Jessica Territo

Prof. Marinara
ENC 3315
11 November 2014
How the Internet Saved Feminism
In fifty years time, the 2010s will be seen as the beginning of the social media
age. Instantaneous reactions to popular culture and worldwide news were the new
normal. The year of 2014, which is nearing its end, was one for the history books. This
was the year women of all ages were speaking out and fighting for their natural rights via
their touch screens and laptop keyboards. The fourth wave of feminism made its debut
and was guided by the ever-present Internet.
Women have been fighting for social, political and economic freedom for
centuries. The name for this struggle came from the French, feminisme, around the end of
the 1800s. Charles Fourier coined the term. A French philosopher, he wanted to improve
the status of women but didnt strive for the equality of the sexes (Larson). It came to the
U.S. at the beginning of the 1900s via an article about a French Suffragist named
Madeline Pelltier. The United States didnt begin to use the term until the 1960s and
1970s, the second wave of feminism for the country. The first wave of Feminism marked
the beginning of the womens movement with the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted the Seneca Falls Declaration outlining the new
movement's ideology and political strategies (Rampton). The second wave of the
movement gained footing with Betty Friedans book, The Feminine Mystique, which
discussed the problem that has no name. The first wave of feminism was mostly about

acquiring the right to vote, a political equality in the U.S. In the second, sexuality and
reproductive rights were dominant issues, and much of the movement's energy was
focused on passing the Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution guaranteeing social
equality regardless of sex. The third wave of feminism, which debuted in the 1990s, was
all about the riot grrrl. Women stepped onto the stage as strong and empowered,
eschewing victimization and defining feminine beauty for themselves as subjects, not as
objects of a sexist patriarchy (Rampton).
After the grrls of the nineties, the movement continued on like always but lost
its microphone to reach girls of all ages and different backgrounds. Feminism found a
soapbox for its fourth wave through the World Wide Web and smart phones. It could be
traced back to the Presidential Election of 2012 when a video using the 1963 song You
Dont Own Me by Lesley Gore became viral. The video had modern day celebrities like
actress Lena Dunham who is famous for creating, writing and staring in her own
television show on the groundbreaking HBO channel. Even the woman behind the song
made an appearance. The lip-synching women in the video were reminding the country
before the election that the rights of women were at stake. Some 50 years earlier, in the
second wave of feminism, the same rights were being fought for. Progress for the innate
human rights of women is slow but the viral video reached many women and men and
educated them on the feminist movement. The video has over 500,000 views on Vimeo
and made a reappearance during the 2014 midterm elections in the U.S. Education can
eradicate ignorance on all human rights issues especially Feminism (You Dont Own
Me). The viral video was able to merge young feminists, a catchy song and the Internet
to create a message strong enough to convince voters to choose what is right.

What is certain is that the Internet has created a call-out culture, in which sexism
or misogyny can be called out and challenged. Staying true to third wave feminism,
fourth wave focuses on micro politics and challenging sexism and misogyny as they
appear in everyday rhetoric, advertising, film, television and literature, the media, and so
on. As recent as October of 2014, a commercial was called out for keeping the sexist
nature of Halloween alive. Subway, a healthy fast-food alternative, aired an
advertisement with a woman telling her friends that Halloween is coming and you have
to stay in shape for all the costumes, donning different Halloween costumes which leave
little to the imagination (Subway). The commercial which was aired many times on more
than one channel, gave the impression that women were to stay skinny in order to look
good in the Halloween costumes that are directed toward girls over the age of sixteen.
Costumes like Sexy Viking or Sexy Snow White. That's going too far, according to
many Twitter users who have slammed Subway for "shaming people" via its "sexist,"
"misogynistic and sizeist" ad. A rep from Subway released a statement after social media
tore the commercial apart. "We understand that some people may not have picked up on
the intended humor in our Halloween commercial," a Subway rep told The Hollywood
Reporter. "Our objective was certainly not to offend anyone." (Lewis) This was not the
first nor the last time humor has been used to push sexism under the rug. The joke isnt
funny now and will never be.

Work Cited
Larson, Beth, and Lara Orlandic. "Our Favorite "f-word": The Misconceptions of
Feminism in Uni and Mainstream Culture | Online Gargoyle." Gargoyle RSS. The Online
Gargoyle, 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.uni.illinois.edu/og/opinions/2011/11/our-favorite-f-word-misconception>

Rampton, Martha. "The Three Waves of Feminism." Pacific University. Pacific

University Oregon, 23 Oct. 2014. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.pacificu.edu/about-us/news-events/three-waves-feminism>.

"You Don't Own Me" PSA. Vimeo, 2012. Film.

<http://vimeo.com/108810601>.

"Subway Fresh Fit TV Commercial, 'Ready for Costume Season?'" ISpot.tv. ISpot.tv Inc.,
1 Oct. 2014. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7NlD/subway-fresh-fit-ready-for-costume-season>.
Lewis, Hillary. "Subway Halloween Ad Slammed as "Sexist" - Hollywood
Reporter." The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Oct. 2014. Web. 14
Nov. 2014.
<http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/subway-halloween-ad-slammed-as738009>.