Gender Studies
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Ruth Rosen (p. 3) begins her chronology of the ôwomenÆs movementö and its issues in The World Split Open: How the Modern WomenÆs Movement Changed America by citing feminist poet Anne Sexton. While making references to the ôfirst waveö of feminism (suffrage), RosenÆs (p. 27; 85) work focuses on the ôsecondö and ôthird wavesö of feminism from the 1950s to the present. In so doing, the author reveals a number of political and social forces, from the F.B.I. to the media, that impacted the womenÆs movement, as well as numerous issues and topics of the movementÆs focus and internal factions. Despite the struggles and challenges of activism collectively labeled the ôwomenÆs movement,ö Rosen reveals the transition of local movements oriented toward womenÆs liberation in the U.S. to the current global womenÆs human rights movement, a much more diverse, united and powerful phenomenon. The ôfirst waveö of feminism originated the ôwomenÆs movementö in the United States. Suffrage, labor, housing and other issues began to galvanize women to develop a stronger voice and influence concerning issues and rights important to their gender. However, this movement would be followed by the ôsecond waveö of feminism in the 1950s, a time when Cold War containment and rigid notions of gender served to make women detached from political, social, and economic issues outside the home, (Rosen, p. 8). In many ways, women who forged this ôsecond waveö of feminism wer
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al activists of the womenÆs movement began to fight for sexual liberation, including reproductive rights, notions of heterosexuality, and violence against women. New publications like Ms. enabled women a voice en masse, while Rosen (p. 89) maintains that during this era of the womenÆs movement a number of women found greater expression of self and creativity through various means, including political involvement. Ushered in by women like Gloria Steinem, whose looks and intelligence put the lie to many notions of feminists as ugly, manly types, a new culture that opened its arms to women emerged. As Rosen (p. 225) writes, ôThis womenÆs culture offered feminists a safe refuge from which to express new artistic visions, compose new styles of music, explore new literary themes, and develop a feminist sense of humor.ö
From a discussion of how the F.B.I. surveyed the womenÆs movement and attempted to thwart its progress to one detailing the animosity that erupted between Betty Friedan and Gloria
Steinem over ideology and approach, Rosen (p. 245) provides a thorough account of the forces that served to negatively impact the womenÆs movement during this phase. Aside from male, political, and economic resistance, women also faced inter
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Approximate Word count = 1459
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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