Feminism
Imaginatively, women is of the highest value; practically, she is completely
insignificant. She prevails in poetry from cover to cover, she is all but absent from
history, she dominates kings and conquers in fiction, but she is no more than a
slave to a boy whose parents have forced their ring upon her finger. These grand
thoughts had fallen in literature, but in real life, she could hardly write or read. She
is the legal property of her husband. In the world of feminism, people often think
only of women’s rights—frustrations, tortures, atrocities done by patriarchal limits,
domestic violence, rape, assault, and many more things—but it is broader than
these quotes. It stands for many other things as well. The above is only one
element.
In the modern era, we see how women are radical. Even now, we know why
"Manu Smriti," the religious script, was burned in JNU. It was simply a torture for
Hindu women and widows. It stated that if your husband is a drunkard, has extra-
marital affairs, or even has a deadly disease, you cannot speak against him; he is
your lord. We see similar content everywhere. A boy is free to talk about any
dimension, but a girl is expected to remain "protected." This is called "sexual
language," where one sex is at the margin and the other is at the center. We see the
terms “slut” and “stud.” One refers to a rude and characterless person, while the
other refers to a rowdy but stylish figure.
Here, we have the term “phalagocentricism”—phalago refers to the power
structure, and logocentrism refers to language. The power was with patriarchy, so
they decided the language. That is why good words have always stood for men.
Feminism does not mean hating men. There were no women writers in the past, not
even in the Elizabethan era. We had all male writers, dramatists, and poets who
defined women magnificently.
First Wave Feminism: This occurred during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It
was coined by Martha Lear in 1968. During this phase, women were fighting for
basic rights: the right to vote, the right to live, the right to survive, the right to
education, and the right to be respected.
Second Wave Feminism: In this phase, women fought for equal rights in society.
They questioned why women were confined to households only, why they were
isolated from politics, law, and the economy. They also tried to modernize their
appearance.
Third Wave Feminism: During this phase, women began to question why men
govern them. This was a radical phase. They asked why there was not a single holy
book written by a female writer. Feminist writer Shulamith Firestone, in her book
The Dialectic of Sex (1972), argued that pregnancy should be transferred to men.
She claimed that male scientists were not working hard or even trying to make men
pregnant. She was also against the institution of marriage, calling it a legal way to
colonize women. She believed women should avoid marriage to have self-identity.
Fourth Wave Feminism: This wave focuses on the resurgence of feminism in
relation to social media. It addresses issues like body image, weight loss, and the
portrayal of women in media as sex objects. Society has assigned specific roles to
genders. A girl is not born, she is made: a good homemaker, a good cook, a good
daughter, a good wife—everything she does is for others, but she is never allowed
to be for herself. Elaine Showalter gives a clear look at this in her book The
Second Sex.
