5 C HAPTER F IVE : D ATA ANALYSIS
6.3 S UPER ORDINATE THEMES AND SUB THEMES TO HAVE EMERGED FROM THE DATA
6.3.2 Theme Two: Shared education is a response to the school experience
6.3.2.1 Problems with school
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1980s with the feminist sex wars and was overlapped by third wave feminism in the early 1990s. Hence, in 1990s the third-wave feminism emerged.
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rights. This position begs for moral substantiation. The third wave feminism focuses on responsible choice grounded in dialogue, respect and appreciation for experiences and dynamic knowledge, an understanding of "the personal is political"68 that incorporates both the idea that;
personal experiences have roots in structural problems and the idea that responsibility, individuated personal action have social consequences, Use of personal narratives in both theorizing and political activism and Political activism as local, with global connections and consequences.68
Thus, it can be seen as a reaction to or continuation of second-wave feminism, and constitutes a partial destabilization of constructs from the second wave. The related concept of inter-sectionalism was introduced in 1989, a few years before the third wave began, but it was during this wave that the concept was embraced. To buttress this, Walker writes; "I am not a post-feminism feminist. I am the third wave"68 she sought to establish that third-wave feminism was not just a reaction, but a movement in itself, because women's issues were far from over.
Third-wave feminists widened their objectives by focusing on ideas like eccentric concepts, and abolishing gender role expectations and typecasts. Unlike the
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determined second-wave feminists’ support to women in pornography, sex work, and prostitution, third-wave feminists were rather ambiguous; while some thought these sexual acts were degrading and oppressing women, others saw it as exemplifying the idea that women were in control of their sexuality. They focus less on political changes and more on individualistic identity. Hence, the shift from second wave feminism commenced as a result of many legal and institutional rights that were extended to women; these rights brought changes in stereotypes, media portrayals, and language that define woman. Third-wave ideology focuses on a more post-structuralism interpretation of gender and sexuality. In deconstructing equality-versus-difference: or, the uses of poststructuralist theory for feminism, Joan W. Scott describes how language has been used as a way to understand the world, however, "poststructuralists insist that words and texts have no fixed or intrinsic meanings, that there is no transparent or self-evident relationship between them and either ideas or things, no basic or ultimate correspondence between language and the world.”68 Further, the third wave feminists allow women to define feminism for themselves by incorporating their own identities into the belief system of what feminism is and what it can become through one's own perspective. Scholars like Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards in Manifesta, argued that “Feminism can change with every generation
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and individual.”68 The fact is that feminism is no longer limited to an area as we expect to see it now. Today, women have really gained from what feminism propagated. Nowadays, some women emerged from college, higher institutions before marriage and equally work outside the home; they challenge some of the received wisdom of the past. Many other feminists of color, seek to negotiate a space within feminist thought for consideration of subjects related to race. Third-wave feminists have recently utilized the internet and modern technology to enhance their movement, which has allowed for information and organization to reach a larger audience. Thus:
The increasing ease of publishing on the Internet meant that electronic magazines and blogs became ubiquitous. Many serious independent writers, not to mention organizations, found that the Internet offered a forum for the exchange of information and the publication of essays and videos that made their point to a potentially huge audience. The Internet radically democratized the content of the feminist movement with respect to participants, aesthetics, and issues.68
This showcases that the movement for feminism stimulated women to become gender-conscious and to distinguish themselves away from organizations for men as well as create and organize movements and organization with their own identities as feminists in mind. Today, Islamic women are standing up for their rights of language, culture, and identity, all of which contribute to individual’s
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recognition as Muslims and characteristics of themselves as human being. Women still face challenges with discrimination and sexism. This wave seeks to challenge what it deems essentialist definitions of feminity. For them, gender roles are due to social conditioning and there are no inherent differences between the sexes, like philosophy, the reality of feminism are perspectivistic and can be viewed from multi-dimensional spheres. The tendencies in the women’s movement can be deciphered namely, Eco feminism, Marxist feminism, Radical African feminism and so on. The Proponents of third-wave feminism include Rebecca Walker, Anita Hil, Gloria Anzaldúa, Bell Hooks, Kerry Ann Kane, Cherríe Moraga, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, Reena Walker.