blog # 13

Blog # 13
1. What were the main sources of feminism’s revival in the late 1960s and early 1970s? How did this differ from the “Third Wave” of feminism in the 1990s?
In 1960’s, “initially concentrated on gaining equality for women within the protest movements of black power, Chicanismo and the New left, women’s liberation soon challenged the condition of women in the larger society” (629). The main source of all of this was NOW (National Organization for Women). Women’s liberation became a large movement amongst everyone. This was actually called the “Second wave.” In 1970 the anti-feminism movement emerged and this had a “tremendous impact on mainstream American political life, all the way up to and including the presidency” (628). NOW made people see women in a more political view. Women fought for job opportunities and fair wages. By 1972 women could actually make their own choices concerning abortion and pregnancy. Women actually had a say in their life and their own bodies. However, this did cause some problems because women were being sexually harassed and there was violence.
I think that this differed from the “third wave” because a lot of good things had happened during this time for women. First of all, women held more power, especially in politics. Women were now making it into Congress, which was a huge deal. Women workers were being recognized for their employment. And most importantly, racism wasn’t as bad because women of different cultures and color were being treated more equal.

2. According to Phyllis Schlafly, “What’s Wrong with Equal Rights for Women.” Do you agree or disagree with her?
Phyllis Schalfly is not happy about the Equal Rights for Women Amendment. She thinks that this will ruin everything. In her opinion women are overreacting and “yapping about how mistreated” they are (650). She says “The truth is that American women never had it so good. Why should we lower ourselves to “equal rights” when we already have the status of special privilege” (650). In her opinion, women have got a lot of privileges that should be enough for them, an example would be the right to a divorce. She thinks that women are making it into a huge deal and that feminists are taking it too far and calls it a “noisy movement”. She thinks that this amendment will abolish a woman’s right to child support or any alimony (651). I guess she makes a good point about how women have a great privilege that any time there is a divorce, women usually have the right to take custody of the children and she thinks that the equal rights will ruin that. Basically she thinks that women should be content with what they have and it should be enough for them. I can’t say I agree, even though she makes a couple of good points, because finally women have come this far to even get any rights, so why shouldn’t they have more of it? Just because they gained a few extra privileges doesn’t mean they should just shut up and not demand for equal rights as well. Obviously, doing this won’t take away the rights that they have now. I think she’s just scared that this amendment will take away everything women earned and they will be right back where they started, which isn’t even the case.

3. In your opinion, is the war of the sexes over (in the 21st century) or do women still have a long fight ahead of them? Why or why not?
Honestly, I can say that yes the war of the sexes is pretty much over. Of course there are issues here and there that women still fight for if needed. But overall I think that women have come so far in achieving this much that the war is pretty much over. As of today, women are just as successful as men, just the fact that the first female is running for President says it all. Of course there are a lot of people that don’t like the fact that she’s running, and don’t think she would be a good president, but that’s just freedom of speech and people will always state their negative opinions no matter what. I think it’s just the fact that there are still some old fashioned people around that think a woman cannot be just as good as a man in a certain task, but that will change over time. But no matter what, there will always be a difference between a man and a woman because I think that’s only normal, we are too different. I think that once the generation changes, (and Hillary Clinton is PresidentJ) those barriers will all be broken.

Textbook document
1. What do the documents suggest are the most important characteristics of the feminist revival of the 1990s? How is it different from the movement of the 1960s and 1970s?
I think some of the most important characteristics of the feminist revival of the 1990’s was women having freedom over their own “arena of sexuality” (665), also for all women of color and culture to be free of mind to say and do as they please. “A central characteristics of the redefinition is the insistence that feminism acknowledge the multiple identities of women” and without paying any attention to race, class, or sex (666). All of these set backs had to be fixed so that people could have their equal rights. I think that the difference from this and the movement of the 60’s and the 70’s is modern feminists are making it better for the young generation in the sense that they have more freedom, but women faced problems with this (harassment).

2. Do the documents offer compelling reasons for young women to identify with the term “feminism”?
Yes, because the documents show the importance of feminism and what that has done for women’s history. It shows young women how important it is something that helped women take a stand and make a difference in a lot of people’s lives. These feminists changed the way that women are being treated today and a lot of people fought in movements to get where they are today.