Aleena Tran Professor Eckford ENGL 001C - 203 23 July 2023 Is Feminism Still Needed In America? Feminism has many definitions, but the general idea is the support for women to be equal to men. We have made great strides since the 1800s, and women in the 1900s made it possible for women today to have more opportunities. Women are working and obtaining powerful positions, they are starting to be taken seriously, and are not always expected to be a stay-at-home mom. These new societal changes have made people question if America still needs feminism with the progress that we have made. The answer is not so black and white as some may think, because women are still not equal to men. General, vague feminism is not necessarily needed in America, …show more content…
Phylis Chesler and Donna M. Hughes opens up with how years ago, women launched a movement to empower themselves. Feminism allowed women and young girls to think about their potential and realize how important they are to society. Feminism is an important movement in America, but Chesler and Hughes believes that we need to rethink about it in terms of today. Sex trafficking has been a major problem all over the world, as people seek young girls who are generally poor and uneducated to become their victims. But at the same time, sexual liberalism started to become popular, as there has been an increase in the normalization of prostitution (Chesler and Hughes, 2004). Women were always seen as demure and not have sexcual desires, so sexual liberalism has allowed women to explore their sexualtiy. But the problem with this is that prostitution is not exactly sexually liberating, as a woman still subjects herself to a man. Young girls should not be taught that they can become prostitutes, or that when they grow up they should be sex …show more content…
While we have made progress, women of color, trans women, women with disabilities, and many more groups still need equality. The overturn of Roe v. Wade has women of color concerned for their bodies and rights. The increase of sex workers teaches us that women are in control of their bodies and that we are sexual beings, but these jobs still subject us to the patriarchy. Feminism is a movement that we still need in America, but we need to be supporting all women; we need intersectional feminism. Works Cited Chesler, Phyllis, and Donna M. Hughes. “Feminism in the 21st Century.” The Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2004, www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2004/02/22/feminism-in-the-21st-century/e6bd1a98-ce85-4e8a-9d6f-2c2f4f681416/. Rosenkrantz, Holly. "Abortion Post-Roe." CQ Researcher, 9 Sept. 2022, pp. 1-33, library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2022090900. Runyan, Anne Sisson. “What Is Intersectionality and Why Is It Important?” EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | Www.Ebsco.Com, Nov. 2018, www.ebsco.com/products/ebscohost-research-platform. Villalon, Chloe. “A Woman’s Role? Why Feminism Is Still Very Much Necessary.” The Gale Review, 25 Nov. 2019,
The sexist origins of the criminalization of prostitution tie into the issue of criminalizing victims of sex trafficking in that the blame has historically been on those providing the service instead of the individuals paying for it; in fact, “young girls are prosecuted at reportedly higher rates than even the men who exploit them” (Annitto, 2011, p.
Is the feminist movement going in a good or bad direction? Is the feminist agenda about equal rights for all women and all persons? These are questions that should be pondered as the movement continues to gain momentum and as our society starts to change around it. In an article titled the “New Oxymoron: Socially Conservative Feminism” (McCarver) it starts to answer the question, what is true feminism?
In this paper I will be going over issue 17, “Has the Women’s Movement of the 1970’s Failed to Liberate American Women?”. Sara M. Evans and F. Carolyn Graglia each voice their opinions about the issue. They talk about the history of the women’s movement throughout time and the effects it had in our country. F. Carolyn Graglia writes about how she agrees the movement has failed to liberate American women. Her views on feminism concluded that the feminist movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s was a reasonable but a faulty idea, in that it was based on a worthy opinion (that all men and women should be equal).
American history repeatedly contradicts itself by placing superior value on certain groups more than others. Intersectional Feminism is the understanding of how women’s overlapping identities--including race, class, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation--impact the way they experience oppression and discrimination. Anyone who possesses identity privilege share a difficult time including feminism for women who cannot determine which identities are in most dire need of liberation from inequality. Without intersectionality, feminism is only an academic jargon disconnected from the real world. Consequently, the concept White Feminism allows the further exclusion of issues that specifically affect women of color.
Feminism is more than about women, it is about empowerment and equality. It doesn’t seek female dominance or influence rich verses poor, and it doesn’t see race. Radical’s and different viewpoints alter this definition and give feminism a bad reputation. Most of the issues feminism battels is in the work place and organizations. For example, “Women in the U.S. who work full time, year-round are paid only 80 cents for every dollar paid to men — and for women of color, the wage gap is even larger,” (National Women’s Law Center).
Was distinguishing another branch of Feminism needed? Isn't Feminism already for all women?” Feminism is a movement focused on equality between the sexes on political, social, and economic grounds, and its face was the face of an able bodied middle-class white woman. Intersectionality is focused on the interconnected nature of things like race, gender, and class as they apply, to a given group or individual, which create overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination, or disadvantages. Intersectional Feminism was born out of “...Trying to conceptualize the way law responded to issues where both race and gender discrimination were involved” (Crenshaw).
In the society that we live in, there is a strong belief that because acts have been passed that we have reached equality between men and women in all forms. Many in society continuously state that there is no need for feminism or any type of movement for women 's rights because they have not been taught the truth and are fed the lies that people around them have constructed. “Women just starting their careers are earning wages closer to their male counterparts today than in previous decades. But researchers say men can quickly surpass women in both pay and seniority, especially in the private sector” (Mcswane 3). There have been many improvements in women 's wages but men are more likely to get raises or have a larger salary because of their sex.
In the last couple of decades, women have been on the largely involved in different roles in society. The American woman have come a long way in terms of her position and role in society. For a very long time women were identified by their gender and the patriarchy system that was used by different cultures across the world. Patriarchal can be defined as the aspect in society that looks into male dominance and power over all matters of society and how these privileges are simply handed down to men. It also looks to define how women struggle to gain positions of power while men are simply grabbing these chances from them.
Women’s rights have always been a questionable topic. Typically, women were viewed as naturally weaker than men and expected to be silent and the caretaker in the family. The idea of feminism has been around for quite some time and many people have been considered to be a part of this movement. In 1848, the first Women’s Rights Movement Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York and was run by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. (Women’s Rights National Historical Park…).
In this article, we will be discussing how feminism is still needed as there is a lack of gender equality. Till this day there are still women that are not given the opportunity to be educated like men, females’ salaries are less than males’ salaries and women are treated as if their job is to serve men. Women and men should have equal rights because no one is more superior to the other gender. Sexism is still a struggle in our society that has to be tackled as it makes us as women feel unworthy and not capable of things that we can actually do. We are all human beings therefore we all have the same abilities as well as we all have goals we want to achieve but it is a struggle for women more than it is for men.
Why one should understand the definition of feminism and why we don’t need it in American society Lately, there has been a with the topic of feminism when it comes to how women are treated in society compared to how men are treated. Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights socially, politically, and economically. In the United States, there is spectrum of how much people believe in feminism. I believe in equal rights for all and I think that everyone should understand what a feminist really is, but I do not believe that feminism is necessary in order for women to be treated equally.
The feminism term should be broadened Since the beginning of feminism, the mainstream feminists’ associations, have mostly focused on the problems that white middle class women face. As a consequence, numerous feminists´ have ignored and overlooked the experiences of oppression that other minority women encounter. Therefore, I am of the opinion that it is essential that the feminist concept is not solely used to enlighten the inequality between genders, withal also racism, islamophobia, homophobia and further. I would argue that feminism is useless without intersectionality and inclusion.
Feminism is defined as the advocacy of women 's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes, but is this the way society sees feminism? While most people understand feminism as women 's rights and equality, while feminism is the equality of all sexes. Equality for all is means women that are raped won 't be asked what they were wearing because their bodies are overly sexualized and men that are raped won 't be told that they enjoyed it due to the idea that all men want is sex and these crimes will be treated these as real victim crime. To eliminate gender roles, allowing boys to freely enjoy sports seen as more girly such as ballet and to tell girls to know that it isn 't seen as bossy if they take control of a situation. Also to recognize those that don 't identify themselves as the male or female by opening unisex restrooms in all establishments.
No one can deny that it was necessary for people like Betty Friedan in the ’50s and Gloria Steinem in the ’60’s. ( Olson, Marie “Finding our way” Aug 2017)Their movements were necessary for women to achieve equality amongst all people. But feminists won’t stop at equality. They want total sovereignty over the opposite sex.
Feminism Women have never been able to had the same equal rights as men. Till this day in many places women still suffer due to not having the same rights as men. From then to now women are still fighting for their rights. For example, like have more freedom, More rights, to be able to vote like men do, etc.. As of today women still suffer for equal rights. What is Feminism in today's world?