Lean In to the Third Wave of Women's Rights Activism

Originally published March 2013 With the publicity surrounding the release of Sheryl Sandberg39s new book and organization focused on encouraging women to Lean In to their careers and the expansion to eight cities of the Women in Media Mentoring Initiative wwwwimminet which I founded in 2011 it39s appropriate and relevant to share this chapter from my bestselling book Hooked Up A New Generation39s Surprising Take on Sex Politics and Saving the World From Hooked Up A New Generation39s Surprising Take on Sex Politics and Saving the World by Jack Myers Available at Amazon BNcom and all online booksellers Third Wave of Women39s Rights ActivismThe infamous 1968 advertising campaign quotYou39ve come a long way babyquot may have been launched to convince more women to start smoking but its catchy tagline still resonates today From voting to political participation career trajectories to academic participation women have brokenamp8211amp8211or at least crackedamp8211amp8211that metaphorical glass ceiling in more than one societal sphere Women couldn39t attend the same colleges as men until 1831 Women39s enrollment on college campuses first overtook men39s in the 1980s and the imbalance continues to increase 30 years laterWomen39s rights especially reproductive rights suddenly were thrust into the spotlight during the 2012 Presidential campaign as several states considered and passed laws giving the states rights over women39s bodies and their role in society For some politicians and those who vote for them women may have come too farThe Nineteenth Amendment floated around the House of Representatives and the Senate from the time of its proposal in 1878 until its ratification in 1920 Almost a hundred years ago women still couldn39t hold political office or even voteIn contrast 54 percent of voters were women by the year 2010 Women also held 17 percent of the seats in Congress 24 percent of state legislature seats and six of the 50 governorshipsUntil 1972 no woman had ever been CEO of a Fortune 500 company By 2011 15 women had joined these exclusive ranks While still a disproportionate figure it reflects progress and the percentage will inevitably increase as larger numbers of females gain corporate power and influence Women39s increasing participation in the workforce projected to grow to 70 percent by 2018 rising representation in politics and high college graduation rates seem to point toward continuing progress toward egalitarianism and gender equalityWaves of ProgressThese societal changes occurred in waves beginning with the courageous actions of those 19thcentury revolutionaries the suffragettes The second wave of the women39s movement came around the mid20th century bringing groundbreaking political journalistic and academic treatisesBut today influences that shape young adults39 perceptions of issues such as women39s rights gender roles and sexism come from multiple directions including the pervasiveness of the Internet the pressures of the media and the influences of family and peers Perhaps this is why the views of Internet Pioneers seem to be a curious combination of liberation and ambivalenceNot so long ago sexism was institutionalized into almost every facet of life Womenamp8211amp8211and the way both men and women perceive their place in society and their rightsamp8211amp8211have indeed quotcome a long way babyquot Just how far can best be understood in context of where the journey beganA Brief Timeline of Sexism quotHome is woman39s world as well as her empire Man lives more in society The busy marts of trade the bustling exchange the activity of artisan life are his spheresamp8230What is the sphere of women Home The social circle What is her mission To mould character to fashion herself and others after the model character of Christquot Daniel Wise 1851The Young Lady39s CounsellorWith this paragraph Wise neatly relegated women to a life of domesticity He summarized the feelings of many of his contemporaries a woman39s job involves taking care of the home safeguarding moralityamp8211amp8211and staying far far away from the man39s world of business economics and politics A woman39s life was at home with a focus on bearing and rearing children Without reliable sources of contraception most women had little choice they were born to be mothersKnown as the quotcult of true womanhoodquot this paradigm dominated popular thought for generations with its claim on women39s inherent Sexual purity Religious piety Submissive demeanor Inferior intellect Reproductive imperativeAs blatantly sexist and archaic as they seem now for most people these ideas about the role of women were deeply ingrained in societyamp8211amp8211in the minds of both men and women However a few brave suffragettes in the mid1800s held revolutionary viewsIn 2012 Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke39s views toward women39s rights should have been considered far from revolutionary Yet media commentator Rush Limbaugh and others sought to brand her with a quotScarlet Letterquot for her views on contraception Limbaugh Republican primary presidential candidates and several governors and state legislators renewed the public discourse on the quotcult of true womanhoodquot and the role of women in American societyAmerica has served as a role model for leaders of women39s rights movements in countries where women are being denied basic rights Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed fear that politically charged debates over these issues could set back not only America39s leadership position but also the fundamental rights gained by women throughout the 20th century Among Internet Pioneers both male and female these rights are unquestionedWomen39s Movement The First WaveIn 1866 Elizabeth Cady Stanton ran for Congress she received 24 votes out of the twelve thousand votes cast Two years later Stanton and Susan B Anthony began publishing The Revolution a prosuffrage prounion and antislavery newspaper They founded the National Women39s Suffrage Foundation the next year and introduced voting rights legislation that would eventually become the Nineteenth AmendmentThe goals of the early women39s movement focused on legislation and issues including Voting rights Education rights Property and property law reform Improved conditions for the few women who worked outside the home Improved public morality through offshoots such as the antialcohol temperance movementIn the early 1900s only onefifth of women worked outside the home and most left or lost their jobs if they married However as the driving forces of the economy migrated away from rural farms and toward urban industrialization massive societal shifts began to occur These shifts gradually led to a sea change in attitudes toward women39s rightsWomen39s Movement The Second WaveThe publication of two influential booksamp8211amp8211Simone de Beauvoir39s 1949 The Second Sex and Betty Friedan39s 1963 The Feminine Mystiqueamp8211amp8211 heralded a major transformation in the women39s rights movementThe goals of feminism39s quotsecond wavequot shifted from individual rights to broader political aims Many interpreted the shift as a push toward higher education and increased workforce participation The percentage of women obtaining college degrees rose from 40 percent in the 1970s to 57 percent in 2006With regard to increased workforce participation In 1980 half of all women worked in paid occupations outside the home In 2009 the percentage jumped to 59 percent By early 2012 more than 60 percent of women worked outside the home and the number continues to growAn unexpected outcome is that while participation in higher education and the workforce has increased liberation it has also increased feelings of ambivalence about issues of women39s rights fed by the belief that activism is no longer required to gain advances Other factors contributing to this ambivalent attitude include being bombarded with conflicting information about gender roles women39s rights and sexism These factors are discussed later in the chapterWomen39s Movement The Third Wave Most studies since the 1970s show growing public supportamp8211amp8211from both men and womenamp8211amp8211 for greater gender equality in the home and the workplace Research also shows decreased belief that women39s ideal role is that of wife and mother and increased support for efforts to improve women39s rights and statusHowever many studies also show a decrease in support of feminism The studies also reflect an increase in both women and men who associate the term quotfeminismquot with negative connotations Is this simply semantics or does the issue go deeperA 2011 University of Maryland study explored changing ideas about women39s rights and roles over four decades The researchers found that attitudes toward gender roles shifted consistently toward egalitarianismamp8211amp8211or becoming more liberalamp8211amp8211from 1974 until 1994 At this time attitudes appeared to stagnateamp8211amp8211or even reverseamp8211amp8211toward conservatism and traditional gender roles across most demographic groupsThe study listed potential causes for these shifting attitudes including Backlash against feminism Idealization of motherhood Media focus on the decline of feminismA 1997 study showed that while 63 percent of both male and female college students approved of feminist ideological goals none of the females identified themselves as feminists Similarly a 2000 study of 276 college students found that while most agreed with feminist ideals only 29 percent of the women selfidentified as feministThe Feminist ParadoxScholars and activists interpret these resultsamp8211amp8211sometimes known as the quotfeminist paradoxquotamp8211amp8211differently Some like journalist Susan Faludi feel that this quotantifeminism but prowomen39s movementquot trend among college students in the early part of the 21st century is a backlash againstamp8211amp8211and attempt to repudiateamp8211amp8211women39s victories over the past century Others see the feminist paradox as a reaction to an unreceptive political and social climate that has weakened and dispersed the ideals of the women39s movement New York University professor Judith Stacey sees these postfeminist attitudes as a quota new form of gender consciousness that includes the incorporation revision and depoliticization of many of the central goals of secondwave feminismquotA 2004 study by women39s rights researcher Pia Petola explored feminist identity across three generations The study shows that the collegeaged adults of 2004 didn39t feel that collective actionamp8211amp8211or a movementamp8211amp8211was needed to decrease sexism and improve women39s rights Most people in this age group agreed with the principles espoused by the women39s rights movement yet they didn39t view themselves as activists These attitudes are similar to the quotactive but not activistsquot perspectives of Internet PioneersInternet Pioneers Accept FeminismCollege students of 20112015 are likely to reject the findings of a 2008 Sociological Journal report by Shannon Houvouras and J Scott Carter on college students39 attitudes toward feminism and women39s rights This study found that although most students agreed with the goals of the women39s movementamp8211amp8211such as gender equality equal pay and representation in politicsamp8211amp821144 percent of participants described feminists as having negative personal characteristics eg militant aggressive whiny crazy or manhating The use of such derogatory or stereotypical terms indicated hostility toward feminism and by extension the women39s movement Although they are only a couple of years younger than the study sample Internet Pioneers reject such hostile classifications and tend to be inclusive and accepting in their attitudes The differences between older Millennials and Internet Natives reflect this shift in core attitudes Internet Pioneers are more openly accepting than their older cohorts of feminist principles but they39d probably agree with the study39s conclusion that feminism is more about integrating feminist principles into everyday life than activism Sexism and Sexualization Internet Pioneers tend to be sexualized and integrated with members of the other sex at an early ageamp8211amp8211in large part due to Internet exposure According to the American Psychological Association an overdose of media exposureamp8211amp8211from the Internet to televisionamp8211amp8211has created a culture of sexualization in which both men and women perceive females as sexual objectsA 2003 study by Jacqueline Lambiase journalism professor at Texas Christian University focused on how celebrity fan sitesamp8211amp8211often geared toward young womenamp8211amp8211present female celebrities Her research showed websites present women in a highly sexualized manner compared with male celebrities For young women seeking strong powerful female role models this barrage of sexualized imagery sent a potent message that sexualization equals success Internet Pioneers on the other hand are more likely to view the opposite sex without bias or inappropriate sexual connotations Female sexuality is accepted as a norm In the same context female Internet Pioneers are more likely to accept male behavior and lifestyles they consider to be immature Lady Gaga Hits the Right Sexual NotesNo one embodies this sexual equality quite like Lady Gaga Ubiquitous on the Internetamp8211amp8211a Google search for her name brings up 314 million resultsamp8211amp8211the artist is often upheld by the media amp8211amp8211from the quotGuardianquot to quotMs Magazinequotamp8211amp8211 as an example of quotlady powerquot or a poster child for postfeminismHowever when the star was asked if she was a feminist she replied with an unequivocal quot I39m not a feministamp8211amp8211I love men I celebrate American male culture and beer and bars and muscle carsquotLady Gaga embraces both the feminist ideal of the empowered female along with the traditional image of the stickthin skimpily dressed sexpot Characterizing the evolving state of genderrelated attitudes among today39s students the star strongly defends women39s rights and emancipation At the same time she presents herself in an unconventionallyamp8211amp8211and highlyamp8211amp8211sexualized mannerThe star turns traditional ideas about femininity upside downamp8211amp8211while embracing them at the same time As a 2010 New York Times article puts it this quottension in Gaga39s selfpresentation far from being idiosyncratic or selfcontradictory epitomizes the situation of a certain class of comfortably affluent young women todayquotEquality Gainedamp8211amp8211But At What CostInternet Pioneers have grown up in the wake of feminism39s second wave Their feminist grandmothers struggled and achieved greater equality and rights More women than ever attend college work in highpaying careers and participate in politics These opportunities didn39t exist a hundred years ago and they were far less available to women only 50 years ago Tempering these gains is the increased pressure on women to be physically attractive and participate in the current quothookupquot culture where sexual encounters without relationships seem to be the new normThird Wave of Women39s Rights Activism Young women graduating from college and entering the workforce are better prepared than any previous generation to balance the disconnect between the selfempowerment necessary to succeed and the ongoing trend toward sexual objectification They are following the Lady Gaga route ie not viewing these trends and behaviors as sexual objectification but rather embracing them as expressions of selfconfidence and personal choice Today39s collegeage women are the third wave of women39s rights activism They live in a postfeminist world stuck between a rockamp8211amp8211feminism39s second wave with its focus on equality through careers education and achievement outside the homeamp8211amp8211and a hard placeamp8211amp8211today39s pressure to have it all The goal is to achieve everything career modern lifestyle family life while still looking and behaving in a way that39s seen as traditionally sexy and feminine Author Wendy Wasserstein highlighted this irony when she said quotNo matter how successful I become as a playwright my mother would be thrilled to hear me tell her that I39d just lost 20 pounds gotten married and become a lawyerquotLooking AheadInternet Pioneers are bombarded by conflicting information about gender roles women39s rights and sexism from a range of sources Carolyn Sumner a former professor at Southern Methodist University believes quotAs far as we39ve come as a nation and as a sex we still have so far to goquotOver years women such as Hillary Clinton Nancy Pelosi Nickelodeon39s Geraldine Laybourne Facebook39s Sheryl Sandberg and many others have shattered the glass ceiling but it takes just minutes on the Internet or watching television to see that women are still sexualized and that women39s rights are still politicizedSumner believes quotThe stereotypes that are perpetuated through more subtle avenues such as beer commercials and sports are more powerful weapons than overt sexism Soft sexism is the new enemyquotA report in the June 2011 Psychology of Women Quarterly concluded that men don39t realize the effects of such innate sexism but this is changing as females challenge men when they express inappropriate sexist comments or actions This is reinforced by the uprising of women against Limbaugh and those who supported his outbursts against Georgetown law student Sandra FlukeAlthough quotsoft sexismquot still exists and women39s rights are still debated Internet Pioneers comprise the first generation that is entering and graduating from college recognizing sexism as inappropriate behavior The Internet and television have provided much information about sexism and its implications for both men and women With female college enrollment approaching 60 percent women are a powerful force for assuring both equal rights and imposing a zero tolerance for sexist behavior These attitudes will extend into the workforce into marketing campaigns and into postgraduation relationships

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Lean In to the Third Wave of Women's Rights Activism

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