Postfeminism

The term postfeminism (alternatively rendered as post-feminism) is used to describe reactions against contradictions and absences in feminism, especially second-wave feminism and third-wave feminism. The term postfeminism is sometimes confused with subsequent feminisms such as fourth-wave feminism and xenofeminism. The ideology of postfeminism is recognized by its contrast with prevailing or preceding feminism. Some forms of postfeminism strive towards the next stage in gender-related progress, and as such is often conceived as in favor of a society that is no longer defined by rigid gender roles and expressions. A postfeminist is a person who believes in, promotes, or embodies any of various ideologies springing from the feminism of the 1970s, whether supportive of or antagonistic towards classical feminism. Postfeminism can be considered a critical way of understanding the changed relations between feminism, popular culture and femininity. Postfeminism may also present a critique of second-wave feminism or third-wave feminism by questioning their binary thinking and essentialism, their vision of sexuality, and their perception of relationships between femininity and feminism. It may also complicate or even deny entirely the notion that absolute gender equality is necessary, desirable or realistically achievable. In 1919, a journal was launched in which "female literary radicals" stated we're interested in people now—not in men and women, that "moral, social, economic, and political standards 'should not have anything to do with sex, that it would "be 'pro-woman without being anti-man, and that "their stance [is called] 'post-feminist. The term was used in the 1980s to describe a backlash against second-wave feminism. Postfeminism is now a label for a wide range of theories that take critical approaches to previous feminist discourses and includes challenges to the second wave's ideas. Other postfeminists say that feminism is no longer relevant to today's society.