The 1968 Miss America pageantry was the backdrop for one of the most iconic event of modernfeminismin the United States . Members from the New York RadicalWomenorganization attest along the Atlantic City boardwalk against the pageant ’s perceivedmisogyny . demonstrator threw house item that they believed fostered the corporate image of slavish females into a large trashcan . In hold up pots , pan , Playboy magazine and bandeau . They be after to set the mental object ablaze , but the law were n’t keen on that idea . Nevertheless , the next day ’s news stories heralded participants ' bra burnings [ source : Greenfieldboyce ] .
That image of angry , bell - bottom - wearing women torching their lingerie endures in our corporate memories of feminism – and is completely inaccurate . True , the feminist effort of that era were qualify by conspicuous public demonstration . But Western feminism comprehend far more than eradicating the usage of supportive undergarments .
Ironically , American feminism did n’t begin as an unlimited quest for gender equality . It evolve from activism for large-minded societal reason to today ’s spectrum of female - focused hypothesis and philosophies that sweep topics from instruction and erotica to race . The following five feminist apparent movement ( coiffure chronologically ) should shed some light on the history of women’s liberation movement as well as the idea and pioneers behind it .
1: Suffrage Movement
Anti - thralldom and temperance movement sowed the first seeds of feminism in the mid-1800s . In 1840 , Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were denied seats at the World Anti - Slavery Convention in London due to their gender . Rallying other socially minded people together to discuss the position of women , Stanton and Mott organized theSeneca Falls Conventionin 1848 . TheDeclaration of Sentiments , indite by Stanton , outlined the need for equality among men and women , include vote rights . From there , the right to vote move build up , with women include Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth leading the way of life .
2: Women’s Liberation Movement
After World War II , a rise number of woman pursued higher education and inscribe the workforce , but they were n’t scampering to the tops of career ladders or bursting through glass ceiling . The Women ’s Liberation Movement of the tardy sixties and 1970s therefore emerged from women ’s desires to revolutionise the central aspects of female life at that sentence : domesticity , utilization , didactics and gender .
In 1966 , Betty Friedan and other large feminists formed theNational Organization for Women(NOW ) . NOW became the umbrella organization for many feminist causal agent , unify Old , college - educated , predominantly white woman . These 2nd - wave feminists , such as Ms. magazine beginner Gloria Steinem , pushed for access to the oral contraceptive , abortion , equal exercise opportunity , reducing of violence against charwoman and more . Two yr later , in 1968 , the first national feminist conference took situation in Chicago .
A jr. , more ultra readiness of feminists was organizing simultaneously , energized by the activeness of the Civil Rights Movement and anti - Vietnam War apparent movement . One of the better - known groups to form from this stage set was theRedstockings . More loosely organize than NOW , the Redstockings took a more warlike , public approach to their manifestation [ source : Echols and Willis ] . They also used consciousness - raising Roger Sessions to share personal experiences and incite word about pertinent women ’s issues and sexuality .
3: Black Feminism
The Women ’s Liberation Movement was criticized by some feminists – both smutty and white – for its exclusion of nonwhite , work class women . Although the omission was n’t intentional , this crack spur the wage increase ofblack feminist movement . Since Women ’s Lib platforms focused alone on grammatical gender without the context of race and class , they were n’t entirely relevant to all black women . The struggle of black feminist Bell Hooks ( Gloria Watkins ' anonym ) between choosing to affiliate with the male - lead Black Power Movement or the bloodless female - led Women ’s Liberation Movement exemplifies the philosophies behind black feminist movement [ source : Tandon ] . In response , some blackened libber formed their own groups , such as theNational Black Feminist Organizationand theNational Alliance of Black Feminists .
Womanismis one offshoot of black feminism that also develop in the 1970s , coined by Pulitzer Prize - deliver the goods source Alice Walker . In the disruption between white women’s liberation movement and black women’s liberation movement , womanism seek to supply a theoretical bridge by essay society as a general whole rather than the problems and issues unique to its disjoined parts .
4: The Feminist Sex Wars
Anti - porn feminismarose in the late 1970s , pioneer by Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin . At that time , pornography had become more readily accessible , and to some libber , the overtly intimate portrait of womanhood rape their civil rights and promote intimate fury . Anti - porn feminist Robin Morgan put it roundly : " porno is the theory , rape is the recitation " [ source : D’Emilio and Freedman ] . According to anti - porn theory , heterosexual intercourse is a form of male domination and must be totally altered in a way that it is n’t harmful to charwoman .
That whimsy did n’t sit too well with other feminists who think that a woman ’s total liberation included sexual exemption [ source : Tandon ] . Consequently , sexual practice - confident feminism , also known as pro - sexfeminism , surfaced the early eighties . These feminists , including Betty Dodson and Gayle Rubin , sought to repossess heterosexual carnal knowledge as a mutually pleasurable experience for cleaning woman and hands . Sex - positive feminism has evolved to cover not only intimate physical relationships , but also the sexuality manufacture , include pornography and harlotry . On the diametric ending of the spectrum from anti - porn feminism , some string of sexuality - positive feminism regard sex industry work a means of empowerment , not debasement .
5: Riot Grrls
Punk rockers in Olympia , Wash. , and Washington , D.C. , combine together music , artwork and consciousness - upbringing into a redevelop brand of feminism in the early 1990s .
Riot Grrrls responded to male - dominated music scenes by forming their own band and making homemade cartridge clip called’zinesthat communicated their do - it - yourself , touchwood stone values and feminist idea .
The name " sidesplitter grrrl " came from the form of address of a ' zine created by Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuma , who were also in the Olympia - base dance orchestra Bratmobile . Their friend Kathleen Hanna , who fronted the band Bikini Kill , became the lead figure in the Riot Grrrl motion . With a shibboleth of , " Revolution Girl Style Now ! " ( the claim of a ' zine Hanna go ) Riot Grrrls took feminism on a deeply grassroots and relatively gritty path of authorization . They facilitated hebdomadary meetings to talk about relevant issuance , such as rapine , racism and body image . Riot Grrls also addressed their gender in plainspoken term that endeavor to recover negatively charged cultural stereotypes as possession over one ’s body .
National news outlet picked up on the movement , and in 1992 , Riot Grrrls announce a media amnesia . In true punk mode , Riot Grrrls attempt to keep things independent and counterculture . Grrrl ' zines , radical and web sites still exist and circle in communities around the world today .
