Comments on: Older Feminist Network http://thenectarine.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/older-feminist-network/ Thoughts on feminism Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:55:37 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Another round up of UK feminist blogs « reSISTERance http://thenectarine.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/older-feminist-network/#comment-86 Another round up of UK feminist blogs « reSISTERance Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:00:31 +0000 http://thenectarine.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/older-feminist-network/#comment-86 [...] Nectarine writes about meeting women from Swanseas Older Feminist Network. [...] [...] Nectarine writes about meeting women from Swanseas Older Feminist Network. [...]

]]> By: Winter http://thenectarine.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/older-feminist-network/#comment-37 Winter Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:43:39 +0000 http://thenectarine.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/older-feminist-network/#comment-37 <i>Why the need to distance ourselves from the women who have more or less given us everything we have, and from whom we can learn so much?</i> I’ve been wondering if it’s partly due to some unexamined patriarchal/capitalist thinking because you read a lot of things that seem to imply that younger feminists are in competition with older feminists, as if “we” have to claim that we are better, more “enlightened,” less naïve etc. Capitalism and male-dominated society encourages us to compete all the time and maybe this thinking has structured feminism more than we like to think. The influence of academia on feminism also doesn’t help here because it’s an industry based on knocking down other peoples’ work and claiming to have better explanations. That may be all very well for some subjects, but I think it’s bad for feminism. In black lash terms, it’s also a pretty clever ruse to get younger feminists to disassociate from older feminists because then younger feminists will have to keep in reinventing the wheel, which could slow things down a bit! And this is a good post about the origins of Third Wave feminism -- what it was supposed to mean and what didn't in the end transpire from it. I think it puts it in context for those of us going "what do we need a third wave???" which I know I was. http://donnadarko.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/third-wave-feminism/ Why the need to distance ourselves from the women who have more or less given us everything we have, and from whom we can learn so much?

I’ve been wondering if it’s partly due to some unexamined patriarchal/capitalist thinking because you read a lot of things that seem to imply that younger feminists are in competition with older feminists, as if “we” have to claim that we are better, more “enlightened,” less naïve etc. Capitalism and male-dominated society encourages us to compete all the time and maybe this thinking has structured feminism more than we like to think. The influence of academia on feminism also doesn’t help here because it’s an industry based on knocking down other peoples’ work and claiming to have better explanations. That may be all very well for some subjects, but I think it’s bad for feminism. In black lash terms, it’s also a pretty clever ruse to get younger feminists to disassociate from older feminists because then younger feminists will have to keep in reinventing the wheel, which could slow things down a bit!

And this is a good post about the origins of Third Wave feminism — what it was supposed to mean and what didn’t in the end transpire from it. I think it puts it in context for those of us going “what do we need a third wave???” which I know I was.

http://donnadarko.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/third-wave-feminism/

]]> By: Laura http://thenectarine.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/older-feminist-network/#comment-33 Laura Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:18:57 +0000 http://thenectarine.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/older-feminist-network/#comment-33 I feel just the same - we owe these women everything, and it makes me so sad when I hear other young women, feminists in particular, claim that they are irrelevant/outdated or that "our" feminism has nothing to do with "theirs". This whole concept of a third wave - while I agree that some focus does need to be placed on race, postcolonialism etc - seems strange to me - many of the goals of the second wave have not yet been met, despite all the wonderful achievements those women made: violence against women in still epidemic, we still don't have equal pay, women are still discriminated in the workplace etc. Why the need to distance ourselves from the women who have more or less given us everything we have, and from whom we can learn so much? I feel just the same – we owe these women everything, and it makes me so sad when I hear other young women, feminists in particular, claim that they are irrelevant/outdated or that “our” feminism has nothing to do with “theirs”. This whole concept of a third wave – while I agree that some focus does need to be placed on race, postcolonialism etc – seems strange to me – many of the goals of the second wave have not yet been met, despite all the wonderful achievements those women made: violence against women in still epidemic, we still don’t have equal pay, women are still discriminated in the workplace etc. Why the need to distance ourselves from the women who have more or less given us everything we have, and from whom we can learn so much?

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