Episode 5: Second and Third Waves and the Question of 4th + Waves (2021)

Intro to Feminist and Social Justice Studies Podcast

Welcome to Introduction to Feminist and Social Justice Studies. This is the fifth audio episode of the semester-long course for the Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist, and Social Justice Studies program at McGill University, taking place in the Fall of 2021.

The transcript is available here: https://introtofeministstudies.blogspot.com/2020/07/episode-5-second-and-third-waves-and.html

In the last lecture episode, we talked about American and Canadian feminist movements in the 19th and early 20th century. One of the major themes in that lecture was around the tensions within the category of “woman.” As we discussed, one of the problems with the feminist wave metaphor is that so much of it is built around white women’s histories and experiences with feminist activism. Critiques of treating middle and upper class white women’s experiences as universal occurred in the 19th and early 20th century. We will continue to see these critiques in the lecture today and throughout this course.

Today’s episode will explain:

1. The history of feminist activism from the 1920s to the 2020s
2. Areas of focus within feminist activism and how that shifts between generations
3. How feminist activism is linked with other social movements
4. And the concept of backlash and how progress is not a straight line

This podcast is by Dr. Alex Ketchum