Fourth-wave feminism refers to a resurgence of interest in feminism that began around 2012 and is associated with the use of social media. Issues that fourth-wave feminists focus on include street and workplace harassment, campus sexual assault and rape culture. Scandals involving the harassment and abuse of women and girls have galvanized the movement. These …
Body image is a person’s perception of the aesthetic or sexual attractiveness of their own body. This phrase was coined by Paul Schilder in his book, The Image and Appearance of the Human Body. One’s body image can be shaped by many different factors, including factors such as a person’s personal experiences, personality, and social …
Terrible Perfection: Women in Russian Literature is a book critiquing the portrayal of women in Russian literature, both by male and female authors. The author, Barbara Heldt, sought to apply feminist thought and gynocriticism to texts in order to expose the unrealistic and unfair portrayal of women. Gynocritrical writing focuses on literature written by female …
The Bechdel Test was created by Alison Bechdel. Bechdel is a cartoonist who proposed the Bechdel Test in a comic, but then it was adopted as an actual film test afterwards. To past the Bechdel Test, a movie, or other works of fiction, must have two women who talk about something other than a man. …
The “Final Girl” is a theme of horror films in which there is a single female protagonist left at the end who tells the story. The most well known examples of this genre are Halloween, Friday the 13th, Eyes of a Stranger, The Shining, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The term was coined by Carol J. Clover …
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While there is not a set time span for the third wave of feminism, it is believed to have started in the early 1990s and extends into today. This Third Wave rose as a response to failures of previous waves of feminism and to reject initiatives created between the 1960s- 1980s. The shift from the …
While sometimes considered a difficult topic to discuss, the presence of white privilege in modern America and the subsequent inequalities faced by those who do not experience it cannot be ignored. White privilege refers to the societal benefits enjoyed by white people because of their race, which others under the same political, social, or economic …
Laura Mulvey is a British film feminist. She was born in Oxford, United Kingdom on August 15, 1941. She is best known for her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” In writing this essay, she brought forth the theory of the male gaze in films. In film, the male gaze occurs when the camera focuses …
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The second-wave of feminism was a period of feminist activity that first began in the early 1960s which broadened the debate of first wave feminism to a wide range of issues. The first wave of feminism focused on women’s suffrage and other legal obstacles, the second wave created a much broader range than that. …
The first wave of feminism was a period (the first major period) of feminist thought and activism in the 19th century to the early 20th century, the primary goal of this first wave was gaining legal rights, specifically on woman’s suffrage. Two of the leading suffragists who were a part of this movement were Ida …
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