Neofeminism

Part of a series on
Feminism
History Feminist history History of feminism Women's history American British Canadian German Waves First Second Third Fourth Timelines Women's suffrage Muslim countries US Other women's rights Women's suffrage by country Austria Australia Canada Colombia India Japan Kuwait Liechtenstein New Zealand Spain Second Republic Francoist Switzerland United Kingdom Cayman Islands Wales United States states
Intersectional variants Fat Lesbian Lesbian of color Radical lesbianism Separatist Sex-positive Transfeminism Postgenderism Vegetarian ecofeminism Socialist Anarchist Queer Jineology Marxist Critical theory Standpoint Materialist Ecofeminist Postcolonial Global Transnational Xenofeminism Multicultural Africana womanism Black Hip hop Lesbian Ratchet Chicana Lesbian Indigenous Native American Multiracial Romani Womanism
Conservative variants Anti-abortion Equity Femonationalism Maternal Postfeminism Neofeminism Reactionary State Carceral Imperial Embedded Gender-critical Victim White
Religious variants Atheist Buddhist Christian Mormon New Womanist Asian Neopagan Dianic Wicca Reclaiming Ecofeminist Hindu Islamic Jewish Orthodox Sikh
Movements and ideologies Analytical Anti-fascist Anti-pornography Cyberfeminism HCI Networked Ecofeminism Eugenic Individualist Lipstick Stiletto Liberal Difference Equality Social Labor Libertarian Post-structural Postmodern Radical Cultural Political lesbianism Separatist Technofeminism Women's liberation
Concepts Literature Children's literature Discrimination against transgender women Diversity (politics) Diversity, equity, and inclusion Effects on society Equality Female education Female genital mutilation Femicide Feminationalism Feminism in culture Feminist movement African-American women's suffrage movement Art movement In hip hop Feminist stripper Gender equality Girl power Honor killing Ideal womanhood Internalized sexism International Girl's Day and Women's Day Language reform Likeability trap Male privilege Matriarchal religion Media Men in feminism Misogyny Oedipus complex Opposition to feminism Pro-feminism Protofeminism Purple capitalism Purplewashing Reproductive justice Sex workers' rights Sexual harassment Sexual objectification Toxic masculinity Transmisogyny Triple oppression Violence against women War on women Women empowerment Women-only space Women's health Women's rights Women in the workforce
Outlooks Bicycling and feminism Criticism of marriage Views on BDSM Views on pornography Views on prostitution Views on sexual orientation Views on sexuality Views on transgender topics
Theory Feminist method Gender studies Gender mainstreaming Gynocentrism Kyriarchy Male gaze Matriarchy Women's studies Men's studies Patriarchy Écriture féminine Areas of study Anthropology Archaeology Architecture Art Art criticism Literary criticism Film theory Science fiction Biology Composition studies Criminology Pathways perspective Economics FDPA Geography International relations Constructivism Legal theory Pedagogy Philosophy Aesthetics Empiricism Epistemology Ethics Justice ethics Existentialism Metaphysics science Political ecology Political theory Pornography Psychology Therapy Revisionist mythology Sex wars Sexology Sociology Technoscience Theology womanist theology
By country Albania Australia Bangladesh Canada China Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Egypt Ethiopia Finland France Germany Ghana Greece Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Republic of Ireland Israel Italy Japan Latin America Argentina Brazil Chile Haiti Honduras Mexico Paraguay Trinidad and Tobago Lebanon Malaysia Mali Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nigeria Northern Cyprus Norway Pakistan Philippines Poland Russia Syria Saudi Arabia South Africa South Korea Sweden Taiwan Thailand Turkey Vietnam Ukraine United Kingdom United States History of women
Lists and categories Lists Articles Feminists by nationality Literature American feminist literature Feminist comic books Feminist songs Conservative feminisms Ecofeminist authors Feminist art critics Feminist economists Feminist philosophers Feminist poets Feminist rhetoricians Jewish feminists Muslim feminists Feminist parties Suffragists and suffragettes Women's rights activists Women's studies journals Women's suffrage organizations Categories Women's rights by country Feminists by nationality
Feminism portal
v t e

Neofeminism describes an emerging view of women as becoming empowered through the celebration of attributes perceived to be conventionally feminine, that is, it glorifies a womanly essence over claims to equality with men. It is a term that has come into use in the early 21st century to refer to a popular culture trend, what critics see as a type of "lipstick feminism" that confines women to stereotypical roles, while it erodes cultural freedoms women gained through the second-wave feminism of the 1960s and 1970s in particular.

Origins

The term has been used since the beginning of second-wave feminism to refer broadly to any recent manifestation of feminist activism, mainly to distinguish it from the first-wave feminism of the suffragettes. It was used in the title of a best-selling 1982 book by Jacques J. Zephire about French feminist Simone de Beauvoir, Le Neo-Feminisme de Simone de Beauvoir (Paris: Denoel/Gonthier 9782282202945). Zephir used the term to differentiate de Beauvoir's views from writers described as "Neofeminist", such as literary theorist Luce Irigaray, who indicated in her own writing that women had an essentialist femininity that could express itself in écriture féminine (feminine writing/language), among other ways. Céline T. Léon has written, "one can only identify the existentialist's [de Beauvoir's] glorification of transcendence with the type of feminism that Luce Irigaray denounces in Ce sexe qui n'en est pas un: "Woman simply equal to men would be like them and therefore not women"."^{[page needed]}

De Beauvoir's views were quite the opposite:

Over and against the neofeminists' attempts at getting rid of phallogocentrism and creating a new [feminine] writing style, she denounces as a contradiction this imprisonment of women in a ghetto of difference/singularity: "I consider it almost antifeminist to say that there is a feminine nature which expresses itself differently, that a woman speaks her body more than a man."^[1]

Later writers and popular culture commentators appear to have continued this use of the term to describe essentialist feminism. It has been used by sociologists to describe a new popular culture movement that "celebrates both the feminine body and women's political achievements":

Women do and should realize their autonomy through their femininity in its "Elle magazine form" (Chollet 2004). Neofeminism champions the free choice of women in appearance, lifestyle, and sexuality. This consumerist orientation retains the advances of legal equality in political space but urges women to celebrate their femininity in their personal lives, a category that includes careers, clothing, and sexuality.^[2]

Some have accused this thought current as being female chauvinism, trying to manipulate people's behaviours and attitudes towards life^[3]

Other uses

The term has also been equated with the new feminism described by Pope John Paul II. The feminist film scholar Hilary Radner has used the term neofeminism to characterize the iteration of feminism advocated by Hollywood's spate of romantic comedies inaugurated by Pretty Woman (Gary Marshall, 1990) often described as postfeminist. Radner argues that the origins of neofeminism can be traced back to figures such as Helen Gurley Brown writing in the 1960s, meaning that the term postfeminism (suggesting that these ideas emerged after second-wave feminism) is potentially misleading .^[4]

See also

• Anti-abortion feminism
• Equity feminism
• Gaze
• Objectification
• Sociology of the family § Sociology of motherhood

References

This page was last edited on 14 February 2024, at 09:36