Contextualizing Gender

This chapter examines feminism and gender studies. It begins by distinguishing the different “waves” of feminism. The first wave is usually described as lasting from the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 until women’s suffrage in 1920; the second, as the 1960s and 1970s; and the third, as beginning in the 1980s or 1990s and lasting until today. During the 1960s and 1970s, women achieved massive successes, including abortion rights and sexual harassment laws. Support of transgender people improved with the arrival of third wave feminism. The chapter then explains the concepts of intersectionality, misogyny, and toxic masculinity. It also describes queer theory, trans studies, and transfeminism. From the time the phrase “queer theory” was introduced in 1990, queer theorists have ventured into a diverse array of subjects, including LGBTQ history, social construction of identities, and literary theory. Like queer theory, trans studies emerged out of a recognized need for new voices within academic worlds.