Chapter 3: The Rhetorical Shaping of Gender:
Competing Images of Women
I. The Three Waves of Women’s Movements
A. Individuals and groups have changed how culture views gender and sex.
B. “Rhetoric” is persuasive communication and rhetorical movements are persuasive
efforts to challenge and change existing laws, attitudes, and policies that affect how
men and women are both understood and treated.
C. There have been multiple women’s movements. Rhetorical movements about
gender are not uniform and embrace a variety of ideas about gender and pursue a
range of goals.
D. While many believe that women’s movements began in the 1960s, in fact activism
about women had been happening for much longer than that.
E. Two ideologies have informed movement goals.
1. Liberal feminism asserts that women and men are similar and equal in most
ways. Therefore, they should have the same rights, roles, and opportunities.
2. Cultural feminism states that men and women are essentially different and
consequently should have unique rights, roles, and opportunities.
3. U.S. feminisms are typically referred to chronologically as the first,
second, and third waves. Although this is a helpful metaphor for organizing
our understanding of feminisms, it is also limited in that it obscures
similarities in terms of issues, ideologies, and rhetorical efforts/style that can
be found in all three “waves.”
II. First Wave of Feminism (1840-1925)
A. The Women’s Rights Movement focused on enlarging women’s political rights,
with a liberal viewpoint. The goal was to gain basic civil rights for women. Among
other reforms, early feminists desired the right to vote in order to effect political
change.
1. The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention was the first women’s rights convention
and was organized by Lucretia Coffin Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Mott, Stanton, and others wrote the keynote address, “The Declaration of
Sentiments” which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence in
support of women’s civil liberties (the right to vote, inclusion in all forms of
higher education, access to employment, and maintenance of property rights
upon marriage). At the time, the convention had little effect on mainstream
politics.
2. Although some African Americans were key players early in the first wave,
tensions between white and black activists developed, particularly over
whether to prioritize woman suffrage or African American male suffrage.
Over time, the Women’s Rights Movement came to focus largely on issues
of concern to white women whereas black women turned their efforts
toward advancing the rights of African Americans. Black men received
suffrage in 1870 with the passage of the 15th Amendment to the constitution.
3. Women’s rights activists marched, spoke at rallies, participated in nonviolent
protests and endured social and legal disapproval and even mistreatment as a
result.
4. Women did not gain the right to vote until 72 years after Seneca Falls on
August 26, 1920.
B. While many assume that the Women’s Rights Movement was representative of most
women in the 19th century, this was not in fact the case.
C. More women agreed with The Cult of Domesticity, which asserted that men and
women were fundamentally different; in fact, cultural feminists of this time believed
that women’s higher morality could help eliminate corruption associated with the
political sphere if women had the right to vote. The Cult of Domesticity worked to
end slavery, ban alcohol, and create child labor laws.
D. Backlash against feminism began during the first wave, with intense antifeminist
movements that opposed changes in women’s roles, status, rights, and opportunities.
1. The Antisuffrage Movement worked to prevent women from gaining the
right to vote beginning immediately after the Seneca Falls Convention.
2. Those involved in the movement argued that the right to vote, higher
education, and property ownership conflicted with women’s “natural” roles as
wives and mothers.
3. This movement was at its peak between 1911 and 1916 and disappeared after
women won the right to vote in 1920.
E. After the mid-1920s, the women’s rights movements became fairly inactive for
several decades for a number of reasons, including the national focus on World Wars
I and II.
1. However, changes in the workforce as a result of World War II set the stage
for the next wave of the second wave of feminism in the United States.
a. Women joined the paid labor force in greater numbers in the United
States during World War II to support the war effort.
b. These women were effectively pushed out of their jobs when the war
ended and men returned from military service.
c. Without access to the workforce, women tended to marry and have
children young. This meant that many were done with the most
engrossing parts of motherhood by the time they were forty years old.
d. Few opportunities existed outside of the home for these women.
2. While feminist movements were less active than they had been prior to the
Nineteenth Amendment, women were affected by changes that increased their
access to parts of the culture that had previously been closed to them.
III. Second Wave of Feminism (1963-1995), included liberal feminists, cultural feminists,
and antifeminists.
A. Liberal Ideology: women and men are fundamentally alike and therefore should
have equal rights and roles.
1. Radical Feminism (a.k.a. the women’s liberation movement) originated in
the New Left politics, which protested the Vietnam War and racial
discrimination.
a. Many women withdrew from the New Left in protest of rampant
sexism and formed their own organizations.
b. Conscious-raising (or rap) groups in which all members had an equal
opportunity to speak became a significant form of communication in
radical feminism, which helped women understand that their
individual experiences of inequality were related to larger structures of
oppression. Radical feminists participated in these discussions without
leaders due to their commitment to equality and suspicion of
hierarchies.
c. Radical feminists employed revolutionary analysis and politics and
high-profile events to raise awareness of the oppression of women.
d. One very important outcome of radical feminism was the identification
of the structural basis of women’s oppression.
i. Radical feminists recognized that how things worked in the
culture had an effect on women’s individual situations, giving
rise to the idea that “the personal is political.”
ii. One such movement encouraged women to reject sexism in
healthcare and to learn about and better understand their own
bodies.
e. Due to the lack of formal organization, radical feminists were not able
to change public policies and structures; however, they provided an
important critique of sexual inequality.
2. Liberal feminism developed around the same time as radical feminism and
advocates for women’s equality in all aspects of life.
a. Liberal feminism was sparked by the publication of Betty Friedan’s
The Feminine Mystique in 1963.
b. In this book, Friedan described what she referred to as “the problem
that has no name”: the dissatisfaction and discontent women
experienced due to their lack of opportunities outside of the home.
c. This lack of access was the result of structural and institutional
inequalities in the United States.
d. Economic factors also played a role in the changes affecting women’s
lives, as a new emphasis on material consumption began to make dual
income households desirable and necessary.
e. The National Organization for Women (NOW), a liberal feminist
organization, was founded in 1966 and continues to work for women’s
political, professional, and educational equality.
f. While liberal feminism did emerge out of the needs of the middle class
in the United States, the movement was more racially and
socioeconomically diverse than it is often given credit for being.
g. Liberal feminism is also not confined to the United States, as liberal
feminist movements have developed in response to the oppression of
women all over the world.
3. Womanism was founded by a group of black women to show how race and
gender intersect in the oppression of women of color.
a. Womanists point out that black women, in comparison to white
women, are more often single, have more children, are paid less, and
assume more financial responsibility for their families.
b. Womanists also focus on how class intersects race and gender in
women’s lives, working to make social services more responsive to the
needs of poor women and to improve job training and opportunities so
that more women of color can have access to well-paying jobs.
4. Multiracial feminism builds on the focus on equality for black women by
emphasizing multiple systems of domination.
a. In this movement, race is especially important, but is also intertwined
with other systems of oppression.
b. According to multiracial feminists, gender does not have a universal
meaning; instead gender and its effects on women’s lives are defined
by race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.
5. Ecofeminism argues that there is a connection between women’s oppression
and the desire to dominate nature.
a. Ecofeminists believe that as long as oppression is culturally valued, it
will be imposed on anyone or anything that cannot or will not resist it.
b. In this movement, all forms of oppression are linked, and feminism is
about justice and ending all forms of oppression.
6. Power feminism developed in the 1990s and argues that society does not
oppress women because women have the power to control what happens to
them.
a. In 1993, Naomi Wolf argued that the only thing holding women back
from equality is their own belief that they are victims. In the same
year, Katie Roiphe argued that “proclaiming victimhood” (her
perception of the Take Back the Night movement), does not project
strength.
b. Power feminism ignores the difference between being a victim at a
particular time and adopting the identity of a victim.
c. Power feminism tends to be most attractive to financially comfortable,
well-educated women, but is not helpful to women who do not
experience these privileges.
d. Power feminists tend to be mainly white, heterosexual, middle- and
upper-class women who have little experience with discrimination and
personal violation.
B. Cultural Ideology: women and men are different in important ways and should
therefore have different rights and roles.
1. Separatism sought to provide communities for women to live independently
of men.
a. Separatists believe that women are fundamentally different than men
in that they value harmony, peace, life, equality, and nurturance.
b. Since society is dominated by patriarchy and capitalism, separatists
form communities apart from the values typically associated with
Western masculinity.
c. They have very little political influence because they choose to live
outside of the dominant political system.
2. Revalorism is a feminist movement focusing on creating heightened public
awareness of and respect for women’s contributions to society.
C. Antifeminism in the Second Wave
1. In the 1970s Marabel Morgan launched the Total Woman movement and
Helen Andelin founded the Fascinating Womanhood movement, both of
which advocated for women’s return to traditional roles, values, and attitudes.
a. The primary support for this return to tradition came from women who
were economically dependent on their husbands and who espoused
conservative values.
2. More significantly, the STOP ERA movement also developed in the 1970s.
a. This movement emerged in response to the 1972 and 1973 campaign
to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
b. The movement’s major figure was Phyllis Schlafly, who argued that
feminism was destroying femininity by encouraging women to be
more like men.
c. The STOP ERA movement was successful in blocking ratification of
the amendment. It has still not been passed to this day.
IV. Third Wave of Feminism
A. Some groups of second-wave feminists are still active today. Simultaneously, a third
wave of feminism has become popular. Third-wave feminism is less structured than
the previous waves and is very diverse, including women of various races, sexualities,
classes, abilities, etc.
1. Third-wave feminism currently lacks a clear center, but that could be
reflection on the multiplicity of positions within the movement.
2. Third-wave feminists have historical locations and a consciousness that
inform their politics and goals.
B. Features of Third-Wave Feminism
1. Intersectionality: Third-wave feminists recognize that women differ in race,
class, sexual orientation, body shape and size, and (dis) ability. They seek to
figure out how to speak for women as a group while still recognizing these
differences. They see oppression as intersectional, and that race, class, gender,
sexual orientation, etc., have to be addressed holistically.
2. Coalitions and Alliances: Third-wavers form relationships with other people
and groups that work against various forms of oppression.
3. Everyday Resistance: Third-wave feminists believe that the changes second-
wave feminists fought for have not been effectively integrated into daily life.
They seek to promote individual changes following the structural changes that
have been made. They say that politics must come from embodied positions,
from one’s everyday life.
C. Antifeminism in the Third Wave
1. Doyle’s book The Surrendered Wife: A Practical Guide for Finding Intimacy,
Passion, and Peace with a Man (2001) brought the return of the traditional
values of the Total Woman and Fascinating Womanhood movements.
2. The book argues that women should abandon equality if they want happy
marriages.
3. Another author argues that women’s power has come at the expense of men
and that this is against God’s commandments.
Journal Entries
1. Identify the branch of feminism with which you identify the most, or explain why you
identify with none of the feminisms discussed in the text. Reflect on the reasons and
implications of your choice.
2. Explain the differences and similarities between womanist feminism and multiracial
feminism. How can women of color add a unique perspective to other types of feminism?
Comment on what impact you think these emerging movements will have on systems of
oppression.
3. Some people claim that power feminism should not be considered feminism at all. What
do you think? Justify your position, including describing who decides what counts as
feminist and how those judgments should be made.
4. Riot Grrrl was an indie/punk feminist movement in the 1990s music scene that could be
categorized as third wave. Do research to learn about this movement and then describe how
you think it does or does not meet the goals of third-wave feminism.
5. Radical feminists argued that gender was the principle axis around which oppression
revolved. Multiracial feminists and third-wave feminists, in contrast, argue that gender is not
the central axis of oppression; indeed, they maintain that gender identity/gender oppression
cannot be understood without also considering issues of race, ethnicity, class, sexual
orientation, ability, etc. Weigh in on the debate. Do you think there is a central form of
oppression? Can gender oppression be understood as separate from the issues listed above?
InfoTrac Activities
1. Choose the Advanced Search option using InfoTrac College Edition. Select title and type
in “Turbo Chicks: talkin’’ ‘‘bout my generation.” Select the interview with third-wave
feminists Lara Karaian, Allyson Mitchell, and Lisa Rundle. How do these young women
conceive of a feminism that is unique to their generation? What are the challenges and
experiences third-wavers have that differentiate them from their foremothers?
2. Choose the Advanced Search option using InfoTrac College Edition. Select the keyword
function and type “Charlotte Perkins Gilman.” Peruse the titles that come up, and select a
few reviews of Gilman’s work. What might be the value of utopian writing such as
Gilman’s?
Suggested Activities
1. Examining Third-Wave Texts: One text that is useful in conjunction with this chapter is
Barbara Findlen’s Listen Up! Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, which is discussed
in this chapter. Select one or two chapters to prompt a specific conversation regarding what
feminism means to people today. Abra Fortune Chernik’s essay on her own struggle with
eating disorders is particularly provocative and is mentioned specifically in the textbook.
Ask students to take 5 minutes to write their reactions to her claim that: “Gaining weight and
getting my head out of the toilet bowl was the most political act I have ever committed.” Do
they think her change of behaviors was a political act? What are the implications for
feminism? Then, bring their responses into a large discussion. Another interesting facet to
2. Feminist Panel Discussion: Invite a panel of members of various women’s movements to
3. The First Wave in Film: Iron Jawed Angels is a fictional depiction of the last days of first-
wave feminism, with a focus on Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. Show part, or all of the film in
order to explore the first wave. Ask students to pay attention to the issues addressed by
activists as well as the rhetorical strategies activists employed. Similarly, ask students to
attend to the films themselves as rhetorical documents. Movie star Hillary Swank plays Alice
Paul and the film’s creators manufacture a male love interest for her, played by Patrick
Dempsey. However, most historians agree that Paul was a lesbian and likely in a romantic
relationship with Lucy Burns. What do these and other rhetorical choices made by the film’s
creators tell us about contemporary attitudes toward women’s rights and/or feminisms?
4. Exploring the Backlash: Sometimes we have incorporated into our coverage of women’s
movements a reading from Susan Faludi’s book Backlash: The Undeclared War Against
5. Radical, Third-Wave Activism: Show a clip from Itty Bitty Titty Committee (2007), a film
that depicts a young Latina woman working in a plastic surgery clinic who comes to a
6. Create a Women’s Movement: Many times students do not feel connected to one of the
specific women’s movements. They may be lacking in some ways for them, too radical in
others, or simply not in line with their personal and political beliefs. Borrowing from the
7. Further Exploring Women’s Movements: The films I Am Woman (a 2-part series) and
Two Views on Feminism explore the beliefs of current women involved in feminist or anti-