Is Feminism Dead? An Overview of Post-Feminism

by Jen Nedeau

Published October 04, 2008 @ 04:21PM PST

To believe in a post-feminism era is, in essence, to believe that feminism is dead.

Some say that they are post-feminists because they believe the concept of feminism is irrelevant in society where gender inequality isn't a modern-day problem. And, by proxy, they are also saying that feminism has achieved its goals and now it is time to distance themselves from the movement.

Some call themselves post-feminist because they believe in taking charge of their own success - economic, political, and sexual power - without admitting to any kind of glass ceiling, which is the sort of power feminism that Naomi Wolf details in her book Fire with Fire. Still, regardless of admitting there is or is not a glass ceiling, removing oneself from the collective women's rights movement can also mean unwittingly engaging in the post-feminist movement.

Some see the "f-word" as something "dangerous and profane, an explosive term - angry, unfeminine women use to identify themselves" as Rory Dicker puts it. These descriptors have created a stigma against feminism. While many women believe in the proponents of feminism - equality in society - they still shy away from the feminism tag and instead subscribe to the concept of post-feminism. In this case, being post-feminist is an attempt to avoid the stigma of the word, regardless of whether or not one sees society is being fair and just for all women.

A major component of the contemporary feminist movement is to engage in consciousness-raising (CR) efforts. As written about in the book Manifesta by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, "CR was designed to be a radicalizing process, a way of spurring women to change the world and of transforming the personal into the political." Believing in post-feminism and saying that there is no need for future efforts within the women's movement serves to thwart CR efforts and can in effect further gender discrimination rather than lessen it. Whether you consider yourself a first, second, or third wave feminist, all feminists agree that having a dialogue about women's rights, while also honoring past lessons and achievements, is essential to future success. By saying that feminism is dead and the women's rights movement is no longer necessary, post-feminists choose to silence consciousness-raising efforts.

Origin of the term

One of the earliest uses of the term "post-feminism" was in Susan Bolotin's 1982 article "Voices of the Post-Feminist Generation," published in 1982 in New York Times Magazine, in which it was used to describe a backlash against second-wave feminism. Meanwhile, some contemporary feminists, such as Katha Pollitt or Nadine Strossen, consider feminism to hold simply that "women are people". Their view is that feminism serves to divide the sexes rather than unite them, and by centering efforts around a specific gender, the efforts of the women's rights movement are in fact sexist rather than feminist.

In her 1994 book Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women, Christina Hoff Summers reports that the modern academic feminist theory, as well as the women's rights movement are gynocentric and misandrist because in her point of view, neither call for men and women to work together toward equality, but rather for women to work against men. She labels this "gender feminism" and proposes the idea of "equity feminism" instead, which aims for full civil and legal equality of men and women from all backgrounds. She argues that gender feminists advocate preferential treatment and portray women as victims, while equity feminism provides a more viable alternative form of feminism that focuses on equality and results. These descriptions and other work have caused Hoff Sommers to be described as an antifeminist by some other feminists.

Backlash

No matter what form it takes, however, one thing is clear: the post-feminist movement is in many respects a formalized backlash against feminism. The unfortunate thing is that the concept of post-feminism is appealing to women who don't realize its damaging effect. To many, the rise of post-feminism signals a world "in which feminism has been transcended, occluded, overcome," but to others it is still clear that there's work to do.

In a world where women still have yet to achieve equal pay for equal work, still face sexual violence, still lack equal representation in government, business and higher education, still try to meet impossible beauty standards, still lack access to affordable health care - it is impossible to say that feminism is dead. To do so would in essence reverse historical efforts with the false veil of present day gender equality.

Unfortunately, pretending that there is equality when in fact it has yet to be achieved is one of the worst things a woman can do for the future of the women's rights movement.

Perhaps it is time to say post-feminism is dead and feminism lives on.