As a movement for social transformation, feminism has several ramifications depending on the objective or the means used to achieve the emancipation of women. Below we present the 10 types or currents of current feminism.
Historically, the female sex has been relegated to the background by the established powers. The nobility, the clergy and even great thinkers and philosophers have considered that women were excluded from the right of citizenship “by nature” or “by the will of God” . As society has progressed, it has become clear that women’s rights were being violated.
- It may interest you: What is intersectional feminism and how can it help women
ARTICLE CONTENT
1. Brief history of feminism.
2. Main types of feminism.
3. Types of minority feminism.
Brief history of feminism
First, we will briefly review how the feminist movement has developed over the last century.
1. First wave of feminism
The first wave of demands occurred between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th and sought formal equality between men and women . The right to vote or access to private property were the main objectives to follow. However, this feminist current did not conceive of machismo as a basic social problem, but rather as attacks on their individuality.
2. Second wave of feminism
It took almost a century for the second wave of feminism to take place (meanwhile, the world was busy with world wars), between the 1960s and 1990s. Taking various influences from postmodern philosophy, the movement diversified and established itself. several currents of feminism (mainly that of equality and that of difference) that we will address later.
3. Third wave of feminism
We are experiencing the third wave of feminism, which began in the late 1990s and continues today. In it, visibility is given to the various gender identitiesand sexual orientations, so transfeminism is created. In the same way, it is questioned that the Western and heterosexual white woman is the paradigm of feminism, since diversity must be one of the pillars of the movement.
The 5 main types of feminism
Below we review the 5 feminist currents that predominate today , according to their strategies and objectives.
1. Feminism of equality
It is the most primitive current of feminism and defends that both men and women are, in essence, human beings, and therefore must be in equal conditions. This type of feminism is based on the idea that there is inequality between the sexes and accepts positive discrimination. For example, you can defend a measure that establishes a minimum number of female teachers in an educational center.
2. Feminism of difference
This type of feminism is substantially different from the previous one, and it is that it does not take inequality between the sexes as a reference or it is not based on the status quo of men in society. The objective is not equality of the sexes, but the development of feminism as a social movement and the defense of feminine values, completely opposed to masculine ones.
This current has received much criticism, also from feminist circles, as it defends a social movement in itself and not women as individuals.
3. Transfeminism
Transfeminism developed during the third wave of feminism and is a critique of traditional binarism. That is, gender is not divided into men and women , but there are up to 31 different types of sexual identities, such as transgender, bigender or pangender, among others.
Feminism is formed by the vindication of a multitude of social minoritieswho have been historically discriminated against. There is no longer a criterion that defines who is oppressed and who is not, so the main objective is the sexual freedom of each individual and the elimination of biological barriers, which are artificial social barriers.
4. Ecofeminism
This theory argues that patriarchy uses biology and nature to maintain a situation of domination and exploitation of women. Ecofeminists assert that women are in a privileged position to reverse this process, since their oppressed condition makes them closer to nature.
In essence, this current ensures that environmentalism and feminism defend common goalsand therefore they should work side by side to end the patriarchy.
5. Radical feminism
The writer Kate Millet defines this type of feminism well in the book ‘Sexual Politics’ (1969). In it, she exposes that women have historically been relegated to a secondary role of mere producers and that liberal values are only applicable to men.
Radical feminism defends that the origin of patriarchy is institutions and not capitalism . She also maintains that lesbianism is the only way for women to have a full sexual life and, therefore, they are radically against prostitution and pornography, which are seen as oppressive instruments of the patriarchy.
5 other types of minority feminism
We now review other minority currents that have been proposed throughout modern and contemporary history.
6. Socialist feminism
Strongly influenced by Marxism. Class society and capitalism are to blame because they have endowed men with the ability to exercise oppressive power and form a patriarchal society. Defends the implementation of a socialist system that establishes an egalitarian society.
7. Anarchist feminism
Both the State and the patriarchy must disappear , since they are based on the absence of freedoms. It has a non-dogmatic vision, so several interpretations of this same feminist current can be made.
8. Separatist feminism
Defends the separation of both sexes in society, since they are essentially different. The union between individuals clearly harms women , so the only effective solution is emotional and material emancipation. A clear (and disturbing) example is the American Society for the Destruction of Men (SCUM).
9. Philosophical feminism
A new current of feminism that is gaining popularity. It starts from the premise that the history of philosophy, and the approaches that have been exposed throughout it, are incomplete because philosophies have been ignored. In this sense, a deep revision of some key concepts of the history of ideas is needed.
10. Cyberfeminism
Relatively recent term that relates cyberspace to feminism. He affirms that women must make use of new technologies (and the codes that she uses) to achieve an egalitarian society.
- You can also read: 100 short feminist phrases to learn and fight.
