The third wave of feminism may not be for the faint at heart. And not just because of it’s apparent openness in discussing private issues like whether one can be a feminist and still get a bikini wax.
No, the main reason it makes some people uncomfortable is that it demands our total commitment to the cause and it isn’t big on excuses. Not only are we expected to challenge the status quo, but we must remain ever critical of our own perspective in order to (excuse the cliché) become the change we wish to see. This revolution starts with us.
According to Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, the third wave (which refers to the late ‘80s up to the present) is not about following a certain feminist rulebook or even venerating a younger, hipper Gloria Steinem-equivalent (though they themselves certainly fit the bill); instead, it is about listening to our inner-voice, remaining true to ourselves and to our choices, and taking full responsibility for our actions.
Admittedly, this is not always easy. In their talk at the Hanes Art Center on Tuesday night, Baumgardner explained the discomfort many people—not just feminists—feel when asked to assume total responsibility for their lives.
“The decision to either bring a life into this world or not bring a life into this world – that’s huge,” says Baumgardner, who is also the creator of the I Had an Abortion project and author of Abortion & Life (Akashic Books, 2008). While she certainly does not suggest that women would prefer to have their reproductive options limited, what she does mean is that the weight of our choices can often be overwhelming.
Though most feminists would gladly accept the label pro-choice, Baumgardner and Richards suggest that the word choice can often serve to water down the values of feminism. Instead, they argue that we should accept and engage with the complexities of a variety of issues, as opposed to blindly following one immutable philosophy. Rather than resisting what can seem like contradictory stances—like whether a bikini wax is sexually liberating or sexually oppressive, for instance—we should focus on broadening our dialogue and continuing to challenge the way we think about feminism.
Perhaps the most moving part of the talk was when Richards shared a story of meeting a civil rights activist whose words of wisdom for her were to “believe it.” After some clarification, she came to understand what this meant for women: That we must believe we are worth the fight. In a culture where we are brainwashed to believe that “We’re worth it” mainly in terms of external appearances, the third wave offers us an alternative vision: That our value—as women, as feminists, and as human beings—does not depend on the size of our waists, the color of our skin, or the length of our pubic hair.
And for us all to truly believe that would indeed be revolutionary.
