Feminism is Extinct
Dodos and Feminists Exist Only In Memory
Whenever you read about something appalling that’s happening to women anywhere in the world, a voice is sure to pipe up “So where are all the feminists?!” in a gotcha tone.
The easiest response would be “Nowhere. Feminists don’t exist.”
Because how can a long dead dream have a voice?
If the question is actually “Where are the women’s voices?” you may find they’ve been battling to be heard despite being silenced, threatened, shunned and deplatformed, while told to stop being shrill and hysterical.
Or maybe not. After all, there are plenty of handmaidens and quislings in the women’s camp too.
Either way, asking where all the feminists are makes as much sense as asking where all the dodos are.
Neither exist anymore, except in imagination and historical records.
Appropriation and Assimilation
If you can simply appropriate a term and claim you have identified into a group, while inventing your own parameters as you go — there is no group.
Where there is no definition, no cohesive agreement, no agreed-upon goals, no fixed boundaries and no connecting vision, there can be no movement.
If I can point to a rock, a bee, or a passing cloud and say that’s a cat — and people accept that — the word cat ceases to have any meaning.
Historically Speaking
The word feminist did have meaning, once. It was a term for a movement dedicated to ensuring women had societal, political and economic rights.
The word was coined, perhaps surprisingly, by a French man called Charles Fourier (1772–1837) who considered the position of women in society to be a form of slavery and said:
“One could judge the degree of civilization of a country by the social and political position of its women.”
Waves Of Feminists
The first wave of feminists fought to gain basic legal and human rights for women, with a focus on women’s suffrage — the right to vote.
First wave feminists made their mark in the 19th and early 20th centuries — some cite the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention as the official beginning of first-wave feminism.
These pioneers of equality accomplished much. At that time, some women were confined to their households, they couldn’t gain custody of their children in a divorce - but they couldn’t file for divorce anyway. They were all but chattel.
“Women who worked for pay held low positions and worked largely in factories managed and controlled by men.”
These feminists also fought for a lessening of the urinary leash, allowing women to venture into the world.
“There was a negative attitude towards building women's toilets as it was considered improper for women to use public facilities”... "This is why women simply would not come out of their homes for long periods."
By building safe, accessible toilets solely for women, society moved a step towards viewing women as human beings with human rights.
The Second Wave — Women’s Liberation
Expanding on the hard work of the First Wave, second wave feminism focused on issues such as “rape, reproductive rights, domestic violence, and workplace harassment…Second wave feminists realized that women’s cultural and political inequalities were inextricably linked. They worked under a unifying goal of social equality… with reproductive rights being central concerns to the liberation movement”
Cut Off At The Knees — The Third Wave
And then, along came the third-wave feminists.
Third-wave feminists were a divided bunch. Some were in favour of prostitution and claimed it empowering to engage in such activities. Some fought pornography and prostitution.
Divisions grew, schisms appeared, mutual goals were shattered and boundaries were eroded — thus paving the way for The Fourth Wave Death of Feminism.
Death of The Women’s Movement — The Fourth Wave
Fourth wave feminists are neither fish nor fowl.
Some like to say, fourth-wave feminists are not a monolith — which is a euphemism for “nobody agrees on anything and there are no mutual goals.”
Some think feminism being intersectional is progressive. Intersectional means “no boundaries or guiding principles, will centre any and all other groups where requested”
Some are stay-at-home mothers who cannot grasp that although they may personally have chosen to stay home — and that’s just fine by me, I was at home for several years with my kids — that making that choice nevertheless cannot be claimed to be assisting women collectively to regain their political, economic or societal rights.
Some would strip women of all choices, and force them into the workforce rather than allowing them to remain at home.
Some think abortions should be given on demand while some think abortions are heinous and anti-feminist.
Some instruct heterosexual women that only lesbians pass the purity test, and that women must at the very least break off all contact with men and attempt to live as separatists.
Many still claim that being paid to allow strangers to empty their bodily fluids into your various orifices so you can pay your electric bill is empowering,
Some confused souls think that “Feminism’s all about choices innit” — no matter how damaging those choices might be to women collectively.
Some think men can be feminists, while some think they cannot.
In short, those who claim to be a voice for feminism are simply a rabble of individuals with no group consensus, no agreed goals or idealogies, no guiding principles, no precepts or boundaries and no effective or cohesive strategies.
Feminism has become an umbrella term for “Anyone who wants to call themselves a feminist”.
And thus, there is now no such thing as a feminist.
When A Group Cannot Be Defined, a Group Cannot Exist
As the Romans conquered the Etruscans, those who wished to defeat the women’s movement simply assimilated it.
Somewhere between the 3rd and 4th waves, feminism opened its borders to include anybody and everybody. Any person, any behaviour, any belief, any goal could now be called feminist.
Feminists lost their language, their unique identity, their customs, their shared knowledge and goals — and eventually they lost their dream of equality and liberty for women and succumbed to the patriarchy once more.
Everybody and nobody is now a feminist; it is the vaguest notion of a dream that once was, balanced on the shifting sands of whatever current fad or notion sweeps past.
And thus, the movement once known as feminism collapsed into nothingness.
Nobody is Telling You What to Call Yourself
You are absolutely entitled to call yourself a feminist. Nobody will stop you. There are no gatekeepers. There are no definitions. There is no group to join or to leave.
The word means a dozen different things, depending on the recipient. Which is not, at all, how communication should work.
I may call myself a Zobisquatch, with just as much clarity.
The word is dead, and it’s starting to rot. So perhaps it’s time to bury it.
And the next time you hear someone demand in fauxrage “But where are all the feminists?!” you can calmly and honestly reply:
Nowhere. Feminists don’t exist anymore.
But I do hear the Zobisquatch are the next big thing.
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I was aware or the waves of feminism reference without clear understanding of them. Thank you for the defining characteristics. "Where are the feminists?" is more properly "what happened to feminism?"
The big thing is that words need to have meaning. Half a century ago I read the Dialogs of Plato. A thing that stood out was that at the beginning of a debate about something the definition of that something was agreed upon so everyone was talking about the same thing. It is still essential.
As is your norm, your articles don't disappoint.
I've tried to email you. Is there a way I may reach out to you personally., Alison. I tried the garrulous glaswegian email address a few months ago. Thanks