civil rights and anti-war movements, women around America realized that they needed more, much more, than just suffrage in order to attain equality. Issues of illegal abortion, marriage, domestic abuse, rape, access to childcare, equal pay and equal respect came to the forefront of new feminist platforms. They challenged and attempted to uproot deeply rooted sex and gender stigmas that deemed women the natural “second sex." The personal became the political. Key second-wave feminists, such as Gloria Steinem, knew the only way change could occur was by engaging in constructive, informative, public conversation.
What does it mean to be a feminist?
"Being a feminist means that you see the world whole instead of half. It shouldn’t need a name. And one day it won’t. Feminism starts as something very simple. It’s starts as a little child who says 'it’s not fair' and 'you are not the boss of me'. There is something in us that knows that - and it ends up being a world view that questions hierarchy all together."
-Gloria Steinem
-Gloria Steinem
A brief history of Second wave feminism
Simone de Beauvoir was the first to use the words "Women's Liberation" in her revolutionary feminist publication in 1953.
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Source: Time Magazine
In 1968, nearly 400 women protested outside the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City. The legendary protest was the first in a long series of Second-Wave feminist demonstrations.
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Ms. Magazine was the first magazine written by women and for women. Published in 1970 with the help of Gloria Steinem, Ms. helped open dialogue and inspire action in the Women's Movement.
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Source: Time Magazine
The fight for the Equal Rights Amendment was a pinnacle of Second-Wave feminism.
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Source: Third-Wave Foundation
Feminism today is referred to as "Third-Wave" Feminism. Although the goals vary from group to group, modern feminists work to end discrimination and achieve equality.
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