Third wave feminism

THIRD WAVE FEMINISM

The third wave was in the 1980's and 1990's.
Unlike in the first and second wave, there was less emphasis on the battles for equality.
However, there was MORE emphasis on the positive nature of ambiguity and difference (not all women are the same, it doesn't matter!)
A lot of women started looking up to the spice girls because they shown a lot of girl power from the media point of view.
Empowering heroines like Xena and Buffy.

POST FEMINISM

• Celebrates the diversity of identity available to women. 
• Positive endorsement of consumerism.
• Sometimes seen as 'anti-feminism'.
• If women knew that femininity is a construct, then they can play with its signs, symbols and identities from a position of power. 
• Semiotic guerilla warfare - meaning of signifiers such as high heels/lipstick/designer clothes can be shifted from powerless to powerful. 

GAUNTLETT (2002)

"Men and women are seen working side by side, as equals, in the hospitals, schools, and police stations of television land. Movie producers are wary of having women as screaming victims, and have realised that kick ass heroines do better business. Advertisers have now realised that audiences will only laugh at images of the pretty housewife, and have reacted by showing women how to be sexy at work instead."

Classic weak-woman scenes in the films and TV:

• The male character grabs the woman by the upper arm and the woman exclaims, "You're hurting me!"
• The man suddenly appears from around a corner. Woman gasps and exclaims, "You scared me!"
• The man and woman are arguing then the man raises his voice and steps towards the woman, the woman backs up, and the male continues to slowly walk towards her (with no weapon or raised fists) and the woman continues to step backwards. 
• Man and woman are running away from a gunman in a forest. The man always has hold of the woman's wrist as she is slowing the man down, (a woman cannot run beyond her natural speed if a man has her wrist; a man or woman's fastest sprint can only be accomplished with both arms pumping freely).
• When the woman is running away from the gunman she trips and falls so the gunman catches up with them. 
• The woman gets hit with the mans backhand causing her to fall to the ground again,  whimpering, she then crawls across the floor away from the man.