5th Wave Feminism
how far we’ve come & where it’s taking us
an essay by
NE1.
A most curious phenomena has occurred (from my observations & by listening to others) in English speaking territories over the last year or more. In the year since the end of the worldwide pandemic, i have had the chance to hear people, apropos of nothing, express their concern for the direction the #MeToo movement has taken, the wall it has driven itself into, the dead-end of what was once called Cancel Culture, which is the collective desire for condemnation without rehabilitation, without grace or forgiveness for people, especially mens many ethical failures.
From New York to California, in London pubs, even in cities like Paris, Nuremberg, & Shanghai, i have seen people who care too much about human progress roll their eyes at the state of the world. At such important ideas & movements being fumbled by torch-bearing, by the desire for revenge.
3rd wave feminism in the 1990s was defined by its inclusion of any oppressed persons, not simply the white women having their say, but by using their newfound privilege to sit back & listen & give voices to any & all groups of people who had yet to be given a voice in the mainstream rebellion.
4th wave feminism began with the dawn of the internet, with the many messages of the 3rd wave being mass-proliferated around the developed world & any underdeveloped country with internet access. And yet 4th wave came to a screeching hault, crashed into the shore as it were, during the Trump era in America, with its extremely important messages being mishandled by vilification in leiu of rehabilitation. To condemn the failures of others can never heal the problem, only suppress it; we as a people have to nurture the failures of each other, in order to prevent it in the future.
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A 5th wave has already begun to roll in, & it is as heavy & wide as the ocean itself.
In contrast to the 4th waves scorched-Earth mentality toward broken men, the 5th wave, as i have heard it expressed by femme-identifying people in various cities & of various ages, is a return to the nature/nurture ways of old. A focus on healing, not only men but anyone who has acquired unhealthy habits & lamentable behaviors, any ‘toxicity’ as the 4th wave torch-bearers so flippantly named anyone who was struggling with the problems of anger, addiction, & anything deemed socially unsavory.
The 5th wave of what was once called feminism maintains a focus on encouraging, embracing & celebrating male tenderness, male gentility. The essential positive qualities of masculinity, congratulating them to the same extent that the negative masculine traits are lamented & condemned. A support system of the so-called divine feminine carefully observing & offering critique to the not-yet divine masculine qualities in anyone.
In one particularly striking conversation, where a black nonbinary femme was discussing a new (male) lover, they spoke even of the value of male protection & the (historically) longstanding sense of safety that being held in masculine arms (of anyone) can evoke in a hug or cuddle of a loved one.
“I felt so safe,” they said. Though they said nothing as they layed together.
3rd waves inclusivity of all minorities (ergo, the big Other) has lead irrevocably to 4th waves divisiveness & desire to punish & castrate the Other for their histories. This too is a toxic behavior we now know too well.
5th wave feminism seeks to achieve a balance of these contrasts & opposites, no matter where on the spectrum a given person is currently experiencing the inherent masculine/feminine qualities of us all.
Thank you for reading.
Part 2: Heteroskepticism
