Kate Bjorgo
Central Question
Feminism
The First Wave of Feminism
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
"There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. Might as well speak of a female liver."-Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Women are Coming
The women are coming to vote! to vote!
The women are coming, to set the world humming,
The women are coming to vote! to vote!"
Gilman' song was a call to action for women's suffrage and became an anthem of the movement. Her song reflected her personal views that women are the underdeveloped half of humanity and that there is no distinction between men and women.
The Second Wave of Feminism
Don't tell me what to say
And please, when I go out with you
Don't put me on display 'cause"
This song that was sung by Lesley Gore reflects the idea of the second wave of feminism that women are their own person and are more than just the stereotypical Suzie Homemaker that was the model for women in the 50s. It also shows a side to domestic violence because in the song Gore sings "I'm not just one of your many toys," which shows how some women are just girlfriends and wives to some men who believe that they can treat women how ever they want to.
While you had all your fun
And every year that's gone by
Another babys come
There's a gonna be some changes made
Right here on nursery hill
You've set this chicken your last time
'Cause now I've got the pill"
The Pill reflects Lynn's personal life as a mother and wife; Lynn was 15 when she married her 21 year old husband, Oliver Vanetta Lynn(she first met him a month earlier) and had 4 of her 6 children by the time she was 20 years old. Lynn's husband cheated on her regularly and once left her while she was giving birth and was also an alcoholic. Her husband and her frequently fought but Loretta said "He never hit me one time that I didn't hit him back twice."
The Third Wave of Feminism
Was she asking nice?
If she was asking for it
Did she ask you twice?"
Lead singer of Hole, Courtney Love, and the rest of the band wrote this song after Love stage dived at one of their concerts and was molested by the crowd. After Love stage dived, the crowd began to sexually assault Love and once they returned her to the stage Love realized that her dress had been removed but, worst of all was when Love saw a photograph that was taken of her during the incident. This song is entirely about Love's experience.
"I can't compare it to rape because it's not the same. But in a way it was. I was raped by an audience, figuratively, literally, and yet, was I asking for it?"
if I don’t say something, if I just lie still
Would I be that monster, scare them all away
If I let the-em hear what I have to say
I can’t keep quiet, no oh oh oh oh oh oh
I can’t keep quiet, no oh oh oh oh oh oh
A one woman riot, oh oh oh oh oh oh oh"
Connie Lim (MILCK) was inspired to write Quiet due to her experience with domestic violence, depression, and anorexia; Quiet was originally not going to be released until later but, Lim demanded that she could release it after the Trump election. Since the release of the song it has become the anthem for the feminist movement and has started it's own, the #ICANTKEEPQUIET project "is dedicated to celebrating our unique voices and identities, in an effort to break the cycles of oppression and fear, perpetuated by today's media."