Third-Wave Feminism Lacks A Cohesive Goal
First-wave feminists’ goal was to gain the right for women to vote.
The second-wave feminists aimed togain equal access to job opportunities and make legal sex discrimination illegal.
The third-wave feminists lack a cohesive goal because they embrace individualism and autonomy.
These ideas prohibit feminists that embody different sexualities, races, and ethnicities from being a collective because they express themselves differently, so it’s hard to understand each other.
Should Their Goal Be More Inclusion?
Third-wave feminists proclaim themselves to be the most inclusive wave of feminism.
It promotes diverse workplaces, gender diversity, ethnic diversity, and racial diversity.
The goal of more inclusion is a step in the right direction, but there should be a fight for acceptance of diversity, or in other words, intersectional feminism.
Black and white women still have different rights regarding their socioeconomic status.
Women make 79 cents to every dollar men earn in the workforce.
For black women, it’s 64 cents.
For Latinas, it’s 54 cents.
“Black women experience much higher rates of domestic and sexual abuse from partners than white women, and Black women are less likely to report this violence than white women.”
That’s in addition to the police brutality their experience frequently in America compared to their white counterparts.
An article from Forbes states that “…it is equally as important to be careful not to conflate the bias that white women face with the marginalization that Black Americans experience.”
This quote means acknowledging the struggle of women of color, like black women, as more oppressive because of their gender identity and race.
Women of color are more stereotyped than white women too, which is the root of their treatment regarding discrimination and their equal rights.
Black women have to lead white women to advocate for themselves in politics and entertainment to show people unity for a single cause.
That single cause is acceptance. Black women are human like us, so their goal shouldn’t be more inclusion; it should be acceptance.
Black Feminism
If there’s no space for black feminism in white feminism, why not establish the first wave of black feminism?
This question is a pessimistic view on feminism because it divides the movement, but I question the terms, white feminists and black feminists.
Those terms resonate with my proposed “first wave of black feminism”, or “cultural feminism.”
This way, their cause can be more focused and relatable to the people in the movement.
“White feminism…..is a racist ideology that claims to speak for all women while ignoring the needs of women of color and suppressing our voices when our agendas and priorities don’t align.”
This idea gives more reason for the emergence of the first wave of cultural feminism.
I am skeptical that white feminists will see cultural feminists as a threat due to their advocacy making them uncomfortable. Their voices, agendas, and priorities don’t align.
The best thing that white feminists can do is educate themselves and authentically engage with more diverse women.
Cultural Feminists Need To Get On White Feminists’ Level
Cultural feminists need to assure white feminists that they are fighting the same fight: sexism, just in different groups. Their struggle is a more uphill because of their race or sexual orientation.
It helps that they have historical context to their uphill battle, like the Black Lives Matter movement and stereotypes everyone knows.
Cultural feminists’ fight is due to sexism, racism, and homophobia. That’s three “levels” of hatred that people and institutions of society create to oppress them.
White feminists’ fight is due to just sexism. That’s just one “level” of hatred.
Change is slow, so that’s why cultural feminists’ uphill battle is steeper than white feminists’, and they should do everything they can to help.
Again, I repeat, they are all fighting the same fight but at different levels.
The socioeconomic status of those social groups speaks to the oppression they go through, which is why diversity in the workplace, politics, economics, entertainment, and sports should be advocated by white feminists to be more inclusive, led by cultural feminists, and assisted by white feminists because they hold more power.
Also, the next generation of girls need to be taught skills on how to cooperate, problem solve, and how to deal with conflict in better ways than previous generations.
