Skip to content

4th Wave Feminism: Diverse, Online, and Open to All

Today’s feminist movement–the Fourth Wave–is best characterized by an increasing diversity of voices that, in reaction to the Third Wave of the 1990s, want to establish a bedrock of feminine values rather than follow male ones.
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

What’s the Latest?


Today’s feminist movement–the Fourth Wave–is best characterized by an increasing diversity of voices that, in reaction to the Third Wave of the 1990s, wants to establish a bedrock of feminine values rather than follow male ones. The greatest vehicle for the Fourth Wave is undoubtedly the Internet, which has allowed “ordinary women to share their stories, organise and find a platform.” Twitter hashtags like #YesAllWomen is one example. The Everyday Sexism Project is another, which “exists to catalogue instances of sexism experienced by women on a day to day basis.”

What’s the Big Idea?

Through the 1990s, being a feminist seemed to mean asserting the female right to take part in distinctly masculine activities from going to strip clubs with male friends to having indiscriminate (and short) sex. But now, feminism means gathering a plurality of voices to express something distinctly feminine. “Fourth-wave feminism isn’t a religion with a holy book, or a club with a pledge of allegiance, and can fit within it an infinite variety of individuals and concerns,” says pro-sex feminist Melissa Harrison. “Part of the work of feminism is to allow women their full and glorious diversity, so, for me, each added voice is something to celebrate.”

Read more at the Financial Times

Photo credit: Shutterstock

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Related
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur in sem nisi. Donec at convallis felis. Curabitur id mattis libero. Nunc maximus dolor eget iaculis lobortis. Mauris eros mi, mattis […]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean volutpat ultricies nibh, ac placerat urna. Vivamus augue arcu, consectetur vitae est mollis, laoreet congue ante. Quisque a aliquet eros, ac […]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla finibus bibendum ligula, malesuada placerat libero vehicula vestibulum. Nulla ut tincidunt arcu, quis scelerisque dolor. Nunc pretium justo tristique nunc eleifend, […]

Up Next
A variety of responses rang out last week after Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. The SCOTUS’s decision to allow companies to deny employees access to certain forms of birth control was […]