Women 's Unity: The Cornerstone of Feminism The core argument and motive of feminism has always stayed the same, to gain equality for women and no longer be treated as second class citizens. What has changed dramatically over time is which women are considered deserving of this equality. Simply put in early feminism some women were more equal than others. What equality means and how it will come about has also changed dramatically for the feminist movement. Originally equality was seen as having the vote, than women having greater control over their own lives and today it 's about women making the same amount of money as men. Of course these were not the only aims of feminism but were central goals throughout the movements history.
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Feminists were not necessarily entirely racist or homophobic and therefore wanted to exclude minority women and lesbians from the feminist movement. Early feminism was exclusive because it wasn’t very appealing to minority women. The uniting force for women that Beauvoir pointed out as essential for the feminist movement was The Feminine Mystique a book about the plight of white middle class women. I think it is ignorant to claim that these early feminist were horrible racists or didn’t care for the problems of other women. It’s not that they didn’t care more than anything they didn’t know about the problems of minority women they had just realized that they weren’t alone in “the problem that had no name”. Middle class women were beginning to realize they were severely oppressed by a patriarchal society so there initial focus was naturally on relieving their own oppression. This early second wave feminism was not perfect, but no movement is, it may have been exclusionary but it was incredibly important. The Feminine Mystique united women, although not all women, together for the first time and laid the groundwork for a modern feminist movement one that didn’t just want to vote but wanted true …show more content…
Feminism could not be an effective tool for change if it was only servicing white middle class women. For feminism to be truly great and achieve its goals of true equality it would have to welcome poor, black and lesbian women into its ranks. The 70s and 80s marked another revolutionary shift for feminism that called for unity of all women no matter what race, creed, region, or sexuality. This era of feminist thought marked a turning point were many feminists began seeing themselves as a community of women tied together by their sex not by religious or ethnic groups. A community of women became a key aspect of feminism “Without community, there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression” (Audre Lorde page 333). From this point onward feminism would never again try to be exclusive but attempt to be as inclusive as possible. In doing so they hoped to create even greater unity among women and for women to begin thinking of themselves as women just as much as they thought of themselves as black or white. Feminism, particularly third wave feminism, began talking about the problems faced by people who couldn’t identify with The Feminine Mystique. With the rise of girl power movements feminism became even more inclusive and all
Feminists were not necessarily entirely racist or homophobic and therefore wanted to exclude minority women and lesbians from the feminist movement. Early feminism was exclusive because it wasn’t very appealing to minority women. The uniting force for women that Beauvoir pointed out as essential for the feminist movement was The Feminine Mystique a book about the plight of white middle class women. I think it is ignorant to claim that these early feminist were horrible racists or didn’t care for the problems of other women. It’s not that they didn’t care more than anything they didn’t know about the problems of minority women they had just realized that they weren’t alone in “the problem that had no name”. Middle class women were beginning to realize they were severely oppressed by a patriarchal society so there initial focus was naturally on relieving their own oppression. This early second wave feminism was not perfect, but no movement is, it may have been exclusionary but it was incredibly important. The Feminine Mystique united women, although not all women, together for the first time and laid the groundwork for a modern feminist movement one that didn’t just want to vote but wanted true …show more content…
Feminism could not be an effective tool for change if it was only servicing white middle class women. For feminism to be truly great and achieve its goals of true equality it would have to welcome poor, black and lesbian women into its ranks. The 70s and 80s marked another revolutionary shift for feminism that called for unity of all women no matter what race, creed, region, or sexuality. This era of feminist thought marked a turning point were many feminists began seeing themselves as a community of women tied together by their sex not by religious or ethnic groups. A community of women became a key aspect of feminism “Without community, there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression” (Audre Lorde page 333). From this point onward feminism would never again try to be exclusive but attempt to be as inclusive as possible. In doing so they hoped to create even greater unity among women and for women to begin thinking of themselves as women just as much as they thought of themselves as black or white. Feminism, particularly third wave feminism, began talking about the problems faced by people who couldn’t identify with The Feminine Mystique. With the rise of girl power movements feminism became even more inclusive and all