...Aviva Hurvitz 24 November 2015 Feminism and the Media Representation of Women in the 1970’s Major social change happens when enough people strongly believe in it. The media influences public opinion and thus has the ability to support or destroy these social change movements. In the 1970’s, the second wave feminist movement was attempting to create wide spread social change. Its leading organization, the National Organization for Women (NOW), was focused on dismantling workplace inequality, such as denial of access to better jobs and salary inequity, and protecting women’s rights, such as stopping domestic violence. They attempted to do this through creating legislation and changing public opinion. The media’s representation of women overall at this time counteracted these goals. By creating a derogatory picture of the “feminist”, the media made her unsympathetic to the public. Rather than creating support for the core goals of the feminist movement, the media focused on more controversial topics, specifically gay rights. This negative media coverage of the women’s movement hurt its ability to implement meaningful legislation, such as the Equal Rights Amendment. The way in which print media degraded women, demonized feminists, and connected feminism to controversial topics damaged the progress of second wave feminism in the 1970’s. The definition of a feminist is a person who believes in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes (Miriam Webster...
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...Assignment/Dissertation Submission Form Student Information Please complete all parts of this form and submit with your assignment. All parts of the assignment must be stapled together before submission PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS Student Registration Number | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 3 | Class Code and Title - PRINT the code and title as it appears in the student handbook V | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | | History of the USA since 1877 | Tutor’s name | Mark Ellis | Submission date | 17/11/13 | | | Extension/Re-submission Yes No | Extension/Re-submission date: | Where appropriate please √ your year, Now √ the attempt. 1st | 2nd | √ | | Yr 1 | Yr 2 | Yr 3 | Yr4 | | Postgraduate | | √ | | | | | | | ...
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...Have fourth wave feminists turned the feminist movement into a man-hating movement? Fourth wave feminism began in 2012 and is associated with the use of social media. The fourth wave advocates for women who have been victims of sexual harassment and violence. Since this movement uses social media as its main outlet, it impacts society greatly because in this day in age more people are using social media than ever before. Anything this movement does or says is heard by millions around the globe, especially young women. Although some fourth wave feminists have the right idea about change in this world, they have transformed from being real progressives to man-hating and stereotyping other women. If extreme feminists could come together with the men in America, they could make a huge difference exceptionally fast because men and women work better together than apart....
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...“Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender,” a quote by author Alice Walker. Walker basically created the definition of womanism by using this quote in her book In Search of our Mother’s Gardens. What is womanism? What are womanist views of feminism and are they well founded? Many womanists would agree that the feminist movement was only to created to end sexism. Author Bell Hooks states that anyone who supports feminist politics needs to comprehend the fact that the work does not end with the fight for gender equality (Hooks, 662). Many womanists would believe that feminism was only created by middle-class white women for middle-class white women, and they would be correct. Many feminists only believe in equal rights for middle-class...
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...Decade of Revolution for Women Most people, when they think of the 1960s, think of a decade of extremes, transformational change, bizarre contrasts, flower children and rebellion. Others refer to it as the baby boom generation. However, do not forget a decade of change for women. Deep cultural changes altered the role of women in American society. More females entered the workplace, women looked up to their greatest idol, Betty Friedan, and there were profound changes happening in the bedroom (birth control). Women were starting to gain respect, value their place in society and stand up for their civil rights. Before the 1960s, women were limited to jobs as teachers, nurses, or secretaries, generally unwelcomed into professional programs. According to tavaana.org, one medical school dean declared, “Hell yes we have a quota, we do keep women out as much as possible. We don’t want them here.” As a result, women accounted for only six percent of the doctors, 3 percent of lawyers, and less than one percent engineers. The conditions of their employment were unequitable because they were paid much less, were denied opportunities, and many employers assumed women would quit once they were pregnant so they were often not even hired (Walsh). The feminist movement in the 60’s originally focused on these issues. In 1964, Representative Howard Smith of Virginia wanted to help women and proposed to add a prohibition on gender discrimination in the civil rights laws. He was greeted...
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...Development and variations of western feminist ideas Chapter one: Introduction Prior to the 20th century, women in China were regarded essentially different from men. Despite the association of women with yin and men with yang, two qualities considered equally important by Daoism, women were believed to occupy a lower position than men in the hierarchical order of the universe. The I Ching stated that "'Great Righteousness is shown in that man and woman occupy their correct places; the relative positions of Heaven and Earth.'" Women were to be submissive and obedient to men. Women were not allowed to participate in government or community institutions. A number of women, and some men, spoke out against these conditions in the early 20th century, but to little avail. As a result of government approval, women's rights groups became increasingly active in China: "One of the most striking manifestations of social change and awakening which has accompanied the Revolution in China has been the emergence of a vigorous and active Woman's Movement." Beginning in the 70s and continuing in the 80s, however, many Chinese feminists began arguing that the Communist government had been "consistently willing to treat women's liberation as something to be achieved later, after class inequalities had been taken care of."[9] Some feminists claim that part of the problem is a tendency on the government's part to interpret "equality" as sameness, and then to treat women according to an unexamined standard...
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...Why did the Women’s Liberation Movement Emerge in the late 1960’s? Discuss with reference to Britain and the United States of America. In a decade where the whole world was experiencing revolutions due to social discontent, this increased the desire, of women, in the late 1960’s to ‘confront existing structures of oppression,’ giving the impetus for the emergence of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Caine argues the emergence of the movement bought a ‘new tone,’ when discussing women’s oppression. Rather than focusing directly on women’s suffrage, this was a political movement demanding ‘rapid and radical change,’ in an ever increasing ambience of liberalisation. Upon inception, it is vital to highlight one can account different reasons for the emergence of the movement in Britain and America, as different domestic situations led to different reasons for the emergence of a more radical form of feminism. This essay, together with a multiplicity of historians, will consider the importance of World War II and the Civil Rights Movement, and the impact they had on the emergence of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Linked to this is the ever apparent discrimination women faced and increasing desires to change this, coupled with developments of new opportunities, demonstrated by the aforementioned world events. Additionally, the impact of literature such as Betty Friedan’s, The Feminine Mystique, needs to be considered. Whilst all the factors play an important role in contributing...
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...as the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men (dictionary, 2012). The Feminist Movement that occurred in the 1960s was one of the most influential and life changing events that has happened throughout history. The last fight for equality that took place for females before this was during the early 1900s where women were fighting for the right to vote. It took 40 years for women to come together and fight for even more opportunities and rights that they deserved. This is one of the largest events that happened during this time and the event from the 1960s which has affected my life the most. The social and legal barriers before the Feminist movement of the 1960s suggested that women were second to men and were subordinate to men. A women’s place in life was to listen and obey. Women were discriminated against and exploited in the work place. They were denied the admittance to reproductive and sexual freedom (Goodwin, 1999). After a certain point, women had had enough. They began to join together and start fighting against the social norms and demanded equal rights because they will no longer be considered the “second sex”. Many laws were passed in the 1960s because of the fight these women went through. The first was The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (USA.GOV, 2012). The Equal Pay Act requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same establishment. Shortly after was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited...
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...identity, now and historically. Throughout history, women were outcasts to the formal configurations of political life. Over the course of the century, however, women in America progressed considerably into all facets of public life, the political realm, the labor force, memberships, careers, mass media, and trendy culture. I believe that women’s identity now and historically has progressively been revamped through the use of proper integration and successful women’s movements. Since the beginning of time, women have been fighting for their rights and fighting to be equal with men on every level. Both individuals and organized groups felt that women were treated unjustly, and they vowed to fix these problems. The peak of this movement transpired in the 1960s and 1970s, when the Women's Liberation Movement was recognized as an organized power to gain equality of women. Starting in primitive eras, women of the Prehistoric Age were first reflected as inferior through division of labor. The men were sent to hunt for food, and the women were caretakers watching over the family. This conception of sexually depicted roles implied that women were too delicate and frail to go out hunting with the men (Sinclair 184). The New Stone Age kept women's status inferior to that of men. They were still in charge of rally and farming, which led them to many technological advances in the fields of plowing and cooking. Although the contributions of women were unmatched by most men in this era, the male...
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...Feminism In today’s world, women are still living in a male dominant society where even when we get married, we vow to love, honor, and obey our husband. Even today we are still fighting for many rights for women, including: equal pay, the right for abortion, the end of rape, the right for contraceptives, and many other important rights that men have ( or do not need to worry about). “The movement to end sexism, sexist exploitations, and oppression . . .” (Hooks 37) is known as feminism. Today people would call us feminist, but during the 19th and 20th century that term did not exist. These women and men were known as suffragettes or suffragists. The suffragettes who fought beginning in 1848, with Seneca Falls, all the way to 1920, when women achieved the right to vote, were labeled First Wave Feminist. Two key elements of the First Wave in U.S. Feminism were how different races and class divisions affected the feminist movement (Shaw & Lee). The movement of feminism was brought about by many: men, women, upper class women, African American men, and the divisions just keep going. Yet all these people believe in the same thing, so why cant they all stand together and profess it. If only it was that simple. Race was a key element of the first wave of U.S. feminism. Presented in the Documentary “Not for Ourselves Alone” viewed in class, a famous African American is introduced. He is a great African American male journalist who supported the movement for women’s suffrage and his...
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...The women’s rights movement was a huge turning point for women because they had succeeded in the altering of their status as a group and changing their lives of countless men and women. Gender, Ideology, and Historical Change: Explaining the Women’s Movement was a great chapter because it explained and analyzed the change and causes of the women’s movement. Elaine Tyler May’s essay, Cold War Ideology and the Rise of Feminism and Women’s Liberation and Sixties Radicalism by Alice Echols both gave important but different opinions and ideas about the women’s movement. Also, the primary sources reflect a number of economic, cultural, political, and demographic influences on the women’s movement. This chapter really explains how the Cold War ideologies, other protests and the free speech movements occurring during this time helped spark the rise or the women’s right’s movements. In Cold War Ideology and the Rise of Feminism by Elaine Tyler May, May examines the impact of political changes on American families, specifically the relationship of a Cold War ideology and the ideal of domesticity in the 1960s. May believed that with security as the common thread, the Cold War ideology and the domestic revival reinforced each other. Personal adaption, rather than political resistance, characterized the era. However, postwar domesticity never fully delivered on its promises because the baby-boom children who grew up in suburban homes abandoned the containment ethos when...
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...The Feminist Movement Starting the decade of the 1960s, American women still enjoyed far less opportunities than men in every economic and social aspect; moreover, such disparity was being protected by state, and even federal, laws (Bodenner). Gender inequality brought a great social unrest that culminated on the feminist movement’s efforts to ratify an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex" (“Equal Rights Amendment (1972)”). That was the most descriptive sentence on what the ERA proposed to ratify in the U.S. Constitution in order to really achieve gender equality. Females had minimal political representation, almost no educational access, very low earnings, and were deprived of their own corporal liberties (Bodenner). These injustices were mostly based on the fact that women were seen as irrational, irresponsible and dependent of men in many aspects such as the economic one (Bodenner). These prejudices and old-fashioned ways of thinking not only interfered with the recognition of women’s basic and human rights, but also undermined the nation’s commitment to human dignity, freedom and democracy (“Executive Order Establishing the President's Commission on the Status of Women (1961)”). It is thus fair and humane to affirm that the Equal Rights Amendment had to be added to the Constitution. The ERA’s ratification was the correct way to proceed for America as a righteous...
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...and 1970`s the feminists started the idea of women’s liberation into the media and the general public. Key beliefs: Factual and Moral They believe that it was not an oppressed woman’s fault that she behaved like an oppressed woman. They wanted a comparable worth, and therefore supported the Equal pay act which is an act that bits employers from paying unequal wages, based on gender. They also focus on equal rights for the same education and voting. Reproductive rights, abortion rights, protection against sexual harassment and domestic violence. focus on individual rights and autonomy; minimize male/female difference; emphasize equality of opportunity and promote strategies that tear down barriers; seek to extend to women the individual rights gained by men. Like the liberal feminist school of thought, radical or dominant feminism focuses on inequality. Feminists believe that history was written from a male point of view and does not reflect women's role in making history and structuring society. Male-written history has created a bias in the concepts of human nature, gender potential, and social arrangements. The language, logic, and structure of the law are male-created and reinforce male values. ( Look at how the Bible is structured ). The scarlet letter is an perfect example of that. The female character is being judged for committing adultery, while the male character isn't judged for what he did. Their main moral is to always be treated as equals to men. Impact/...
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...The movement for women's rights in the United States can be traced back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. First-wave feminism refers to the feminist movement of the 19th through early 20th centuries, which focused mainly on women's suffrage, or right to vote. During the early part of the 19th century, agitation for equal suffrage was carried on by only a few individuals. The first of these was Frances Wright, a Scottish woman who came to the country in 1826 and advocated women's suffrage in an extensive series of lectures. In 1836 Ernestine Rose, a Polish woman, came to the country and carried on a similar campaign so effectively that she obtained a personal hearing before the New York Legislature, though her petition bore only five signatures. In 1840, Lucretia Mott and Margaret Fuller became active in Boston, the latter being the author of the book The Great Lawsuit; Man vs. Woman. Gerrit Smith, who was the Liberty Party's candidate for President in 1848, successfully championed a plank in his party's position calling for women's equal rights. Conventions and Resolutions The first women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, in July of 1848. The Seneca Falls Convention was hosted by Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann M'Clintock and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Figure 1); some three hundred attended including Frederick Douglass, who stood up to speak in favor of women's suffrage. After two days of discussion and debate, 68 women and 32 men signed a Declaration of...
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...Hist. 253 Prof. Koppes The Women’s Movement, African-American Freedom Movement, and the Homophile Movement The African American freedom movement, the women’s movement, and the queer movement were all extremely influential periods in American history. After World War II the U.S. was in the middle of a moral crisis. This was a nation that was supposed to be a beacon of light and hope for all of mankind, but that was only true if you were a heterosexual white male living in America. This was a time when men were still “likely to be the heads of families and the primary breadwinners in the family.”. Black Americans were treated as second-class citizens and subjected to racist legislation especially at the hands of many southern states, and the subject of both male and female homosexuality was as taboo a topic as ever. Although each of these movements had the ultimate goal of equality, specifically between their group and white heterosexual males, so even though there were some similarities the type of equality and the means they used to try and obtain it were vastly different. The women’s movement of the late 1960s and seventies was a focus on trying to bring equality to women in the workplace. Dating back to the Great Depression liberal economic policies were focused on getting men back to work and allowing them to be able to support a family through assistance programs under the New Deals. One of the main goals of this movement was not just to expand economic opportunities...
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