Dissidents and visionary women of the new feminisms

Abstract

The world has experienced undeniable changes provoked by the first, second and third wave feminisms from the nineteenth century. We are used to conceptualizing and labeling everything, and nowadays we are facing the fourth wave, a less compact, more fragmented and plural ideology that, as Elena Gascón-Vera (Professor at Wellsley College) explains, combines feminism and fights for the rights of queer and other pro-sex movements. The fourth wave, according to the British journalist Kira Cochrane, is focused on small more specific causes, and supports its claims on digital tools. It would be very interesting to assess whether this is a breakthrough or just the development of postmodern uncertainty supported by 3.0. technology. In any case, Feminist Utopia has led society to errors that are often not acknowledged and, if they are, they are justified as a price to pay. In many cases, the victims are the women themselves. The Italian politician and writer Eugenia Roccella considers that utopias have moved from social conflict to mere biology, making women choose between destroying both maternity and sexual difference, or defending these differences at all costs. Eveyne Sullerot, a French feminist sociologist, regrets the dramatic fragility established in society, as a consequence of frequent breakups and abortion, justified by the cry of “my belly is mine”, which take the meaning out of parenthood. Feminism, as it is conceived, is not the panacea. We still have a long road ahead. We can glimpse a need to develop the ecologic trend. The recession and family difficulties of the first years of the 21st Century have become a challenge for many feminists from the 60s and 70s. Some of them, such as the above or the American Christina Hoff Somersson, Eugenia Roccella, Karen DeKrow or Camille Paglia, have already started to reword their messages. In this article we discuss the contributions of these dissident or visionary women.