Kalejaiye

Tobi Kalejaiye
Elizabeth Caruso
UWRIT
March 1st, 2016
Feminism
The topic of my project is feminism. I chose this topic because although I
have my own personal viewpoints on the topic I was very curious to hear what other
people had to say on the subject. Because the issue is very controversial I knew that
responses to any questions I would have would vary based on age, class and
especially gender. With that in mind I attempted to get more than one source for
every question I attempted to answer. My sources ranged from scholarly articles,
published books, YouTube videos and most surprisingly UrbanDictionary.com.
To start off my Inquiry Path my first question
was What is feminism? To me feminism has always been the effort to gain equal
status as men in all fields, but I could not base my path on my response alone. I
figured it would be simple enough to open the dictionary because only there would I
get a clear cut answer. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines feminism as the belief
that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities (Gove). Since
Merriam Webster is generally accepted as a reputable source, I could have ended
my inquiry at that point, but I was more interested in hearing from sources that are
not as scholarly. I asked the same question and found myself on HowStuffWorks.com
where they described feminism as the belief in equality between males and
females (Conger, 2009). In addition to the definition the article admits that aside
from the desire to create an egalitarian society nothing in the feminist movement
has a sort of organization (Conger 2009). I was getting closer and closer to hearing
the type of answers I wanted to hear, which were opinionated, motivated

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definitions. Taking it another step further I went to Urban Dictionary where I was
sure I would find a definition clothed in sentiment. User Justin333 expressed
feminism as the radical notion that women are people too (Justin333, 2009).
Dripping in obvious sarcasm with the use of quotation marks, I finally attained the
truth behind the definition of feminism. I identified with Justin333 because the idea
of feminism is so easy but when its suggested to others their reactions can be
compared to people who have been asked to give up food. People nowadays act as
if such an extreme way of living. Although the definition is quite simple, people
have different interpretations of the rest of the parameters concerning feminism
and the rest of my inquiry path would attempt to discover why that was.
My next
burning question was who is a feminist? Finding myself back on HowStuffWorks
described feminists as originating in France. The term arises based upon the woman
who were arguing for the right of suffrage. Although the two were not synonymous,
because just having the belief that women were equal enough to have voting rights
did not mean they should have rights in other realms such as social, cultural or
economic. Not content with my answer I discovered a New York Time magazine
where famous actress Shailene Woodley admitting to not identifying as a feminist
because she disliked the idea of stealing power from men to give to women
(Meltzer, 2014). That statement puzzled me. Shailene Woodley is a popular actress
who gained most of her success from her leading roles. The Secret Life of the
American Teenager, The Fault in Our Stars, The Descendants and most importantly
Insurgent. Insurgent sticks out because in that film she played a heroine. Shailene
Woodley obviously did not know what she was talking about, but I had to use
research to make her point invalid.

Does feminism truly take power from

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men? Frisky, a popular self-help website argued otherwise. In fact the website
provided ways to implement the concept of feminism to boys at a young age. One
of the tips included allowing boys to understand that women are not enemies in
pursuit of the power that boys hold (How to Teach Boys to be Feminists, 2011).
Finding resolution Shailene Woodleys comment was not sufficient enough. Now that
I knew it was possible for boys to be feminists, I wanted to get to know a couple for
myself.

HuffingtonPost

formulated a list of celebrities and their stance of feminism. While answers varied I
was most interested in the explanations that each celebrity gave. For those who
answered no to being a feminists they blamed it on their lack of knowledge, their
lack of female ovaries or even their apprehensiveness when it came to labeling
themselves as something concerning the word female(The Cut, 2015). These
answers were not strange to me at all. Most people that dont affiliate themselves
with feminism, wouldnt be able to give you the proper definition of feminism in the
first place.
Putting that logic to work I decided to interview a couple of guys that I
knew. While conducting the interviews I was mindful to be inclusive of various ages,
races and how their household was structured. In order not to be bias I asked the
same two questions to everyone. I have to admit being conscious of my tone was an
important factor because sometimes my beliefs about the subject sometimes begin
to seep as sarcasm when I confront something that ignorantly contrasts them (my
beliefs). While all the subjects varied on characteristics, one thing that they agreed
on was the inability to provide an accurate definition of feminism. When later asked
if they were feminists only two subjects said yes. The first simply said yes while the
second subject said since he was a liberal he HAD to be a feminists (Kalejaiye,

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Kalejaiye 2015). Everyone else answered no to being a feminists because they
werent woman. They were sure to add that although they werent feminists they
respected girls to the fullest and shared the same values (Heath, Rodgers,
2015).

Well at this point in my project I

had to ask myself a couple more questions with the facts I had accumulated. Even
though not everyone identified as a feminists, but shared the same values as
woman, why was a movement even necessary? Shouldnt we all have been able to
live peaceably without creating a movement to ensure we did? These questions led
me to asking, why was the first wave of feminism necessary?
According to
thehistoryoffeminism.com feminism arose as a necessity in the midst of political
calamity (History of Feminism, 2012). Not going into much more detail other than
the cause of feminism I went on a website for the Chicago Womens Liberation
Union. The site seemed scholarly but well versed on past instances of feminism
rather than modern day. Lucky for me, that was enough for my general topic of
early feminism. Around 1790, there was an ongoing dilemma on whether or not
slavery was constitutional. The debate led to a split of citizens who were in favor of
eradicate slavery. Those group of people became referred to as abolitionists.
Because of the lack of political recognition women had their opinion on the matter
was ignored. The only way their opinion on the matter would count was if they
gained the right to vote. This point was especially illustrated with the political
cartoons I found on the website for the National Women's History Museum Website.
Well, if the nineteenth amendment is any evidence of womens efforts from the first
wave of feminism my next question was: why was the second wave a flop?
An article in Pacific Magazine by

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Martha Rampton attempted to explain the roots of the second wave of feminism. To
be quite honest I got most of my information from Rampton because of the
credentials I later read up on. She's a professor of history at Pacific University for all
matters concerning gender equality. Her forte is social history and activities of
women. So, in my head she seemed like she knew her material. After passing my
credibility test I went along with my research. I found out that the second wave of
feminism was most centered on social equality. Women everywhere were
demanding equality and they were not taking no as an answer, to get their point
across they engaged in public demonstration. Because of the general consensus for
equality amongst women, organizations were beginning to form (Rampton, 2015).
This was the part in my research where it seemed that there was an obvious bias.
Rampton failed to mention that although organizations were beginning to form,
membership to these orgs were very exclusive to middle class white woman. It
really rubbed me the wrong way when I found out that African American women
werent included. It rubbed my skin raw to know that people failed to acknowledge
their (African American women) exclusion in what they were offering as history.
Unfortunately, where Rampton failed to mention racial exclusion I found on
womenshistory.about.com in a section on African American Womens History. While
research on the exclusion of minority women would later be scrutinized I kept it as a
note to lead me to my next inquiry. Since the second wave of feminism didnt end
with a new amendment, or any sizable changes, making it a flop, where are we now
with feminism?

Well, where

we are depends on how you would like to look at it. Some would like to say were in
the third phase of feminism while others contend that were actually in the fourth. It
puzzled me how there was a debate to what stage of history we were in because,

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its history and I believe history should agree with each other. But right after I had
that thought I remembered that history can be written in different viewpoints so its
important to take note of each.

I learned in

previous history courses that history can never be fully assessed and analyzed until
many years after it occurs. It takes time to fully comprehend the cause and effects
of certain events. With that being said I wasnt fortunate enough to gather as much
scholarly information on the third wave of feminism, in comparison to my research
on the other waves. I discovered that the idea of third wave feminism was crafter by
Rebecca Walker, daughter of Alice Walker. Alice Walker is the author of the novel,
The Color Purple. Since I read the book I knew enough to be aware of the
controversy that arose because of it. Examples of sexism, racism and homosexuality
were themes that lined the pages. So I was excited to see what the offspring of such
an author had to say on the topic of feminism. Rebecca Walker, a bisexual African
American woman, became the figure for third wave feminism after an article she
wrote for Ms. Magazine, Becoming the Third Wave, where she stated, To be a
feminist is to integrate an ideology of equality and female empowerment into the
very fiber of life. It is to search for personal clarity in the midst of systemic
destruction, to join in sisterhood with women when often we are divided, to
understand power structures with the intention of challenging them(Walker, 2007).
Walkers opinions on feminism and characteristics are what I think of when I think
modern day feminism. I think of women of all races and all preferences joining
together to achieve an equal life. But I couldnt go off Walkers life alone, so I landed
on everydayfeminism.com to learn more about the third wave of feminism.
Thorough reading led me to discover the third wave of feminism was less
marginalized than ever with the inclusion of minority races (Lueptow, 2014). Even

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though there seemed to be a larger pool of supporters there was much more
emphasis on self-identity rather than group identity. This inadvertently led to
ambiguity within ranging themes of feminism. A theme of feminism that seemed to
be very common was the decision to reclaim the use of words that had previously
been conceived to be derogatory. I swallowed all this information and almost started
to agree with the idea of only having three waves of feminism UNTIL I landed on
civilliberty.com and skimmed through the published article. My eyes stopped briefly
when they landed on one particular sentence, I'm assuming, for the sake of
argument, that you're a decent person and that, if you're not a woman yourself, you
at least have a certain amount of respect for women's lives (Head). So much
hostility was within not only that sentence, but the rest of the article as well. I
assumed it was because of the lack of bias in the website so I moved on to find a
better source. The time spent on other websites proved to be no different. With the
use of opinion rather than fact I came to the conclusion that the third wave of
feminism seemed to be really self-centered and biased. I dont believe thats what
our current wave of feminism is about so like Goldilocks I moved onto the fourth
wave of feminism pondering its existence.

Feminist.com shapes the fourth

wave of feminism having evolved in 2008 (Baumgaurdner 2000). Like previous

waves there has always been a change in conditions and what sets the fourth wave
apart from others is the increase in use of technology. Feminists have much more of
a presence on sites like Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook. Theguardian.com highlights
many stories of feminist online existence on their website. This online presence
portrayed by feminist has garnered enough respect to create a force against sexism
in marketing. An example of this presence was the Always commercial premiered
during the Super bowl. With a burning agenda there are differences of opinion on

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which problems feminists should focus on. This welcomes variations on how the
issues should be dealt with feminists confront several issues and campaigns are
usually initiated by small groups of feminists rather than a group effort. The
difference in opinion has created intersectionality that is displayed on social media,
most of it being based on racial needs. A hashtag Im most familiar with is
#blackgirlmagic. I identify strongly with this hashtag and post topics about it
whenever chanced. I feel after hundreds of years of physical and psychological
mistreatment, social exclusion and inequality within our own racial counterparts it's
time that black girls clap back. I think its time that we embrace our features and
celebrate our successes, I think its time that we begin to love ourselves and
demand a seat at the table of equality. Feeling very strongly on this I decided to
interview two other girls I knew that held similar sentiment. In my prezi their beliefs
are expressed after being asked what is black girl magic and why do you feel the
need to separate yourself from white women?(Davis, Kolawole) I took their
responses into consideration while approaching the end of my inquiry path. After my
research and evaluation of my beliefs I concluded that we are in the fourth wave of
feminism.

My inquiry

path allowed me to answer my original question of what is feminism, but it drew

many more in the process. After my research I was able to recount the origins of
feminism from many points. My research also proved to me because of the lack of
structure within feminism and the lack of normalcy in history, it is impossible to tell
others where feminism is heading. Despite being able to predict the future, Im able
to offer unbiased information on the topic while safeguarding my own.

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Works Cited
Gove, Philip Babcock. "Feminism." Def. 1. Webster's Third New International
Dictionary of the English

Language, Unabridged: A

Merriam-Webster. Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam, 1961. Print.

Conger, Christen. "How Feminism Works." HowStuffWorks. InfoSpace LLC, 2009.
Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

<http://people.howstuffworks.com/feminism2.htm>.

Justin333. "Feminism." Urban Dictionary. Urban Dictionary. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Feminism>.
Meltzer, Marisa. "Who Is a Feminist Now?" The New York Times. The New York Times,
2014. Web. 29

Feb. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/fashion/who-is-

a-feminist-now.html?_r=2>.
"How To Teach Boys To Be Feminists - The Frisky." The Frisky. SpinMedia, 2011. Web.
29 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.thefrisky.com/2011-09-25/teaching-boys-to-be-

feminists/>.
Cut, The. "15 Famous Men on Whether Or Not They're Feminists." The Huffington
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famous-men-on-

whether_b_8600932.html>.
Kalejaiye, Enitan. Feminism. Telephone interview. 3. Feb. 2016.

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Rogers, Kanden. Feminism. Telephone interview. 3 Feb. 2016.
Heath, Myles. Feminism. Telephone interview. 3 Feb. 2016.
"History of Feminism." History of Feminism. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
<http://historyoffeminism.com/category/first-wave-feminism/page/2/>.
Baumgardner, Jennifer. "Is There a Fourth Wave? Does it Matter? By Jennifer
Baumgardner." Is There A

Fourth Wave? Does It Matter? BY Jennifer

Baumgardener. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/baumgardner2011.html>.
DuBois, Ellen. "Feminism Old Wave and New Wave." Feminism Old Wave and New
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2016.

<https://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/CWLUArchive/wave.html>.
Napikoski, Linda. "What Were the Ideas of the 1960s/1970s Women's Movement?"
About.com

Education. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

<http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/tp/Ten_important_feminist_beliefs.ht
m>.
Lueptow, Kelsey. "Feminism Now: What the Third Wave Is Really About." Everyday
Feminism. 2014.

Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

<http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/01/feminism-now/>.
"Rights for Women." Rights for Women. National Women's History Museum, 2007.
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<https://www.nwhm.org/online-

exhibits/rightsforwomen/cartoons.html>.

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Rampton, Martha. "Four Waves of Feminism." Four Waves of Feminism. Pacific
University. Web. 29 Feb.

2016. <http://www.pacificu.edu/about-us/news-

events/four-waves-feminism>.
"HeathenGrrl's Blog." : Becoming the Third Wave by Rebecca Walker. Web. 29 Feb.
2016.

<http://heathengrrl.blogspot.com/2007/02/becoming-third-wave-by-

rebecca-walker.html>.
"Is Feminism Relevant?" About.com News & Issues. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
<http://civilliberty.about.com/od/gendersexuality/f/femini_relevant.htm>.
Cochrane, Kira. "The Fourth Wave of Feminism: Meet the Rebel Women." The
Guardian. Guardian News

and Media, 2013. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/fourth-wave-feminism-rebelwomen>.
Davis, Kayla. "Black Girl Magic." Telephone interview. 4 Feb. 2016.
Kolawole, Taiye. Black Girl Magic. Telephone interview. 9 Feb. 2016.