Feminism Essay By Charlie Tieu

Since its beginnings, feminism has been a large part of society in aiding women
from all cultures being granted basic rights, from the right to vote to the right to
be paid equal wages to men. Feminists have used many forms of technology to
voice their opinions and to spread their message, and this has escalated with the
invention of the Internet, seen particularly in 4 th wave feminism.
Dating back to the earlier times of human life, for example the medieval age,
men were always deemed to be superior to women. This was mainly due to their
perceived courage and strength. Even in earlier times within Neanderthal culture,
the men would be assigned to go out hunting for food, whilst the women were at
home in order to attend to and nurture their children. However, time allows for
cultures and lifestyles to never endingly change, and so the roles of gender
change as well. This is seen as such in modern society, where women all over the
world are capable of leading careers in higher management and leadership roles
within big organisations.
Feminism has evolved into different meanings with distinct aims and goals for
women of that relevant society. First wave feminism was primarily concerned
with allowing women to attain an equal status to men in terms of being able to
own properties independent of having a father or a husband. There was little
evidence to show women physically abusing men, although this cannot be
completely ruled out as a possibility. The Womens Rights Movement has globally
affected all varieties of cultures and lifestyles since the beginning of the late 19 th
century and the early 20th century, which also branches into the involving topics
of gender, equality and social roles. It has led to many opening viewpoints of
gender rights and also given feminist artists an opportunity to bring out their
works to the world. Many themes are incorporated in feminist artworks, using
technology and humour to convey such themes in examples like Brown Council
with their Milkshake video (2007). With the modern feminism of today, we can
differentiate and view how the movement has changed. We can also see the
impact it makes on social conducts with a broader perspective.
Simone De Beauvoir is a well-known feminist philosopher who has made a drastic
impact on the second feminist movement. She is mostly known for her book The
Second Sex, which discusses the oppression of women and how the male would
consider the female as the other. She refers to the other as a comparison
between men and women, where men are superior or smarter, whereas women
are inferior and less educated. He takes the credit and makes his mark on the
world, whereas women are concealed. De Beauvoir looks at biology,
psychoanalysis, and historical materialism to differ the genders, but also points
out that it does not provide justification for womens inferiority and oppression
within society. De Beauvoir proclaims that women are as skilled levelled as men
and have equal capable choices.
In the essay The Personal is Political (2006) by Carol Hanisch, she argues that
oppression is a major part of womens history and how women are considered as

the other. The meaning of the phrase The Personal is Political denotes the
theory of a womens personal issue is primarily caused by systematic oppression
and is ingrained into society. Women are also criticised for bringing so-called
personal problems into a public forum open for discussion. Examples of personal
issues brought up are body image, abortion, and the division of housework and
childcare between a man and a woman. With saying so, Hanisch focuses on the
theory of Marxism and additionally focusing more on group struggles rather than
individual struggles. Furthermore, Hanisch states that women not being blamed
for their bad actions are vital and evident of systematic oppression due to
women being constantly told by others they are unhappy, stupid, weak, having
period with mood swings and asking for it. In the series Giant Woman and
Skyline by Anita Steckel, shows a well provoking (in a positive way) and
attractive artworks with details of women hanging on buildings like a stripper
pole and buildings becoming erected penises. This reinforces the unequal system
and oppression to women as men were overtaking womens lives in the late
1960s and as a majority they owned everything as stated by Steckel Men seem
to own the city, and this was my way of responding to that. This scale of
equality is obviously shown where men have the advantage and power.
It is well known that since the 1990s hip hop and rap music was an era of where
women were seen as hoes, or nothing but sexual objects and just used
primarily to please men. This was used to mainly emphasising being a hot shot
or an alpha male, showing off to everyone that they are wealthy and can get
any girls they want. This reiterates the notion of women being seen as the
other and how technology is used to comment out to the world.
On the other hand, this 4th wave of feminism has gone out of control with not just
feminists, but self-proclaimed feminists abusing the original intentions of the
Womens Rights Movement, and warping it into an unrealistic and often mocked
set of ideals. An infamous characteristic of 4 th wave feminism is the tendency of
women to have an inflated sense of privilege, loudly voiced with the aid of social
media (Zoe Zorka. Millenials and the 4 th wave of feminism. A Voice for Men.
30th Novemenber 2014.)Social media serves as a platform for feminists to voice
their opinions to the world, which has resulted in a range of reactions from both
males and females who perceive 4 th wave feminists as controlling and
discriminative. An example of this can be seen in viral videos of women
provoking angry men and physically assaulting them, subsequently in the men
hitting the women in retaliation. There were 2 main responses to these videos
either it was completely and morally wrong for men to raise their hand at women
no matter the situation, or that the gender of the attacker is irrelevant and if a
person was to raise their hands at someone else, then they should expect for
that person to retaliate. There has been much debate within online communities
regarding the acceptability of hitting women in modern society.
Modern day feminists are notorious for using and misappropriating womens
rights movements in order to excuse their mistreatment and irrational hatred of
men. An instance of women using feminism out of context is the recent hashtag
trend #killallmen on Twitter. Women used this to humiliate and shame men for

things that were not intended to be misogynistic or discriminatory. An example of

this is one woman tweeting A guy in my office just said manshake like it was a
thing #killallmen. Not only does this trivialise genocide of an entire sex, but also
showcases the tendency of women to trivialise feminism and all its aims and
goals for true equality between the sexes. The above example is evident of the
change in the meaning of feminism, as the issues presented are no longer
political, but rather more personal personal in the sense that it is based on
how the individual woman voicing the opinion feels and not based on what is
going to benefit the greater female population.
On the TV Show The View, Whoopi Golberg stars as a guest host. She argues
that men should not hit women, however if someone decides to hit someone else
then they should be prepared to be hit back in retribution. The key word she uses
in her speeches is someone, and pointedly avoids using gender pronouns.
Furthermore she shouts, Do not live with this idea that men have this chivalry
thing still with them. Dont assume thats still in play. Dont be surprised if you hit
a man and he hits you back (Black Wall Street. YouTube video. 2014). Golbergs
statements clearly support the more equal view and status of men and women in
todays society, and support a more humanised way rather than gendered way of
viewing violence.
Technology has played a major role in the spread and evolution of feminism since
the 1990s involving with the term Cyber-feminism, coined by Sadie Plant and
the Australian art collective VNS Matrix in 1991. Technology is used as an
extension tool to assist feminists in spreading their message. Modern day
feminists utilise social media such as twitter or Facebook to get a point across
the whole word quickly and efficiently. Other influential feminists such as
Beyonc use technology and music to create music videos that display
characteristics of feminism, such as the video music Run This World. The lyrics
and visual music video contribute to the theme of female empowerment.
Beyoncs popularity is a clear example of the role technology plays in the
spreading of todays feminist movements.
Technology plays two roles in aiding feminism: a major one is that it gives a
louder voice to the public. If technology was advanced in the 70s as it is today,
the outcome of the movement would have changed positively and drastically.
The second reason is that it provides a connection to the public using technology.
It is evident in the videos such as Runaway (2008) or Milkshake (2007) by
Brown council who is a group of feminists using the technological material of
video footage to record their performing works.
In my creative response I have created a collage of video footages of how the
world of post-feminism is represented. It is intended to be viewed as a part
humorous type of video. These videos are filled with violent and impulsive
actions by self-proclaimed feminists against men, and also feature regular people
who take the idea of feminism and abuse the original definition of the
movement. I have used the soundtrack Run the World (2011) by Beyonc,
which is a song about empowerment of women. We can see how women provoke

the anger of a man until he is unable to contain it and hits back in defence. The
main materials Ive used were video clips on YouTube and used Sony Vegas pro, a
video editing program, to create the collage. With the aid of technology I can
easily make this creative response public in just a few minutes world-widely, and
also the composition of my video giving out a humorous sense to the audience.
In conclusion, the extremist post-feminism of today have killed the original
definition of the Womens Rights Movement. By going overboard and engaging in
impulsive actions to bring out attention and publicity, feminism has been subject
to public ridicule and mocking in modern society. However, Carol Hanischs The
Personal is Political remains as relevant as ever, with feminists from all waves
bringing personal problems such as abortion and division of labour into the public
sphere, open for discussion for all. The Internet is a popular tool used to spark
debate and spread messages around the world, and this can be seen utilised by
feminists such as Beyonce to spread the message of female empowerment. The
idea of Marxism can also been seen in 4th wave feminism, with feminists opting
to stick together rather than speak out individually, and this can be done more
easily with the help of technology and the Internet. Modern feminism goes hand
in hand with technology, and can be seen as a new way of bringing personal
problems out into the political forum.

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