Sunday, June 27, 2010

Second Wave Feminism

I think that conscious raising groups were especially important during the time of the feminist movement because women were so tied down to men and rarely had time to gain insight into other women’s feelings. Conscious raising groups were small groups of women who got together maybe once a week in a member’s living room. They considered themselves radicals in that they felt that extreme thinking and action is required in order to start a mass movement. They talked about issues pertaining to women’s lives and could gain support and awareness for problems feminist problems of society without the company of men. Through these groups, I feel that women could stop disregarding their problems as silly or personal and start becoming awake to the fact that they were oppressed.
In today’s society, there are numerous groups for women to go to discuss problems, so addressing these problems has to go about differently. I think more men today wish to support women in their equality and should be more of an ally for these causes. A Gender Manifesto could still be used today, however. This is a common set of harsh demands that promote women’s equality. However, I don’t think it is necessary for the list to be harsh because changes must happen gradually at this point. Our social ways are so deeply rooted that it may cause a great uprising of anger from many who have not yet become aware. This manifesto should address things like sexist language, rules on the objectification of women in the media, and equal pay in the workforce. These are all issues that are far from being fixed despite the courageous and ambitious women of the feminist movement.

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