Exploring feminism

[Ingvermama]

Hi, I haven't really explored feminism much before, I'm not sure why, life is busy!
I have recently at the age of 47 come out to myself as bisexual, but married to a man and have children. I would like to explore feminism, it's history and how I can become an active feminist.
Can anyone signpost me to some reading or websites that will educate this uneducated woman!

That's a very broad ask and a pretty detailed subject. For what it's worth, I'd recommend Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez as a starting point. It certainly doesn't cover everything or the different strands of feminism, but it highlights a lot of the structural inequalities and why they impact women.

Feminism by Deborah Cameron is a good introduction to the main themes, easy to read and not huge or expensive either.
The documentary She's Beautiful When She's Angry is good for history.

Oh and look at current organisations like Filia - they do podcasts and Women's Place UK have talks filmed and posted on YouTube.

Another yes for FiLiA. filia.org.uk/

The documentary She's Beautiful When She's Angry is good for history.
Oh yes, that was really good.

Oh thank you, I'll look into all of this later today 🙂

Before you start reading it might help to know that there are different types of feminism. This can sometimes be confusing for beginners. Very broadly:

The first wave of feminism in the early 1900s centred mainly on getting women the vote — the suffragette movement — and also higher education and birth control.

Then from the 1950s into the 80s we had the second wave, which included names like Germaine Greer whom you may have heard of. The second wave feminists focus and centre themselves entirely on improving and developing rights, safety and equality for those of the female sex. They are often described as radical feminists (radfems) and they're often accused of being bra-burning and man-hating etc. Not true, of course.

From the late 80s and till now there's a movement known as third wave or liberal feminism. Liberal feminists tend to be younger and are the kind of 'feminists' who say that if a man identifies as a woman he's a woman. They think gender identity is more important than biological sex and don't centre women like the second-wavers. They tend to focus on inclusion and diversity, sometimes to the detriment of women. Liberal feminism is heavily influenced by Queer theory. Liberal feminists seem often to think that second-wave feminists are grey-haired, out of touch and old-fashioned. Second wavers look at liberal feminists and wonder what is feminist about them!

It helps to know these basics before you start.

Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay is broad and very readable. Podcasts are great (I listen whilst cleaning and am aware of the irony) - Guilty Feminist and I Weigh are great.

I'd nuance the description of lib fem above, they don't necessarily think that personal stuff about second wavers, as that would include our mothers and teachers! But there's an awareness of 'intersectionality' I.e. none of us are just one thing. E.g. Black women and/or lgbt people have challenges that white women don't face. Class and/or disability plays a massive part in how one experiences being a woman. There are endless other examples.

I think lib fems define feminism as "sex and gender equality" rather than solely focusing on people with xx chromosomes. Although obviously women still have challenges and hardship compared to men in many many areas (pay gap, low rape convictions, more family responsibility) there's also room to consider things like the mental health crisis our male loved ones struggle to articulate (not least because that leaves women to do so much extra emotional labour). Things are interconnected and don't exist in a vacuum.

@TRHR

Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay is broad and very readable. Podcasts are great (I listen whilst cleaning and am aware of the irony) - Guilty Feminist and I Weigh are great.

I'd nuance the description of lib fem above, they don't necessarily think that personal stuff about second wavers, as that would include our mothers and teachers! But there's an awareness of 'intersectionality' I.e. none of us are just one thing. E.g. Black women and/or lgbt people have challenges that white women don't face. Class and/or disability plays a massive part in how one experiences being a woman. There are endless other examples.

I think lib fems define feminism as "sex and gender equality" rather than solely focusing on people with xx chromosomes. Although obviously women still have challenges and hardship compared to men in many many areas (pay gap, low rape convictions, more family responsibility) there's also room to consider things like the mental health crisis our male loved ones struggle to articulate (not least because that leaves women to do so much extra emotional labour). Things are interconnected and don't exist in a vacuum.

Just proof read, didn't mean to say that white women can't be LGBT, hope that's obvious!

Fawcett Society, Vagina Museum, Helen Pankhurst also spring to mind.

@Shedbuilder Your stereotyping of liberal feminists is way off the mark. We come in all ages, many of us have grey hair! We see feminism as intersectional, it's about lifting everybody up, whatever our background or heritage. Some groups of women suffer greater disadvantage than others, it's important to acknowledge that so change and equal rights are accessible to all.

Be careful not to denigrate other women, that's not what any type of feminism should be about.

YouTube Emma Watson's UN speech! Also read anything from Malala

Just proof read, didn't mean to say that white women can't be LGBT, hope that's obvious!

Any woman can be lesbian & bi, and any woman can identify as trans (but then probably won’t want to be called a woman).

The Vagina Museum are currently working very hard on Twitter to erase the harmful notion that having a vagina has anything to do with being a woman, and Emma Watson agrees with them. The Fawcett Society seem to be uncomfortably on the fence on that one & determined to stay there.

I’m all for intersectional feminism as long as it doesn’t lose track of the fact that women are oppressed because of their sex. I think that if feminism isn’t exclusively about females then it doesn’t do what it says on the tin. Of course men’s mental health matters too but you never see any of the organisations supporting that being pressured to include women.

Final controversial opinion: I think ‘gender’ is intrinsically misogynistic & homophobic, however you look at it, that ‘gender equality’ is an oxymoron, and that everyone, but especially women, would be better off if we were working to abolish the concept altogether & simply have sex as a biological descriptor.

My above post will probably get deleted, by the way, because there are people on Twitter who have publicly declared that they monitor this board and report posts they don’t like. They’re generally known on here as the ‘Misogynist Monitors.’

Feminism by Deborah Cameron is a good introduction to the main themes, easy to read and not huge or expensive either.
Agreed. It's a really good starting point. You could also read her blog.

I’m all for intersectional feminism as long as it doesn’t lose track of the fact that women are oppressed because of their sex.

This is key. Vagina Museum etc don't really meet the criteria for intersectionality as they pretend being female isn't a specific axis of oppression.

Start with what made you become interested.

Which things resonated or happened to inspire the interest.

Feminism is a massive area. Covering a load of issues. It's global. Through history.

I'd start by reading on here and googling topic feminism and just read.

You will agree with stuff and disagree with stuff.

No need to dive in. And there's no single handbook!

Intersectionality was a really good way to formalise and bring to attention the fact that different axes of oppression multiply the shit.

And it's a totally valid point that humans naturally see things through their own situation.

And that if you don't have the thing then you can't really get it.

I have a disability from childhood. I have insight into that, that even people who try to empathise just don't really get.

It's good stuff.

Sadly it's been bastardised into oppression Olympics and is often thrown in the face of those for whom it was meant to assist.

Baby bathwater.

Loads of Feminist gains get turned on us.

OP just read around. Make your own mind up. That's my best suggestion.

Take it slow.

I used to be on a load of Facebook radfem groups.

Some of the views were totally bonkers. Loads of infighting. If that was the first thing I encountered I'd have run!

Also read all sorts. What do you agree with. Disagree with. Make your own mind up.