Timeline of feminism in the United States
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This is a timeline of feminism in the United States. It contains feminist and antifeminist events. It should contain events within the ideologies and philosophies of feminism and antifeminism. It should, however, not contain material about changes in women's legal rights: for that, see Timeline of women's legal rights in the United States (other than voting), or, if it concerns the right to vote, to Timeline of women's suffrage in the United States.
18th century
- 1790: "On the Equality of the Sexes" published by Judith Sargent Murray{{cite journal | last = Galewski | first = Elizabeth | title = The Strange Case for Women's Capacity to Reason: Judith Sargent Murray's Use of Irony in 'On the Equality of the Sexes' | journal = Quarterly Journal of Speech | date = 2007 | volume = 93 | issue = 1 | pages = 84–108 | doi=10.1080/00335630701326852 | s2cid=143833177}}
19th century
First-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity and thought, that occurred within the time period of the 19th and early 20th century throughout the world. It focused on legal issues, primarily on gaining women's suffrage (the right to vote).
- 1824: "Men and Women: Brief Hypothesis Concerning the Difference in their Genius" published by John Neal{{cite book | last = Fleischmann | first = Fritz | title = A Right View of the Subject: Feminism in the Works of Charles Brockden Brown and John Neal | publisher = Verlag Palm & Enke Erlangen | location = Erlangen, Germany | year = 1983 | isbn = 9783789601477 | page = 163}}
- 1832: First speech in the US on women's rights by John Neal in Portland, Maine{{cite book | last = Sears | first = Donald A. | title = John Neal | publisher = Twayne Publishers | location = Boston, Massachusetts | year = 1978 | isbn = 080-5-7723-08 | page = 98}}
- 1872: Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States published by Susan B. Anthony.
20th century
=1910s=
- 1911: The Man-made world published by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
=1960s=
- 1963: The Feminine Mystique was published; it is a book written by Betty Friedan which is widely credited with starting the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/us/betty-friedan-who-ignited-cause-in-feminine-mystique-dies-at-85.html|title=Betty Friedan, Who Ignited Cause in 'Feminine Mystique,' Dies at 85|date=5 February 2006|author=Margalit Fox|work=The New York Times|access-date=19 February 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://jwa.org/thisweek/feb/17/1963/betty-friedan|title=Publication of "The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan - Jewish Women's Archive|website=jwa.org}} Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity and thought that first began in the early 1960s in the United States, and eventually spread throughout the Western world and beyond. In the United States the movement lasted through the early 1980s.Sarah Gamble, ed. The Routledge companion to feminism and postfeminism (2001) p. 25
- Black feminism became popular in the 1960s, in response to the sexism of the civil rights movement and racism of the feminist movement.
- Fat feminism originated in the late 1960s. Fat feminism, often associated with "body-positivity", is a social movement that incorporates feminist themes of equality, social justice, and cultural analysis based on the weight of a woman or a non-binary feminine person.{{Cite journal|last=Boling|first=Patricia|date=2011|title=On Learning to Teach Fat Feminism|journal=Feminist Teacher|volume=21|issue=2|pages=110–123|doi=10.5406/femteacher.21.2.0110|issn=0882-4843|jstor=10.5406/femteacher.21.2.0110|s2cid=143946770}}
- 1969: Chicana feminism, also called Xicanisma, is a sociopolitical movement in the United States that analyzes the historical, cultural, spiritual, educational, and economic intersections of Mexican-American women that identify as Chicana. Chicana feminism challenges the stereotypes that Chicanas face across lines of gender, ethnicity, race, class, and sexuality. Most importantly, Chicana feminism serves as a movement that helps women to reclaim their existence between the Chicano and American feminist movements. The 1969 Chicano Youth Liberation Conference began the Chicano movement and eventually, MEChA. At the conference, women began to get involved in the male-dominated dialogue to address feminist concerns. After the conference, women returned to their communities as activists and thus began the Chicana feminist movement.{{cite web|title=Exploring the Chicana Feminist Movement|url=http://umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects07/latfem/latfem/whatisit.html|publisher=The University of Michigan|access-date=2015-06-09}}
=1970s=
The term materialist feminism emerged in the late 1970s; materialist feminism highlights capitalism and patriarchy as central in understanding women's oppression. Under materialist feminism, gender is seen as a social construct, and society forces gender roles, such as bearing children, onto women. Materialist feminism's ideal vision is a society in which women are treated socially and economically the same as men. The theory centers on social change rather than seeking transformation within the capitalist system.{{Cite journal| last = Jackson | first = Stevi | author-link = Stevi Jackson | title = Why a materialist feminism is (Still) Possible—and necessary | journal = Women's Studies International Forum | volume = 24 | issue = 3–4 | pages = 283–293 | doi = 10.1016/S0277-5395(01)00187-X| date = May–August 2001 }}
=1980s=
- Difference feminism was developed by feminists in the 1980s, in part as a reaction to popular liberal feminism (also known as "equality feminism"), which emphasizes the similarities between women and men in order to argue for equal treatment for women. Difference feminism, although it is still aimed at equality between men and women, emphasizes the differences between men and women and argues that identicality or sameness are necessary in order for men and women, and masculine and feminine values, to be treated equally.{{cite book|last1=Voet|first1=Rian|title=Feminism and Citizenship|date=1998|publisher=SAGE Publications Ltd}} Liberal feminism aims to make society and law gender-neutral, since it sees recognition of gender difference as a barrier to rights and participation within liberal democracy, while difference feminism holds that gender-neutrality harms women "whether by impelling them to imitate men, by depriving society of their distinctive contributions, or by letting them participate in society only on terms that favor men".{{cite book|last1=Grande Jensen|first1=Pamela|title=Finding a New Feminism: Rethinking the Woman Question for Liberal Democracy|page=3}}
- Equity feminism (also stylized equity-feminism) is a form of liberal feminism discussed since the 1980s,{{cite book |title=Social Feminism |first=Naomi |last=Black |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kDYqAAAAYAAJ |date=1989 |publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=9780801422614 }} specifically a kind of classical liberal feminism and libertarian feminism.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q83kxhOsgxYC&pg=PA79 |title=Industry and Politics in West Germany: Toward the Third Republic |editor-first=Peter J. |editor-last=Katzenstein |chapter=3. Social Change and Political Mobilization in West Germany |page=79 |first=Jost |last=Halfmann |quote=Equity-feminism differs from equality-feminism |date=28 July 1989|publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0801495954 }}{{cite web |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-liberal/#EquFem |title=Liberal Feminism |publisher=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |date=18 October 2007 |access-date=24 February 2016}} (revised 30 September 2013)
=1990s=
Third-wave feminism is associated with the emergence of riot grrrl, the feminist punk subculture, in the early 1990s in Olympia, Washington.{{cite book|first=Alison|last=Piepmeier|title=Girl Zines: Making Media, Doing Feminism|location=New York|publisher=New York University Press|year=2009|page=45}} In 1991 Anita Hill testified in Washington, D.C., to an all-male, all-white Senate Judiciary Committee that Clarence Thomas, nominated for the Supreme Court of the United States, had sexually harassed her. Rebecca Walker responded to Thomas's appointment with an article in Ms. Magazine, "Becoming the Third Wave" (1992), which coined the term third wave: "Do not vote for them unless they work for us. Do not have sex with them, do not break bread with them, do not nurture them if they don't prioritize our freedom to control our bodies and our lives. I am not a post-feminism feminist. I am the Third Wave."{{cite journal| last1 = Walker| first1 = Rebecca| author-link1 = Rebecca Walker| title = Becoming the Third Wave| journal = Ms.| pages = 39–41| issn = 0047-8318| oclc = 194419734| date = January 1992| url = http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2002/BecomingThirdWaveRebeccaWalker.pdf| access-date = January 29, 2018| archive-date = January 15, 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170115202333/http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2002/BecomingThirdWaveRebeccaWalker.pdf| url-status = dead}}{{cite book |title=Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future |last1=Baumgardner |first1=Jennifer |author1-link=Jennifer Baumgardner |last2=Richards |first2=Amy |author2-link=Amy Richards |year=2000 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |location=New York |isbn=978-0-374-52622-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/manifestayoungwo00baum/page/77 77] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/manifestayoungwo00baum/page/77 }} The third wave focused on abolishing gender-role stereotypes and expanding feminism to include women of all races, classes and cultures.{{cite book|last1=Hewitt|first1=Nancy|title=No Permanent Waves|year=2010|url=https://archive.org/details/nopermanentwaves00hewi|url-access=limited|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-4724-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nopermanentwaves00hewi/page/n113 99]}}{{cite book |last=Tong |first=Rosemarie |title=Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction |year=2009 |edition=Third |publisher=Westview Press |location=Boulder |isbn=978-0-8133-4375-4 |oclc=156811918 |pages=284–285, 289}}
21st century
=2010s=
Fourth-wave feminism began around 2012 and is characterized by a focus on the empowerment of women{{cite news|last1=Abrahams|first1=Jessica|title=Everything you wanted to know about fourth wave feminism—but were afraid to ask|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/everything-wanted-know-fourth-wave-feminism|work=Prospect|date=14 August 2017|access-date=17 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117132924/https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/everything-wanted-know-fourth-wave-feminism|archive-date=17 November 2017|url-status=live}} and the use of internet tools,{{Cite web|last=Grady|first=Constance|date=2018-03-20|title=The waves of feminism, and why people keep fighting over them, explained|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/3/20/16955588/feminism-waves-explained-first-second-third-fourth|access-date=2020-06-27|website=Vox|language=en}} and is centered on intersectionality.{{Cite journal|last=Munro|first=Ealasaid|date=September 2013|title=Feminism: A Fourth Wave?|journal=Political Insight|volume=4|issue=2|pages=22–25|doi=10.1111/2041-9066.12021|s2cid=142990260}} Republished as {{Cite web|last=Munro|first=Ealasaid|date=5 September 2013|title=Feminism: A fourth wave?|url=https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/feminism-fourth-wave|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202070519/https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/feminism-fourth-wave|archive-date=2 December 2018|access-date=1 December 2018|website=The Political Studies Association}} / {{Cite web|title=Feminism: A fourth wave? {{!}} The Political Studies Association (PSA)|url=https://www.psa.ac.uk/psa/news/feminism-fourth-wave|access-date=2020-06-27|website=Feminism: A fourth wave? {{!}} The Political Studies Association (PSA)|language=en}}