American Third Wave Feminism In Post-backlash Era

Feminist historians use wave to describe the different phases of feminist thoughts, stressing the dynamic development of feminist knowledge in different historical moments. Although the term third wave feminism has had a dynamic history that now spans sixteen years, American academia are still controversial about such issues as to what on earth is third wave, what strands of thoughts may be included, or whether it has surpassed the achievements of the second wave feminism. Influenced mostly by the American mainstream discourses, the general understanding of Amerian people is that third wave is mainly advocated by chic, sexy young women who resist and repudiate the second wave feminism. This consensus made by the American public is largely derived from the American mainstream media's constructions of feminism. In fact, the influence of the discussion of feminism that takes place in the American mainstream media must not be underestimated, because it has long manipulated the distribution of information and ideas in an ideological and misogynist manner. There has been a persistent anti-feminist rhetoric in the cultural product market and this anti-feminist ideology is particularly rampant in Reagan-Bush era between 1980 and 1992. The feminist academia called this period the backlash era; therefore the American feminist historians refer to the era after 1992 as the post-backlash era. In post-backlash era the mainstream media deploy more hidden and subtle means to systematically misrepresent feminist politics, so only after exposing such misrepresentations can we dispel the myths and misconceptions that surround it. My argument is that although the anti-feminist backlash ideology expressed by the American mainstream media is an important reason that results in some third wavers'refusal to identify with the second wave, the more essential reason is that there is a paradigmatic shift within feminist theory, which moves the focus from identity and equality to debates around difference and alliance, due to the influences of postmodern, poststructualist and postcolonial thoughts. This paradigmatic shift has made the American third wave feminism more inclusive, rejecting center, authority, fixed identity and welcoming multiplicity and diversity.My dissertation also aims to argue that post-backlash feminist movement after 1992 does not come to an end and step into a"postfeminist"era. On the contrary, it has more complex strands of thoughts. This is because third wave feminists believe that feminism should advocate a more inclusive feminist agenda that may address to all different forms of oppressions. These forms of oppressions may intersect with one another, simultaneously oppressing the particular women in specific contexts; therefore, feminists should oppose the various oppressions in localized way. The American third wave feminism strives to fight against simultaneous oppressive mechanisms such as racism, classism, heterosexism, imperialism, neocolonialism, and anthropocentricism. Different strands of feminism today such as youth feminism, women of color feminism, postcolonial feminism, queer theory, and cyberfeminism have given birth to one of the most compelling visions of our era, contributing to dealing not only with women's inequality, but with the most pressing problems in the world.