feminism

Nicole Matos

Critical Feminist Studies

21 December 2007

House on Fire

In the age of what many believe to be the “third-wave” of feminism, one that challenges the notion of what it even means to be “female” or “feminist” and has expanded to include those who may not or could not have been part of the first or second waves of feminism, it becomes clear that one of the major differences between the older waves of feminism and the one we are in now is exemplified in the attitude towards pornography. Here, I use the term in a very broad sense since so many feminists define it differently and I mean it to include both sex/sexual work such as prostitution and stripping as well as the pornographic movie industry.

Louisa “Weezie” Lauher

December 20, 2007

Critical Feminist Theory

Professor Anne Dalke

Final Paper

The Transition of Feminism at Bryn Mawr College

Please find the works of Elizabeth Cantanese, Sarah Lindberg, Gail Chavenelle, and myself in our attempts to illustrate feminism. We are two alum and two current students, each with our own account of what it means to be a feminist in today's world.

In reaction to each piece, please do one of two things: Either (a) compose a list of 5 individual words/piece which describe the work or the feeling emotion that they inspire OR (b) write a few sentences describing the illustrated definitions of feminism. If you were to look up feminism in the dictionary and find these paintings/sculptures, what would you take away?

Over the course of the semester, I had decided to stop commenting on the weekly blogs. I, like many of the alum, felt that there was no conversations taking place and felt more comfortable speaking my mind in a classroom where debates could be started and responses were immediate. I felt that many people in the class were either summarizing the texts to prove that they had read them, or using personal testimony to discontinue conversations. Now, towards the end of the semester, I think it would be interesting to go back through the weeks and make comments based on what we have discussed in class since. I am hoping that some new ideas can come of it and would love if others could contribute to the conversation to see how we have evolved as feminists or merely women studying feminism.

So my paper is extremely late because the task at hand seems completely daunting. I want to do the actual text of The Golden Notebook justice by exploring it in its own right, but there is an incredible amount of relevant external theory and social context to explore.