{{Short description|Feminist movement, 2010s–present}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=December 2017}} {{Feminism sidebar|history}} '''Fourth-wave feminism''' is a feminist movement that began around 2012<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-01-17 |title=Feminism - Intersectionality, Inclusivity, Activism {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/feminism/The-fourth-wave-of-feminism |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=25 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625051656/https://www.britannica.com/topic/feminism/The-fourth-wave-of-feminism |url-status=live }}</ref> and is characterized by a focus on the empowerment of women,<ref name="Abrahams-Prospect"/> the use of internet tools,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Grady|first=Constance|date=2018-03-20|title=The waves of feminism, and why people keep fighting over them, explained|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/3/20/16955588/feminism-waves-explained-first-second-third-fourth|access-date=2020-06-27|website=Vox|language=en|archive-date=5 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405172242/https://www.vox.com/2018/3/20/16955588/feminism-waves-explained-first-second-third-fourth|url-status=live}}</ref> and intersectionality.<ref name="PSA"/> According to Rosemary Clark-Parsons, digital platforms have allowed feminist movements to become more connected and visible, allowing activists to reach a global audience and act on it in real time.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Clark-Parsons |first=Rosemary |title=Networked Feminism: How Digital Media Makers Transformed Gender Justice Movements |date=2022 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-38385-2 |location=Berkeley, CA}}</ref> The fourth wave seeks greater gender equality by focusing on gendered norms and the marginalization of women in society. These online tools open up the doors for empowerment for all women by giving opportunities for diverse voices, particularly those from marginalized communities to contribute to a wide range of people pushing for a more inclusive movement.<ref name=":1" />
Fourth-wave feminism focuses on sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual violence, the objectification of women, and sexism in the workplace. Internet activism is a key feature of the fourth wave, used to amplify awareness of these issues.<ref name="Shiva">{{Cite book |last1=Shiva|first1=Negar|last2=Kharazmi|first2=Zohreh Nosrat|title=The Fourth Wave of Feminism and the Lack of Social Realism in Cyberspace |oclc=1236110330}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Diamond |first1=Jill |last2=Dye |first2=Michaelanee |last3=LaRose |first3=Daphne |last4=Bruckman |first4=Amy |date=2013 |title=Holdback!: the role of storytelling online in a social movement organization |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262314400 |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=Research Gate}}</ref> Fourth-wave feminism broadens its focus to other groups, including the LGBTQ+ community and people of color, and advocates for their increased societal participation and power.<ref name="PSA" /> It also advocates for equal incomes regardless of sex and challenges traditional gender roles for men and women, which it believes are oppressive. The movement further argues against sexual assault, objectification, harassment, and gender-based violence.<ref name="Phillips 930–943" />
Some have identified the movement as a reaction to post-feminism, which argues that women and men have already reached equality. It also brought back some second-wave feminism ideas into discourse, with Martha Rampton writing that the movement criticises "sexual abuse, rape, violence against women, unequal pay, slut-shaming, the pressure on women to conform to a single and unrealistic body-type",<ref name="Pacific University-2015">{{Cite web |date=2015-10-25 |title=Four Waves of Feminism |url=https://www.pacificu.edu/magazine/four-waves-feminism |access-date=2023-05-25 |website=Pacific University |language=en |archive-date=26 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426073134/https://www.pacificu.edu/magazine/four-waves-feminism |url-status=live }}</ref> and advocates for "gains in female representation in politics and business".
==History and definition== {{Further|first-wave feminism|second-wave feminism|third-wave feminism}}
Some feminists argue that in the 1980s conservative figures like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan challenged gains feminists had made up to that point.<ref name="codigonuevo-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://www.codigonuevo.com/mileniales/cuarta-ola-feminista-llegado-debes|title=La cuarta ola feminista ha llegado y esto es lo que debes saber|date=2018-03-05|website=Código Nuevo|language=es|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425111743/https://www.codigonuevo.com/mileniales/cuarta-ola-feminista-llegado-debes|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> At the same time, feminists in North America, Latin America, and Europe had succeeded in some of their goals, including the creation of state-run institutions that explicitly promoted women's rights, or feminist involvement in government; however, these institutions also weakened feminist movements by letting the state take over implementation of feminist goals.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Vega Ugalde|first=Silvia|date=2013|title=Comentarios al Dossier: 'Nuevas voces feministas en América Latina: ¿continuidades, rupturas, resistencias?'|url=https://biblat.unam.mx/pt/revista/iconos-revista-de-ciencias-sociales/articulo/comentarios-al-dossier-nuevas-voces-feministas-en-america-latina-continuidades-rupturas-resistencias|magazine=Iconos. Revista de Ciencias Sociales|language=en|issue=46|pages=103–109|doi=10.17141/iconos.46.2013.58|issn=1390-1249|access-date=26 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426135304/https://biblat.unam.mx/pt/revista/iconos-revista-de-ciencias-sociales/articulo/comentarios-al-dossier-nuevas-voces-feministas-en-america-latina-continuidades-rupturas-resistencias|archive-date=26 April 2019|url-status=live|doi-access=free}}</ref>
European and Latin American third-wave feminism began in the 1990s, as ''lipstick feminism'' and ''consumerist feminism'' started to come to an end and as feminist activists were rejecting queer theory espoused by American academics.<ref name="Urzaiz-2017">{{Cite web|url=https://smoda.elpais.com/moda/actualidad/ana-miguel-filosofia/|title=Ana de Miguel: 'Considerar que dar las campanadas medio desnuda es un acto feminista es un error garrafal'|last=Urzaiz|first=Begoña Gómez|date=2017-12-21|website=S Moda El País |language=es-ES|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425121930/https://smoda.elpais.com/moda/actualidad/ana-miguel-filosofia/|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Guilló Girard-2018">{{Cite thesis|last=Guilló Girard|first=Clara Inés|title=El sentido de ser víctima y la víctima como sentido: tecnologías de enunciación de la violencia de género|date=2018|degree=Doctorate|publisher=Universidad Complutense de Madrid |url=http://isonomia.uji.es/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ZZ.-Actas-Seminario-Int.-violencia-genero-2018.pdf|language=es|access-date=25 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425181934/http://isonomia.uji.es/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ZZ.-Actas-Seminario-Int.-violencia-genero-2018.pdf|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="webdeveloper-2019">{{Cite web|url=http://mujerdecantabria.com/estudio-la-recuperacion-integral-las-mujeres-victimas-violencia-genero-cantabria/|title=Estudio sobre la recuperación integral de las mujeres víctimas de violencia de género en Cantabria|last=webdeveloper|website=Dirección General de Igualdad y Mujer|language=es-ES|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425185954/http://mujerdecantabria.com/estudio-la-recuperacion-integral-las-mujeres-victimas-violencia-genero-cantabria/|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kamchatka-2019">{{Cite web|url=https://www.kamchatka.es/es/feminismo-estrategico|title=Somos la Cuarta Ola; el feminismo estratégico|website=Kamchatka|language=es|access-date=2019-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426092329/https://www.kamchatka.es/es/feminismo-estrategico|archive-date=26 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Cuaderno-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://elcuadernodigital.com/2018/10/29/entrevista-a-beatriz-gimeno/|title=Entrevista a Beatriz Gimeno|last=Cuaderno|first=El|date=2018-10-29|website=El Cuaderno|language=es-ES|access-date=2019-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426132426/https://elcuadernodigital.com/2018/10/29/entrevista-a-beatriz-gimeno/|archive-date=26 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Las Gafas Violetas-2019">{{Cite web|url=https://lasgafasvioletasrevista.com/2019/03/07/somos-la-cuarta-ola-feminista/|title=¿Qué significa que somos la Cuarta Ola feminista?|date=2019-03-07|website=Las Gafas Violetas|language=es|access-date=2019-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426135307/https://lasgafasvioletasrevista.com/2019/03/07/somos-la-cuarta-ola-feminista/|archive-date=26 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Fourth-wave feminism developed slowly, globally via the media and the Internet.<ref name="Digital-2019">{{Cite web|url=https://www.estrelladigital.es/blog/tasia-aranguez-sanchez/cuarta-ola-movimiento-feminista/20181023183446356371.html|title=La cuarta ola del movimiento feminista|last=Digital|first=Estrella|website=Estrella Digital|language=es-ES|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425111746/https://www.estrelladigital.es/blog/tasia-aranguez-sanchez/cuarta-ola-movimiento-feminista/20181023183446356371.html|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Las Gafas Violetas-2019" /> The wave emerged from a new generation of women who had largely not been informed about previous waves through their education at high school, institutions and university. Knowledge about feminism was gained informally and it developed a virtual academy where feminists learned that "the personal is political"; it did not emerge from structured feminist learning.<ref name="Digital-2019" /> Fourth-wave feminism, like other waves before it, in this period was not about the existence of a single ideology, entity, or collective.<ref name="elperiodicodearagon">{{Cite web|url=https://www.elperiodicodearagon.com/noticias/aragon/pepa-bueno-estamos-cuarta-ola-imparable-feminismo_1321386.html|title=Pepa Bueno: 'Estamos en una cuarta ola imparable de feminismo'|last=Aragón|first=El Periódico de|website=El Periódico de Aragón|date=5 November 2018|language=es|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425121929/https://www.elperiodicodearagon.com/noticias/aragon/pepa-bueno-estamos-cuarta-ola-imparable-feminismo_1321386.html|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> It was about drawing together in collective groups to work together towards a common goal of ending violence against women in order to free them for the options to take the paths they desire; it was about mutual commitment and support to other women.<ref name="Lanza Digital-2019">{{Cite web|url=https://www.lanzadigital.com/provincia/manzanares/yolanda-besteiro-defiende-un-8-m-que-se-sienta-en-cada-uno-de-los-rincones-del-planeta-tambien-en-los-pueblos/|title=Yolanda Besteiro defiende un 8-M que se sienta 'en cada uno de los rincones del planeta', también en los pueblos|date=2019-03-09|website=Lanza Digital|language=es-ES|access-date=2019-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426084505/https://www.lanzadigital.com/provincia/manzanares/yolanda-besteiro-defiende-un-8-m-que-se-sienta-en-cada-uno-de-los-rincones-del-planeta-tambien-en-los-pueblos/|archive-date=26 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:International Women's Day 2017 - 03 (33202921961).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|International Women's Day, London, 2017]]
The movement in Spain traces its roots to the murder of Ana Orantes; on 17 December 1997,<ref name="elperiodicodearagon" /><ref name="Urzaiz-2017" /> she was burned to death by her husband in her house in Granada for speaking publicly on {{lang|es|Canal Sur}} about how he abused her.<ref name="Albalat-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://www.elperiodico.com/es/sociedad/20181106/sentencia-navarra-la-manada-7132000|title=Juicio a 'la Manada', segunda parte|last=Albalat|first=Miriam Ruiz Castro / J. G.|date=2018-11-06|website=elperiodico|language=es|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425181207/https://www.elperiodico.com/es/sociedad/20181106/sentencia-navarra-la-manada-7132000|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="cuartopoder-2019">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cuartopoder.es/espana/2019/01/09/todo-lo-que-la-ley-contra-la-violencia-de-genero-ha-ensenado-a-la-generacion-8m/|title=Lo que Vox no te cuenta sobre la Ley contra la violencia de género|date=2019-01-09|website=Cuartopoder|language=es|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425190005/https://www.cuartopoder.es/espana/2019/01/09/todo-lo-que-la-ley-contra-la-violencia-de-genero-ha-ensenado-a-la-generacion-8m/|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Early fourth-wave Spanish feminism used television and newspapers as the primary social network.<ref name="elperiodicodearagon" /><ref name="Urzaiz-2017" /> Orantes' death brought domestic violence against women to national attention,<ref name="ConcienciaCultural-2019">{{Cite web|url=http://www.concienciacultural.com/nuria-coronado-periodista-y-activista-de-genero-sin-feminismo-no-hay-democracia/|title=Nuria Coronado, periodista y activista de género: 'Sin feminismo, no hay democracia'|last=ConcienciaCultural|language=es|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425121933/http://www.concienciacultural.com/nuria-coronado-periodista-y-activista-de-genero-sin-feminismo-no-hay-democracia/|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Qué Leer-2019">{{Cite web|url=http://www.que-leer.com/2019/03/08/libros-sobre-feminismo/|title=Feminismo Al Poder|date=2019-03-08|website=Qué Leer|language=es|access-date=2019-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425121929/http://www.que-leer.com/2019/03/08/libros-sobre-feminismo/|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> and resulted in RTVE changing its policies on how the station reported on gender-based violence. Similar conversations took place at other television networks and media organizations across the country.<ref name="elperiodicodearagon" /> Jokes about domestic violence were no longer accepted on Spanish TV.<ref name="ConcienciaCultural-2019" /><ref name="cuartopoder-2019" /> Journalists from ''{{lang|es|El Mundo}}'', ''{{lang|es|El País}}'' and ''{{lang|es-419|infoLibre}}'' were among Spain's first participants in the fourth-wave, using their positions in the media to talk about a number of issues, mostly centered around sexist violence and its portrayal in the media. They later went on to talk about Spain's gender parity pay problems and promoted taking activism to virtual spaces.<ref name="Matiushkov Badia-2018">{{Cite book|url=https://ddd.uab.cat/record/199398|title=Las narrativas de Twitter sobre violencia machista|last1=Matiushkov Badia|first1=Tatiana|last2=Martínez García|first2=Luisa del Carmen|date=2018|others=Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona|access-date=25 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425174235/https://ddd.uab.cat/record/199398/|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
The beginnings of this movement in this period took place in Latin America and Poland.<ref name="Arruzza-2019">{{Cite web|title=Cinzia Arruzza: "Las mujeres son las que están enfrentando el ascenso de la extrema derecha en todo el mundo"|url=https://www.infobae.com/america/eeuu/2018/12/09/cinzia-arruza-las-mujeres-son-las-que-estan-enfrentando-el-ascenso-de-la-extrema-derecha-en-todo-el-mundo/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426101920/https://www.infobae.com/america/eeuu/2018/12/09/cinzia-arruza-las-mujeres-son-las-que-estan-enfrentando-el-ascenso-de-la-extrema-derecha-en-todo-el-mundo/|archive-date=26 April 2019|access-date=2019-04-26|website=Infobae|date=9 December 2018 |language=es-ES}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last= Rodak |first= Lidia |date=2020 |title= Sisterhood and the 4th wave of feminism: An analysis of circles of women in Poland |url=https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85099573149?origin=resultslist |journal= Onati Socio-Legal Series |volume=10 |issue=1S |pages=116S–134S |publisher= Onati International Institute for the Sociology of Law | doi=10.35295/OSLS.IISL/0000-0000-0000-1163 |access-date=2026-01-13}}</ref> Some of this global desire to act, particularly in a Polish context, came out of the World Conference on Women, 1995 in Beijing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nowaorgiamysli.pl/index.php/2018/02/12/czwarta-fala-feminizmu/|title=Czwarta Fala Feminizmu|date=2018-02-12|website=Nowa Orgia Myśli|language=pl-PL|access-date=2019-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322115751/http://nowaorgiamysli.pl/index.php/2018/02/12/czwarta-fala-feminizmu/|archive-date=22 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
Social media had an amplifying effect as the fourth-wave feminist movement began to grow.<ref name="Albalat-2018" /><ref name="Hidalgo-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://www.elperiodico.com/es/extra/20181106/cuarta-ola-feminismo-motivos-movimiento-twitter-7130787|title=Las feministas reivindican la Cuarta Ola del movimiento y estos son sus motivos|last=Hidalgo|first=Mamen|date=2018-11-06|website=elperiodico|language=es|access-date=2019-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426135306/https://www.elperiodico.com/es/extra/20181106/cuarta-ola-feminismo-motivos-movimiento-twitter-7130787|archive-date=26 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Fourth-wave feminism began its peak in Spain, Argentina, Chile and Brazil in 2018 as a result of a number of different factors, with women mobilized on a large scale to take to the streets.<ref name="cuartopoder-2019" /><ref name="abc-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.es/familia/mujeres/abci-40-anos-igualdad-constitucion-creimos-seriamos-iguales-pero-no-valia-solo-201812060213_noticia.html|title=40 años de igualdad en la Constitución: 'Nos creímos que seríamos iguales, pero no valía solo con eso'|date=2018-12-06|website=abc|language=es|access-date=2019-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426063542/https://www.abc.es/familia/mujeres/abci-40-anos-igualdad-constitucion-creimos-seriamos-iguales-pero-no-valia-solo-201812060213_noticia.html|archive-date=26 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Hidalgo-2018" /> Their mobilization also challenged for the first time, the legitimacy of Spain's judiciary, whereas in previous waves the focus had been more on political leadership and acts of the legislature.<ref name="abc-2018" /> The wave in Spain would also face a major challenge, including the emergence of Vox, a far right political party who won seats in Andalusia. Vox was opposed to The Organic Law of Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence and wanted to see it overturned.<ref name="cuartopoder-2019" /> In Argentina, the peak would be around the abortion rights issue which saw thousands of women with green scarves take to the streets.<ref name="Hidalgo-2018" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.clarin.com/entremujeres/genero/feminismo-aborto-cuarta-ola-feminista-victoria-freire_0_IGVMxGhBD.html|title=La cuarta ola feminista: mujeres al poder, pañuelos verdes y la lucha por el fin del patriarcado|last=Clarín.com|website=www.clarin.com|date=22 November 2018|language=es|access-date=2019-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122173439/https://www.clarin.com/entremujeres/genero/feminismo-aborto-cuarta-ola-feminista-victoria-freire_0_IGVMxGhBD.html|archive-date=22 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Social media helped organize and connect these protests, allowing feminist movements to support each other across the world. It also gave opportunities for more voices to be heard, especially people from marginalized groups, and helped prove that gender inequality is linked to other issues like race, class, and sexuality.<ref name=":1"/>
In an Anglosphere feminist context, journalist Pythia Peay argued for the existence of a fourth wave as early as 2005, to focus on social justice and civil rights,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Peay|first=Pythia|title=Feminism's Fourth Wave|magazine=Utne Reader|issue=128|year=2005|pages=59–60|url=http://www.utne.com/community/feminisms-fourth-wave.aspx|location=Topeka, Kansas|publisher=Ogden Publications|access-date=7 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160908222300/http://www.utne.com/community/feminisms-fourth-wave.aspx|archive-date=8 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 2011, Jennifer Baumgardner dated the start of the fourth wave to 2008.{{sfn|Baumgardner|2011|p=250}} Twitter, the social network most popular with the 18-to-29 age group, was created in 2006,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twitter {{!}} History, Description, Elon Musk, & Uses {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Twitter |access-date=2022-11-21 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=21 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121055949/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Twitter |url-status=live }}</ref> making feminism more accessible and giving rise to "hashtag feminism".{{sfn|Bennett|2014}}
In 2013, Democratic Texas State Senator Wendy Davis staged a 13-hour filibuster in Texas, in an attempt to prevent an anti-abortion bill from passing. Other women showed support by rallying around the Texas State Capitol and those who were not physically present used the hashtag #StandWithWendy. Similarly, women protested the perceived sexist questions (for example, focusing on appearance or love life) often directed at female celebrities by tweeting the hashtag #askhermore.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chittal|first=Nisha|url=https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-social-media-changing-the-feminist-movement|title=How Social Media is Changing the Feminist Movement|website=MSNBC|date=26 March 2015|access-date=21 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419094625/http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-social-media-changing-the-feminist-movement|archive-date=19 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
Other feminist movements and "calls to action" have arisen from the fourth wave. One is the "HeForShe" campaign which originated from Emma Watson's viral UN Women speech in 2014 and her subsequent activism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hopkins|first=Susan|date=April 2018|title=UN celebrity 'It' girls as public relations-ised humanitarianism|journal=International Communication Gazette|volume=80|issue=3|pages=273–292|doi=10.1177/1748048517727223|s2cid=149182313|issn=1748-0485}}</ref> Several other incidents have galvanized the movement, including the Delhi gang rape (India, 2012), Jimmy Savile allegations (UK, 2012), Bill Cosby sexual assault cases (US, 2014), Isla Vista killings (US, 2014), trial of Jian Ghomeshi (Canada, 2016), Harvey Weinstein allegations (US, 2017) and subsequent Me Too movement and Weinstein effect, the Westminster sexual scandals (worldwide and UK, 2017) and the La Manada gang rape case in Spain (2018).<ref name="Cosboy-Ghomeshi-MeToo">For Cosby, Ghomeshi, #MeToo and fourth wave, see Matheson, Kelsey (17 October 2017). [http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kelsey-matheson/you-said-metoo-now-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it_a_23246129 "You Said #MeToo. Now What Are We Going To Do About It?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117065436/http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kelsey-matheson/you-said-metoo-now-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it_a_23246129/ |date=17 November 2017 }}, ''The Huffington Post''.</ref><ref> For Savile and fourth wave, see {{harvnb|Chamberlain|2017|pp=114–115}}{{pb}} For Isla Vista killings, see {{cite news|url=https://time.com/3319081/whyistayed-hashtag-feminism-activism/|title=Behold the Power of #Hashtag Feminism|last=Bennett|first=Jessica|date=10 September 2014|magazine=Time|access-date=21 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423085856/http://time.com/3319081/whyistayed-hashtag-feminism-activism/|archive-date=23 April 2016|url-status=live}} </ref>
Due to the simultaneous existence of multiple waves of feminism – namely the second, third and fourth – many scholars are questioning the use of the wave metaphor in feminism. However, it is still the terminology most commonly used and most easily understood by the public. As the fourth wave finds much of its definition in relation to the previous ones, it is important to understand what the other waves were.<ref name="Evans-Critical-Waves">{{Cite journal|last1=Evans|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Chamberlain|first2=Prudence|date=July 2015|title=Critical Waves: Exploring Feminist Identity, Discourse and Praxis in Western Feminism|url=https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/files/50807653/critical_waves_final_revisions.pdf|journal=Social Movement Studies|volume=14|issue=4|pages=396–409|doi=10.1080/14742837.2014.964199|hdl-access=free|hdl=1983/2b137a20-4d1e-41f6-b427-86046c1a32aa|s2cid=145460318|archive-date=20 September 2019|access-date=20 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920162138/https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/files/50807653/critical_waves_final_revisions.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
Internationally, comparisons between waves can be difficult. Anglospheric first-wave feminism is second-wave for Europeans and Latin American feminists. Second-wave American and British feminism is also third-wave for Europeans and Latin Americans.<ref name="Oliva Portolés-2019">{{Cite web|url=https://www.homonosapiens.es/podemos-hablar-de-una-cuarta-ola-en-el-movimiento-feminista-monografico-8m/|title=¿Podemos hablar de una cuarta ola en el movimiento feminista?|last=Oliva Portolés|first=Asunción|date=15 March 2019|website=Homonosapiens|language=es|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425120245/https://www.homonosapiens.es/podemos-hablar-de-una-cuarta-ola-en-el-movimiento-feminista-monografico-8m/|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref> Spanish feminism went through several waves in the Franco era.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spain - Franco's Spain, 1939–75 {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Spain/Francos-Spain-1939-75 |access-date=2022-11-21 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=2 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402015043/https://www.britannica.com/place/Spain/Francos-Spain-1939-75 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Broadly speaking, there are first-wave feminism taking place from the mid-nineteenth century to 1965, second-wave feminism taking place from 1965 to 1975 and third-wave feminism taking place from 1975 to 2012.<ref name="Díez Balda-2019">{{Cite web|url=http://www.mujeresenred.net/spip.php?article447|title=El Movimiento feminista en Salamanca después de la muerte de Franco|last=Díez Balda|first=Mª Antonia|website=mujeres en red|publisher=Universidad de Salamanca|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330085239/http://www.mujeresenred.net/spip.php?article447|archive-date=30 March 2019|url-status=live|access-date=2019-03-29}}</ref><ref name="Nielfa Cristóbal">Nielfa Cristóbal, Gloria. ''Movimientos femeninos'', en ''Enciclopedia Madrid S.XX''</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iisj.net/en/workshops/fourth-wave-feminism-sisterhood-and-social-networking-towards-new-citizenship|title=The fourth wave of feminism: from sisterhood and social networking towards a new citizenship?|date=2018-01-24|website=Instituto Internacional de Sociología Jurídica de Oñati|language=en|access-date=2019-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329102930/http://www.iisj.net/en/workshops/fourth-wave-feminism-sisterhood-and-social-networking-towards-new-citizenship|archive-date=29 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Fourth-wave feminism in Spain began in the mid-1990s.<ref name="elperiodicodearagon" /><ref name="Urzaiz-2017" /> When resolving waves around the work of important Spanish-speaking feminists discussing wave theory like Amelia Valcárcel, the Spanish fourth-wave may at times actually represent an international fifth wave, not a fourth one.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Manzano Zambruno|first=Laura|date=2018|title=Apropiación ideológica y feminismo mediático: una aproximación crítica al caso Weinstein y el #MeToo en las ediciones digitales de S Moda y Mujerhoy|journal=Masters Thesis at Universidad de Sevilla, Departamento de Periodismo II|language=es|hdl=11441/78897}}</ref>
Each feminist wave has a separate identity, although they get harder to distinguish and define clearly as time goes on, due to debate among activists and scholars. In an Anglospheric feminist context, the first wave was characterized by the suffragette movements and had the aim of legalizing women voting in public elections.<ref name="Evans-Critical-Waves" /> In the same context, second wave is more difficult to comprehensively define, but is thought to have roots in the 1960s. Its focus shifted to social and personal rights, such as equal pay, choice over bodily issues, sexual liberation and resistance to the gendered double standard in society.<ref name="Evans-Critical-Waves" /> There is much debate among Anglosphere academics and activists regarding the true definition of the third wave of feminism. It is most commonly understood as a push by younger generations to create a feminism more centered on inclusivity; privileging the plights of queer and non-white women in their messaging. American poet Natasha Sajé has written, "[It] is an amalgamation of many different streams of theorizing—including that of women of color and younger women disillusioned with what they perceive to make up the body of 'second wave' feminism—in intrinsically different formulations than the theorizing coming from anti-feminists".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sajé|first1=Natasha|last2=Saje|first2=Natasha|date=1995|title=Then What Is the Question?|journal=Feminist Studies|volume=21|issue=1|pages=99|doi=10.2307/3178319|issn=0046-3663|jstor=3178319}}</ref><ref name="Evans-Critical-Waves" />
==Ideas== British journalist Kira Cochrane and British feminist scholar Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain describe the fourth wave as focusing on justice for women, particularly opposition to sexual harassment (including street harassment), violence against women, workplace discrimination and harassment, body shaming, sexist imagery in the media, online misogyny, campus sexual assault and assault on public transport and rape culture. They also say it supports intersectionality, social media activism and online petitioning.<ref name="4thWave-Guardian20131210">{{cite news|last=Cochrane|first=Kira|author-link=Kira Cochrane|date=10 December 2013|title=The Fourth Wave of Feminism: Meet the Rebel Women|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/fourth-wave-feminism-rebel-women|url-status=live|access-date=14 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314123922/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/fourth-wave-feminism-rebel-women|archive-date=14 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="Abrahams-Prospect">{{cite news|last1=Abrahams|first1=Jessica|title=Everything you wanted to know about fourth wave feminism – but were afraid to ask|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/everything-wanted-know-fourth-wave-feminism|work=Prospect|date=14 August 2017|access-date=17 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117132924/https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/everything-wanted-know-fourth-wave-feminism|archive-date=17 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bcrw.barnard.edu/wp-content/nfs/reports/NFS8-FemFuture-Online-Revolution-Report-April-15-2013.pdf|title=#FemFuture: Online Revolution|last1=Martin|first1=Courtney E.|last2=Valenti|first2=Vanessa|publisher=Barnard Centre for Research on Women|date=15 April 2013|access-date=8 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526211852/http://bcrw.barnard.edu/wp-content/nfs/reports/NFS8-FemFuture-Online-Revolution-Report-April-15-2013.pdf|archive-date=26 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Its essence, Chamberlain writes, is "incredulity that certain attitudes can still exist".{{sfn|Chamberlain|2017|p=115}} Events and organizations involved in fourth-wave feminism include Everyday Sexism Project, UK Feminista, Reclaim the Night, One Billion Rising and "a Lose the Lads' mags protest".<ref name="4thWave-Guardian20131210" />
Books associated with the fourth wave include: * ''Men Explain Things to Me'' (2014) by American writer Rebecca Solnit (notably, a 2008 essay also called ''Men Explain Things to Me,'' reprinted in the book, gave rise to the term ''mansplaining'') * ''The Vagenda'' (2014) by British writers Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett and Holly Baxter (based on their online UJ feminist magazine, ''The Vagenda'', launched in 2012) * ''Sex Object: A Memoir'' (2016) by American writer Jessica Valenti * ''Everyday Sexism'' (2016) by British writer Laura Bates (based on Bates' Everyday Sexism Project){{sfn|Bates|2014}}
Cosslett and Baxter's book aims to debunk stereotypes of femininity promoted by mainstream women's press.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vagendamagazine.com/about|title=Letter from the Editor|publisher=The Vagenda|date=19 January 2012|access-date=3 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527012815/http://vagendamagazine.com/about/|archive-date=27 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Bates, a British feminist writer, created the Everyday Sexism Project on 16 April 2012 as an online forum where women could post their experiences of everyday harassment.<ref name="Aitkenhead24Jan2016">{{cite news|last=Aitkenhead|first=Decca|author-link=Decca Aitkenhead|title=Laura Bates Interview: 'Two Years Ago, I Didn't Know What Feminism Meant'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/laura-bates-interview-everyday-sexism|newspaper=The Guardian|date=24 January 2014|access-date=14 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207012945/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/laura-bates-interview-everyday-sexism|archive-date=7 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
Third-wave feminists began introducing the concept of male privilege in their writings in the 1990s and fourth-wave feminists continue to discuss it in academia and on social media.<ref name="van der Gaag-2014">{{Cite book|title=Feminism and Men|last=van der Gaag|first=Nikki|date=2014|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=9781780329130|location=London|oclc=886112252}}</ref> American Peggy McIntosh was one of the first feminists to describe the phenomenon of privilege in 1988, calling it (in regards to white privilege) "an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED355141.pdf?utm#page=43|title=White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack|last=Mcintosh|first=Peggy|date=July 1989|work=Peace and Freedom Magazine|access-date=March 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402042758/https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED355141.pdf?utm#page=43|archive-date=2 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Fourth-wave feminists have taken action to reduce and combat this "knapsack" by raising awareness of privileged and unprivileged groups. Alliance is greatly encouraged by these feminists, who believe that males and other privileged groups can still take action for social change within their communities.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Systems of privilege: intersections, awareness, and applications|last=Case|first=Kim A.|date=2012|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|oclc=799010636}}</ref>
London author Nikki van der Gaag discusses the damaging effects of raising young boys with privilege, citing the Consultative Group on Early Child Care and Development, "a tendency to privilege boys [...] does not teach boys responsibility, nor clarify what will be expected from them".<ref name="van der Gaag-2014" /> Fourth-wave feminists have begun promoting solutions to avoid these issues, such as raising children as gender-neutral. Professor of Neuroscience at Chicago Medical School Lise Eliot points out that infants and growing children are so impressionable that any small differences in raising the child can lead to large personality differences over time, resulting in reinforced gender stereotypes.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pink brain, blue brain: how small differences grow into troublesome gaps—and what we can do about it|last=Eliot|first=Lise|date=2010|publisher=Mariner Books|isbn=9780547391557|location=Boston|oclc=837684360}}</ref>
Fourth-wave feminists have argued that reinforced gender stereotypes create pressure for men to be breadwinners, as opposed to women, who feel obligated to take on the role of homemakers. Feminists argue that these pressures to conform socially can cause gender discrimination in the workplace and more widely in society.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ganesh|first1=Sarlaksha|last2=Ganesh|first2=Mangadu Paramasivam|date=2014-05-27|title=Effects of masculinity–femininity on quality of work life|journal=Gender in Management|volume=29|issue=4|pages=229–253|doi=10.1108/gm-07-2013-0085|issn=1754-2413}}</ref> According to Pew Research, a majority of women working in male-dominated workplaces believe that sexual harassment is a problem in their industry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/07/women-in-majority-male-workplaces-report-higher-rates-of-gender-discrimination/|title=Gender discrimination more common for women in mostly male workplaces|website=Pew Research Center|date=7 March 2018 |access-date=2019-04-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402031653/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/07/women-in-majority-male-workplaces-report-higher-rates-of-gender-discrimination/|archive-date=2 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
Fourth-wave feminists have also pointed out how gender roles and inequalities show up in fields like architecture. Torsten Lange and Lucía C. Pérez-Moreno explain that feminist scholars have pointed out how architectural history has often ignored women's contributions and only focused on male ways of thinking in theory and practice. They show how gender bias in both architecture schools and also in professional workplaces illustrate bigger social patterns--for example, how men are seen as doing “serious” work while women are expected to take on other traditional roles. This kind of thinking affects who gets opportunities in the field today.<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal |last1=Lange |first1=Torsten |last2=Pérez-Moreno |first2=Lucía C. |date=2020-12-18 |title=Architectural Historiography and Fourth Wave Feminism |journal=Architectural Histories |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |article-number=26 |doi=10.5334/ah.563 |doi-access=free |issn=2050-5833|hdl=20.500.11850/465203 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> It's an example of fourth-wave feminist concern about how workplace culture can reinforce outdated gender stereotypes.
== Intersectionality == One of the main critiques of past waves of feminism has been the centrality and privileging of the voices of middle class white women in the movement. The concept of intersectionality originates in black feminism throughout the 20th century and the specific term's coinage is attributed to Kimberle Williams Crenshaw in 1991. Intersectionality in a broad sense is defined as "the interactivity of social identity structures such as race, class and gender in fostering life experiences, especially experiences of privilege and oppression".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gopaldas |first=Ahir |date=2013 |title=Intersectionality 101 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43305317 |journal=Journal of Public Policy & Marketing |volume=32 |pages=90–94 |doi=10.1509/jppm.12.044 |jstor=43305317 |s2cid=220318967 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=19 May 2023 |access-date=19 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519202251/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43305317 |url-status=live }}</ref> It addresses the complexities of how different systems of oppression interact and overlap and has expanded to become a topic in fields of study outside of gender studies and feminism as well,<ref name="Okolosie-2014">{{Cite journal |last=Okolosie |first=Lola |date=2014 |title=beyond 'talking' and 'owning' intersectionality |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24571923 |journal=Feminist Review |volume=108 |issue=108 |pages=90–96 |doi=10.1057/fr.2014.14 |jstor=24571923 |s2cid=147259709 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=19 May 2023 |access-date=19 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519202254/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24571923 |url-status=live }}</ref> and its main goal as a tool within the feminist movement is to give a voice and power to those who have been pushed to the margins, namely women of color and queer people.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bose |first=Christine |date=February 2012 |title=Intersectionality and Global Gender Inequality |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23212241 |journal=Gender and Society |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=67–72 |doi=10.1177/0891243211426722 |jstor=23212241 |s2cid=145233506|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
While it has been used widely in conjunction with feminism since the 1990s, the fourth wave of feminism gives the concept a new level of prominence in the movement as the voices of those with marginalized identities are more easily heard with the use of social media. Intersectionality is most closely associated with black feminism in the eyes of both the general public and the world of academia, as a community operating under the oppressive systems of both racism and sexism and as the term intersectionality first gained traction through the work of black feminists. Some would say that "black feminists are read as the embodiment of intersectionality". While the use of intersectionality as a lens through which to view feminist discourse and practice has helped the movement make leaps of progress in regards to bringing forward the voices and needs of oppressed identities, the close association with black women and feminists has given rise to critiques on both sides of the debate.<ref name="Okolosie-2014" />
In terms of defending black women's experiences of intersectionality, one phrase that has been used is "I live it", in reference to the fact that critics are often attempting to disprove life experiences of black women that they have not themselves experienced or have grounds to falsify. Additional critiques against intersectionality from the viewpoint of white, middle-class leaders of feminism include the supposed use of the term to attack these leaders and the essentializing of gender oppression alone as opposed to all systems of oppression. For example, on a 2013 episode of 'Women's Hour' about fourth wave feminism, a Radio 4 program in the UK, a white feminist leader named Caroline Criado-Perez said "a big part of the problem is the way certain women use intersectionality as a cloak to abuse prominent white feminists". This was said in response to a critique of racism within modern feminism made by Reni Eddo-Lodge, a black feminist. On the other side, while intersectionality gives voices to marginalized communities it also often puts the labor of explaining and educating others about the term on those living under oppression, especially black women.<ref name="Okolosie-2014" />
Although a large percentage of activists operating under fourth wave feminism define themselves as intersectional feminists, intersectionality lives mostly in the realm of academia at this point in time.<ref name="Okolosie-2014" />
British professor of marketing and consumer research Pauline Maclaran<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/0267257X.2015.1076497 | volume=31 | issue=15–16 | title=Feminism's fourth wave: a research agenda for marketing and consumer research | year=2015 | journal=Journal of Marketing Management | pages=1732–1738 | last1 = Maclaran | first1 = Pauline| s2cid=145666422 }}</ref> argues that although celebrities are at the forefront of fourth-wave feminism, ready access to information has enabled the movement to draw greater attention to economic inequalities faced by women than heretofore possible.<ref name="Maclaran-2015">{{Cite journal|last=Maclaran|first=Pauline|date=2015-10-13|title=Feminism's fourth wave: a research agenda for marketing and consumer research|journal=Journal of Marketing Management|volume=31|issue=15–16|pages=1732–1738|doi=10.1080/0267257X.2015.1076497|issn=0267-257X|s2cid=145666422}}</ref>
Regarded as more inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community,<ref name="Maclaran-2015" /> fourth-wave feminists such as Jacob Bucher of Baker University<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/0735648X.2014.949823 | volume=38 | issue=4 | title=Soliciting strain: examining both sides of street prostitution through General Strain Theory | year=2015 | journal=Journal of Crime and Justice | pages=435–453 | last1 = Bucher | first1 = Jacob | last2 = Manasse | first2 = Michelle | last3 = Milton | first3 = Jeffrey| s2cid=143606247 }}</ref> have protested stereotypes surrounding men's supposed uncontrolled sexual desire and objectification of women. He states that gay men specifically are stigmatized by such stereotypes because they lie outside of the typical standard for masculinity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bucher|first=Jacob|date=2014|title='But He Can't Be Gay': The Relationship between Masculinity and Homophobia in Father–Son Relationships|journal=Journal of Men's Studies|volume=22|issue=3|pages=222–237|doi=10.3149/jms.2203.222|s2cid=145751325}}</ref>
Canadian art historian Ruth Phillips argues that fourth-wave feminism falls within the broader agenda of financial, political and environmental concerns and is recognized as a key factor in alleviating poverty, improving women's health and achieving economic growth.<ref name="Phillips 930–943">{{Cite journal|last1=Phillips|first1=Ruth|last2=Cree|first2=Viviene E.|date=21 February 2014|title=What does the 'Fourth Wave' Mean for Teaching Feminism in Twenty-First Century Social Work?|url=https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/15148557/Phillips_Cree_Fourth_Wave_for_Open_Access.pdf|journal=Social Work Education|volume=33|issue=7|pages=930–943|doi=10.1080/02615479.2014.885007|s2cid=144660611|issn=0261-5479|hdl=20.500.11820/a5072043-e5e5-4cf1-af19-2207db4e19f7|hdl-access=free|archive-date=31 July 2020|access-date=20 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731173801/https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/15148557/Phillips_Cree_Fourth_Wave_for_Open_Access.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
In Latin American fourth-wave feminism, a similar concept to intersectionality is that of ''transversality''.<ref name="Langlois-2020">{{Cite web|last=Langlois|first=Aude|date=February 10, 2020|others=Department of Gender Studies|title=#NiUnaMenos: countering hegemonies in Argentina|url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/gender/2020/02/10/niunamenos-countering-hegemonies-in-argentina/|access-date=October 4, 2021|website=London School of Economics and Political Science|archive-date=13 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113232759/https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/gender/2020/02/10/niunamenos-countering-hegemonies-in-argentina/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Palmeiro-2018">{{Cite journal|last=Palmeiro|first=Cecilia|date=2018-10-02|title=The Latin American Green Tide: Desire and Feminist Transversality|journal=Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies|volume=27|issue=4|pages=561–564|doi=10.1080/13569325.2018.1561429|s2cid=193082592|issn=1356-9325}}</ref> It describes "a form of feminism that addresses a wide range of issues in an effort to represent the heterogeneity of society".<ref name="Langlois-2020" /> Examples include addressing colonialism or racism, economic topics and LGBTQ issues.<ref name="Hosseini-2020" /><ref name="Langlois-2020" />
== Globally == {{See also|Fourth-wave feminism in Spain|Aurat March|Hashtag activism}}
=== MeToo movement === [[Image:EleNao (Porto Alegre, 2018-09-29) 52.jpg|thumb|Protester in Porto Alegre, Brazil, participating in the Ele Não movement]]
Black activist Tarana Burke initially started the MeToo movement in 2006 to empower victims of sexual abuse. It was not until 2017 that #MeToo gained widespread use, following the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault crisis.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rosa |first=Sharon Crozier-De |date=2024-03-07 |title=What are the four waves of feminism? And what comes next? |url=https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-four-waves-of-feminism-and-what-comes-next-224153 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US |archive-date=21 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250321012310/https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-four-waves-of-feminism-and-what-comes-next-224153 |url-status=live }}</ref> Other countries began their own hashtags with a similar goal, even though reactions of local governments differed. Hashtags associated with the worldwide MeToo Movement include: *<nowiki/>#AndNow or NowWhat<ref name="Roy-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/01/14/apres-moiaussi-etmaintenant_a_23333272/|title=Après #MoiAussi, #EtMaintenant|date=2018-01-14|website=HuffPost Québec|language=fr|access-date=2019-03-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325180313/https://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/01/14/apres-moiaussi-etmaintenant_a_23333272/|archive-date=25 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> in Canada * {{langnf|cmn-Latn|#WoYeShi|italic=no|MeToo}}<ref name="Phillips-2018">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/09/china-women-break-silence-harassment-metoo-woyeshi|title=China's women break silence on harassment as #MeToo becomes #WoYeShi|last=Phillips|first=Tom|date=2018-01-09|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-03-25|issn=0261-3077|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109041631/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/09/china-women-break-silence-harassment-metoo-woyeshi|archive-date=9 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> in China * {{langnf|fr|#BalanceTonPorc|italic=no|term1=DenounceYourPig |term2=ExposeYourPig'}}<ref name="Tarnopolsky-2017">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-global-me-too-20171018-story.html|title=A global primal scream: #MeToo (#YoTambien #QuellaVoltaChe #גםאנחנו أنا_كمان#)|first1=Noga|last1=Tarnopolsky|first2=Melissa|last2=Etehad|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 18, 2017|access-date=2019-03-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326005204/https://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-global-me-too-20171018-story.html|archive-date=26 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> in France *<nowiki/>#NotinMyName<ref name="The Wire-2019">{{Cite web|url=https://thewire.in/gender/metoo-campaign-brings-the-rise-of-fourth-wave-feminism-in-india|title=#MeToo Campaign Brings the Rise of 'Fourth-Wave' Feminism in India|website=The Wire|access-date=2019-03-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325180311/https://thewire.in/gender/metoo-campaign-brings-the-rise-of-fourth-wave-feminism-in-india|archive-date=25 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> in India * {{langnf|it|#QuellaVoltaChe|italic=no|The Time That}}<ref name="Powell-2017">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newsweek.com/how-metoo-has-spread-wildfire-around-world-749171|title=How #MeToo has spread like wildfire around the world|date=2017-12-15|work=Newsweek|first=Catherine|last=Powell|access-date=2019-03-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325180310/https://www.newsweek.com/how-metoo-has-spread-wildfire-around-world-749171|archive-date=25 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> in Italy *<nowiki/>#BoycottAliZafar, #BoycottTeefainTrouble, #TeefaisTrouble in Pakistan * {{langnf|fil|#BabaeAko|italic=no|I Am a Woman}}<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/5345552/duterte-philippines-sexism-sona-women/|title=How President Duterte Sparked an Uprising of Filipina Women|magazine=Time|access-date=2019-03-25|date=2019-07-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325180311/http://time.com/5345552/duterte-philippines-sexism-sona-women/|archive-date=25 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> in the Philippines * {{langnf|es|#YoTambien|italic=no|MeToo}}<ref name="Powell-2017" /> in Spain * #AmINext<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Lyster|first=Rosa|date=12 September 2019|title=The Death of Uyinene Mrwetyana and the Rise of South Africa's "Am I Next?" Movement|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-death-of-uyinene-mrwetyana-and-the-rise-of-south-africas-aminext-movement|access-date=28 June 2020|magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> in South Africa
As the importance of social media in "creating and sustaining feminist community"<ref name="Evans-Critical-Waves" /> is an increasingly popular idea, "diversity and creativity continue to characterize feminist activism" around the world in the 21st century.<ref name="Evans-Critical-Waves" /> Communities around the globe witnessed the reflections of "the current, Internet-based fourth wave" feminism and investigated the differences of it.<ref name="Phillips 930–943" /> Moreover, the increasing social power of fourth-wave feminist movements prioritizes these issues for elected governments, encouraging them to engage with the "new and young feminisms" of the modern day.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dean|first1=Jonathan|last2=Aune|first2=Kristin|date=2015-07-04|title=Feminism Resurgent? Mapping Contemporary Feminist Activisms in Europe|journal=Social Movement Studies|volume=14|issue=4|pages=375–395|doi=10.1080/14742837.2015.1077112|s2cid=143104696|issn=1474-2837 |url=https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/publications/500d2221-a905-4f8e-8d9e-709625a482f9 }}</ref>
For instance, in Canada, after the #MeToo hashtag began trending in October 2017, hundreds of people began crediting fourth-wave feminists with the movement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metoo-movement-in-canada|title=#MeToo Movement in Canada|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=2019-04-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401174416/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metoo-movement-in-canada|archive-date=1 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Another hashtag, #AndNow, became popular in Canada due to the support of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. #AndNow supported discussing the solution to sexual harassment or abuse in the workplace to help people fight for equity between all people.<ref name="Roy-2018" />
Another example of how social media supports fourth-wave feminism is the ''Girlgaze'' photography project. Ruxandra Looft explains that ''Girlgaze'' uses platforms like Instagram to promote gender equality and give a voice to women and non-binary people. This was started by photographer Amanda de Cadenet, and her project showcases work from young photographers who identify as female worldwide. Looft explains that ''Girlgaze'' brings together art and activism, using social media’s wide reach to raise awareness, connect people, and attract new audiences. She emphasizes that this approach lets people share everyday experiences of gender inequality in a way that feels personal and real. This approach offers something different from what we usually see in mainstream media, making it stand out and potentially offering other benefits due to how it connects with the audience.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Looft |first=Ruxandra |date=2017-11-02 |title=#girlgaze: photography, fourth wave feminism, and social media advocacy |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10304312.2017.1370539 |journal=Continuum |volume=31 |issue=6 |pages=892–902 |doi=10.1080/10304312.2017.1370539 |issn=1030-4312 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=20 June 2022 |access-date=3 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620015436/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10304312.2017.1370539 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In India, there have been several movements or protests with large numbers of women, which have changed the perspective of many in the nation regarding femininity.<ref name="The Wire-2019" /> These include the 2003 Blank Noise Project, the 2009 Pink Chaddi (underwear) movement, the 2011 SlutWalk protest, the 2015 Pinjra Tod (Break the Cage) movement and the 2017 Bekhauf Azadi (Freedom without Fear) March. Indian social discourse started to focus on long-term and deep-rooted issues, such as gender inequality, sexual violence, child marriage, sex-selective abortions, and dowry-related violence. Many believe it led to questioning women's freedoms, choices, and desires in society.<ref name="The Wire-2019" /> The influence and power of the campaign made the government expand the legal definition of rape, introduced "harsher punishment for rapists, criminalizing stalking and voyeurism",<ref name="The Wire-2019" /> showed "a new kind of Indian femininity that was comfortable with her modernity and sexuality"<ref name="The Wire-2019" /> and demonstrates the rise of fourth-wave feminism in India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/stopthisshame-girlsatdhaba-whyloiter-and-more-womens-fight-against-sexual-harassment-didnt-start-with-metoo-105711|title=#StopThisShame, #GirlsAtDhaba, #WhyLoiter and more: women's fight against sexual harassment didn't start with #MeToo|last=Kurian|first=Alka|website=The Conversation|date=7 March 2019 |language=en|access-date=2019-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421142926/http://theconversation.com/stopthisshame-girlsatdhaba-whyloiter-and-more-womens-fight-against-sexual-harassment-didnt-start-with-metoo-105711|archive-date=21 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
''Ni una menos'' (meaning "Not One Less", using the feminine form of "one") is a Latin American feminist movement originating in Argentina which aims to end violence against women. The movement has engaged in women's strikes, including the International Women's Strike.<ref name="Hosseini-2020">{{Cite book|last1=Hosseini|first1=S. A. Hamed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yGAPEAAAQBAJ|title=The Routledge Handbook of Transformative Global Studies|last2=Goodman|first2=James|last3=Motta|first3=Sara C.|last4=Gills|first4=Barry K.|year=2020|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-89339-1|pages=460–469|language=en|chapter=Feminized Resistances in Latin America}}</ref><ref name="Branigan-2018">{{Cite news|last1=Branigan|first1=Claire|last2=Palmeiro|first2=Cecilia|date=March 8, 2018|title=Women Strike in Latin America and Beyond|work=North American Congress on Latin America|url=https://nacla.org/news/2018/03/08/women-strike-latin-america-and-beyond|access-date=October 4, 2021|archive-date=26 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226200032/https://nacla.org/news/2018/03/08/women-strike-latin-america-and-beyond|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Ni una menos'' has been described as fourth wave feminism.<ref name="Palmeiro-2018" /><ref name="Branigan-2018" /><ref name="broadly">{{cite web|last=Young|first=Linda|date=December 11, 2017|title=A Women's Strike Organizer on Feminism for the 99 Percent|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/womens-strike-organizer-cecilia-palmeiro-feminism-for-the-99-percent/|access-date=October 4, 2021|publisher=Broadly. Vice Media|archive-date=12 April 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250412224737/https://www.vice.com/en/article/womens-strike-organizer-cecilia-palmeiro-feminism-for-the-99-percent/|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Cecilia Palmeiro, a founding member of the Ni Una Menos collective, "By connecting perspectives such as indigenous feminism with black feminism, migrant feminism, queer feminism and popular feminism, we made alliances and enlightened the intersection of violences as well as featured possible strategies of resistance. That is why our movement has been described as a fourth wave of feminism or feminism of the 99 percent."<ref name="Branigan-2018" /><ref name="broadly" />
In Brazil, on September 19, 2018, the {{langnf|pt|Ele Não movement|not him}}, also known as the protests against Jair Bolsonaro, were demonstrations led by women which took place in several regions of the country as well as the world. The main goal was to protest against Bolsonaro's presidential campaign and his sexist declarations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2018/09/29/politica/1538226863_062834.html|title=Mulheres lideram multidão contra Bolsonaro em São Paulo, Rio e Recife|date=September 30, 2018|publisher=El País|language=pt-BR|access-date=22 September 2019|archive-date=12 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012135401/https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2018/09/29/politica/1538226863_062834.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://exame.abril.com.br/brasil/15-imagens-que-resumem-os-atos-a-favor-e-contra-jair-bolsonaro-pelo-brasil/|title=15 imagens que resumem os atos a favor e contra Jair Bolsonaro pelo Brasil|date=September 30, 2018|publisher=Exame|language=pt-BR|access-date=22 September 2019|archive-date=28 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328181410/https://exame.abril.com.br/brasil/15-imagens-que-resumem-os-atos-a-favor-e-contra-jair-bolsonaro-pelo-brasil/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Um protesto histórico, menos na tevê|url=http://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/um-protesto-historico-menos-na-teve/|journal=Revista Piauí|date=30 September 2018|language=pt-BR|archive-date=17 October 2018|access-date=22 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017222637/http://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/um-protesto-historico-menos-na-teve/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=2018-09-30|title=Mulheres quebram o jejum das ruas no Brasil com manifestações contra Bolsonaro|url=https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2018/09/30/politica/1538270819_523141.html|journal=El País|language=pt-BR|archive-date=1 October 2018|access-date=22 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001133617/https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2018/09/30/politica/1538270819_523141.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It was being used even among national and international celebrities. Madonna was one of the international celebrities who took part in the movement. She posted on her Instagram, where she has more than 12.1 million followers, a picture in which she appears with her mouth sealed by a tape with the saying "freedom". Above, it reads in Portuguese {{lang|pt|"Ele não vai nos desvalorizar, ele não vai nos calar, ele não vai nos oprimir"}} (He won't devalue us, he won't silence us, he won't oppress us).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sousa|first=Silvana|date=28 September 2018|title=#EleNão: Madonna adere à campanha contra Bolsonaro e pede o fim do fascismo|url=https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia/politica/2018/09/28/interna_politica,708917/madonna-adere-a-campanha-elenao-e-pede-pelo-fim-do-fascismo.shtml|journal=Correio Brasiliense|language=pt|archive-date=29 September 2018|access-date=22 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929194705/https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia/politica/2018/09/28/interna_politica,708917/madonna-adere-a-campanha-elenao-e-pede-pelo-fim-do-fascismo.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>
Because Latin American fourth-wave feminism encompasses simultaneously distinct movements, many of which are in tension with one another, some refer to Latin American 'feminisms' in the plural.<ref>{{Citation|last=Rivera Berruz|first=Stephanie|title=Latin American Feminism|date=2018|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/feminism-latin-america/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503202647/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/feminism-latin-america/|edition=Winter 2018|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2019-05-03|archive-date=3 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> One of the more controversial branches emerged as a reaction to and rejection of queer feminism and of postmodern feminism,<ref name="Kamchatka-2019" /><ref name="Igualdad">{{Cite web|last=Igualdad|date=22 October 2018|title=El sujeto político feminista en la 4ª ola|url=https://www.eldiario.es/tribunaabierta/sujeto-politico-feminista-ola_6_827727257.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426101920/https://www.eldiario.es/tribunaabierta/sujeto-politico-feminista-ola_6_827727257.html|archive-date=26 April 2019|access-date=2019-04-26|website=eldiario.es|language=es}}</ref><ref name="Arruzza-2019" /><ref name="Cuaderno-2018" /> and consists of trans-exclusionary activists who reject prominent feminist academics like Judith Butler and much of feminist theory and seek to create a new anti-LGBT feminist movement by redefining 'woman' as exclusively cisgender and non-intersex, seeking to reframe the queer feminist movement not as an inclusive but as a watering-down of feminism and erasure of females.<ref name="Kamchatka-2019" /><ref name="Igualdad" /><ref name="Arruzza-2019" /> Whereas queer feminism was inclusive by expanding binary and cisnormative concepts of gender, these Latin American feminists argue that Butler was attempting to erase the concept of womanhood and thereby women as political subjects,<ref name="Kamchatka-2019" /> and reject gender studies, calling it a conspiracy to hide women in academia.<ref name="Kamchatka-2019" /> Defining identity through biology instead of gender and replacing postmodern concepts of femininity with gender-essentialism, they frame queer feminism as a conspiracy to hide 'male' aggressors (trans women) and oppress females.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Espluga|first=Eudald|date=2018-01-12|title=Un movimiento, muchos feminismos: mapa de ideas para orientarse en las trincheras|url=https://www.playgroundmag.net/lit/Feminismos-un-mapa_26183342.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426101924/https://www.playgroundmag.net/lit/Feminismos-un-mapa_26183342.html|archive-date=26 April 2019|access-date=2019-04-26|website=PlayGround|language=es}}</ref><ref name="Kamchatka-2019" /><ref name="Arruzza-2019" /><ref name="Cuaderno-2018" />
== ''Roe v. Wade'' overturn == On June 24, 2022, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3, in favor of ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'' which subsequently overruled the previous landmark Supreme Court case of ''Roe v. Wade'' as well as ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey''. ''Dobbs'' ruled that the Constitution of the United States does not confer the right to an abortion. The case was presented on the Constitutionality of a 2018 Mississippi law that banned abortion operations after the 15th week of pregnancy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Littlefield |first=Amy |date=2021-11-30 |title=The Christian Legal Army Behind the Ban on Abortion in Mississippi |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/alliance-defending-freedom-dobbs/ |access-date=2024-03-05 |language=en-US |issn=0027-8378 |archive-date=4 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204175615/https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/alliance-defending-freedom-dobbs/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This ruling makes ''Dobbs'' to be considered a landmark decision of the court. The decision on June 24, 2022 came after a leak on May 2, 2022, which showed leaked documents of the majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, which criticized ''Roe''. The following day the Supreme Court confirmed these documents to be legitimate but stated these documents do "not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case".<ref>United States Supreme Court. "Remote Oral Arguments to Continue for April Session of Court." Supreme Court of the United States, 3 May 2022, <nowiki>https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/press/pressreleases/pr_05-03-22</nowiki>.</ref>
The impact of the overturn of ''Roe'' was significant and impactful for all women across the country. Once ''Roe'' was overturned, various states across the United States followed suit in determining their stance on the Constitutionality of a protected right to abortion. Some states' older restrictions on abortion that were put on hold after ''Roe'' was passed, were now put back into place. Many states also had trigger laws that were put into place in May 2021, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear ''Dobbs'' arguments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Caroline |date=2021-05-18 |title=More states are expected to pass anti-abortion bills targeting Roe v. Wade {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/18/politics/mississippi-abortion-case-impact-supreme-court-abortion-bans-activists/index.html |access-date=2024-03-05 |website=CNN |language=en |archive-date=18 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518230749/https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/18/politics/mississippi-abortion-case-impact-supreme-court-abortion-bans-activists/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> These states include Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Some of the states never removed their pre-Roe abortion bans. They were unable to be enacted while ''Roe'' was in effect, but were put back into place after the overturning of ''Roe.''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-03-14 |title=Abortion Policy in the Absence of Roe {{!}} Guttmacher Institute |url=https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/abortion-policy-absence-roe |access-date=2024-03-05 |website=www.guttmacher.org |language=en |archive-date=6 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506052025/https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/abortion-policy-absence-roe |url-status=live }}</ref>
Protests spread all across the U.S. after the announcement of the overturn of ''Roe''. These protests were largely peaceful and were carried out in 46 states.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Noor |first=Poppy |date=2023-01-22 |title=Women's March draws thousands across US after Roe v Wade overturned |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/22/womens-march-2023-roe-v-wade-abortion-rights |access-date=2024-03-05 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
The medical impact of the overturn of ''Roe'' has large and significant implications for medical and nursing education "and will reshape the knowledge, skills, and quality of care provided by future physicians and nurses, particularly in states with bans on abortion or pregnancy age restrictions".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Berg |first1=Judith A. |last2=Woods |first2=Nancy Fugate |date=2023-01-06 |title=Overturning Roe v. Wade: consequences for midlife women's health and well-being |journal=Women's Midlife Health |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=2 |doi=10.1186/s40695-022-00085-8 |doi-access=free |issn=2054-2690 |pmc=9824972 |pmid=36609311}}</ref> Medical students without the knowledge to perform a safe and legitimate abortion will also not have the knowledge to treat other pregnancy related complications such as placental abruption, infections, ectopic pregnancy, and eclampsia, because the techniques and tools used during these procedures are similar or the same to a standard abortion.<ref>Dhillon, Rajveer Singh, et al. "The spread of misinformation and fake news: Impact on public health during a pandemic." ''The Lancet American Health'', vol. 1, no. 2, 2022, pp. e82–e84. <nowiki>https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(22)00151-X/fulltext</nowiki></ref> Studies showed that in comparison to women who had an abortion, those who were forced to carry an unintended pregnancy to term and give birth, had poorer physical health.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2592320 |access-date=2024-03-05 |journal=JAMA Psychiatry |doi=10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.3478 |title=Women's Mental Health and Well-being 5 Years After Receiving or Being Denied an Abortion |date=2017 |last1=Biggs |first1=M. Antonia |last2=Upadhyay |first2=Ushma D. |last3=McCulloch |first3=Charles E. |last4=Foster |first4=Diana G. |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=169–178 |pmid=27973641 |archive-date=15 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315221839/https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2592320 |url-status=live }}</ref> Similarly, women who were denied an abortion also had poorer well-being and reported an incline in their anxiety and depression as soon as a week after being denied.<ref name=":0" />
The discussion of where fourth-wave feminism falls into the overturning of ''Roe'' is on-going online.
==Social media== While previous waves of feminism have encountered such obstacles as rigid sociopolitical structures and a lack of available communication channels,<ref name="Schuller-2018">{{Cite book|last=Schuller, Kyla|title=The Biopolitics of Feeling: Race, Sex, and Science in the Nineteenth Century|date=2018|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=9780822372356|oclc=1050035724}}</ref> fourth-wave feminists harness digital media as a far-reaching platform on which to connect, share perspectives, create a broader view of experienced oppression and critique past feminist waves.<ref name="Baer-2016">{{Cite journal|last=Baer|first=Hester|date=2016-01-02|title=Redoing feminism: digital activism, body politics, and neoliberalism|journal=Feminist Media Studies|language=en|volume=16|issue=1|pages=17–34|doi=10.1080/14680777.2015.1093070|issn=1468-0777|s2cid=146135612}}</ref><ref name="Evans-Critical-Waves" /><ref name="4thWave-Guardian20131210"/> Some argue that the use of technology in fourth-wave feminism signified a shift out of post-feminism and out of exclusively scholarly discussions.<ref name="Shiva-2019">{{Cite journal |last1=Shiva |first1=Negar |last2=Nosrat Kharazmi |first2=Zohreh |date=July 2019 |title=The Fourth Wave of Feminism and the Lack of Social Realism in Cyberspace |url=https://doi.org/10.22059/jcss.2019.72456 |journal=Journal of Cyberspace Studies |volume=3 |issue=2 |doi=10.22059/jcss.2019.72456}}</ref> Social media allows women to share their experiences from all over the world and is a space where people can rally for change.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zimmerman |first=Tegan |date=2025 |title=#Intersectionality: The Fourth Wave Feminist Twitter Community |url=https://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/4304/54-70%20PDF |journal=Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=54–70 |doi=10.7202/1119644ar |archive-date=2 November 2022 |access-date=21 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102143631/https://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/4304/54-70%20PDF |url-status=dead }}</ref> Clark-Parsons explains that networked feminism lets everyday people use digital media platforms to organize and lead feminist movements. Instead of depending on formal organizations, many fourth-wave campaigns grow from individuals using social media to speak out and bring people together in a more casual every day way.<ref name=":1"/> It allows a broader range of people to participate in feminist discussions, debates and activism. In the past, these debates have often existed exclusively in the world of acedemia, leading to a smaller range of perspectives that have limited previous movements.<ref name="Crane-2012">{{Cite journal |last=Crane |first=Connie Jeske |date=Fall 2012 |title=Social Media as a Feminist Tool |url=https://0-search-ebscohost-com.librarycat.risd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=82073633&site=ehost-live&scope=site |journal=Horizons |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=14–16 |via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> Due to the global participation made possible by the internet, it has been argued that the fourth-wave exists online.<ref name="Shiva-2019"/>
Kira Cochrane has argued that fourth-wave feminism is "defined by technology" and characterized particularly by the use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr and blogs such as Feministing to challenge misogyny.<ref name="4thWave-Guardian20131210" /><ref name="Solomon-2009">{{Cite news|last=Solomon|first=Deborah|date=13 November 2009|title=The Blogger and Author on the Life of Women Online|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/magazine/15fob-q4-t.html|url-status=live|access-date=16 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716184154/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/magazine/15fob-q4-t.html|archive-date=16 July 2016}}</ref><ref name="Zerbisias-2016">{{Cite web|last=Zerbisias|first=Antonia|date=16 September 2015|title=Feminism's Fourth Wave is the Shitlist|url=https://nowtoronto.com/news/feminisms-fourth-wave-is-the-shitlist|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016172423/https://nowtoronto.com/news/feminisms-fourth-wave-is-the-shitlist/|archive-date=16 October 2015|access-date=21 April 2016|website=NOW Toronto}}</ref>
The speed of communication and concept of "going viral" has been a major factor in the success of contemporary feminist campaigns, fostering digital phenomenon such as "call-out culture". In the world of cyberfeminism, call-out culture is used as a tool to accuse sexual predators in a manner that allows for optional anonymity and the larger possibility of wide-ranged support. Hashtag feminism campaigns are often a result of this culture.<ref name="Shiva-2019"/>
Social media activism has manifested as Twitter threads critiquing perceived transphobia in the media<ref>{{Citation|last=Parry|first=Diana C.|title=Feminisms in Leisure Studies|pages=1–12|year=2018|chapter=Fourth wave feminism|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781315108476-1|isbn=9781315108476|s2cid=195569730}}</ref> and in so-called "hashtag feminism" campaigns, notably #MeToo,<ref name="Cosboy-Ghomeshi-MeToo" /> #YesAllWomen, #bringbackourgirls, #NotYourAsianSidekick and #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-08-14 |title=#SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen: women of color's issue with digital feminism |author=Mikki Kendall |url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/14/solidarityisforwhitewomen-hashtag-feminism |access-date=2022-11-21 |newspaper=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> Girlgaze, launched by Amanda de Cadenet, is an online multi-sided platform that directly connects businesses, companies and brands with women and non-binary creative talent,<ref>{{Cite web|title=girlgaze.com|url=https://girlgaze.com/|website=Girlgaze|access-date=7 April 2021|archive-date=29 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329080838/https://girlgaze.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> promoting the need for diversity, inclusion and representation across the creative industry. ''Time'' named a group of activists prominent in the #MeToo movement, dubbed "the silence breakers", as its 2017 Person of the Year.<ref name="Zacharek6Dec2017">Zacharek, Stephanie; Dockterman Eliana; and Sweetland Edwards, Haley (6 December 2017). [https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers/ "The Silence Breakers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813213723/http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers |date=13 August 2018 }}, ''Time'' magazine.</ref><ref>Redden, Molly, and agencies (6 December 2017). [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/dec/06/metoo-movement-named-time-magazines-person-of-the-year "#MeToo movement named Time magazine's Person of the Year"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207033815/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/dec/06/metoo-movement-named-time-magazines-person-of-the-year|date=7 December 2017}}, ''The Guardian''.</ref><ref>For page three, see Thorpe, Vanessa (27 July 2013). [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/27/new-generation-of-feminists-set-agenda "What now for Britain's new-wave feminists – after page 3 and £10 notes?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111041558/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/27/new-generation-of-feminists-set-agenda|date=11 November 2017}}, ''The Guardian''.</ref>
Other fourth-wave feminist campaigns include the Feminist Coalition, Everyday Sexism Project, No More Page 3, {{lang|es|Ni una menos}}, Stop ''Bild'' Sexism, Free the Nipple, SlutWalk, the 2017 and 2018 Women's Marches, Time's Up and One Billion Rising. Artistic endeavors include ''Mattress Performance'' and ''10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman''.<ref>{{Citation |title=10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman |date=28 October 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XGPvbWn0A |language=en |access-date=2022-11-21 |archive-date=21 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121061227/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XGPvbWn0A |url-status=live }}</ref>
The Everyday Sexism Project, established in 2012 by feminist author Laura Bates, is an example of a fourth-wave feminist campaign that began online and utilized the internet as a medium for women to share stories of sexism and sexual assault they had faced through the use of a hashtag and sites like Twitter and blogs. The project brought awareness to the prolific nature of structurally ingrained sexism and gendered violence that is often a stigmatized topic in the everyday.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Day and Wray |first=K and R |date=2018 |title=Fourth-wave feminism and postfeminism: Successes and failures |url=https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/7735/1/FourthWaveFeminismAndPostfeminismSuccessesAndFailuresAM-WRAY.pdf |journal=Transform: A Journal of the Radical Left |volume=4 |pages=113–137 |via=Google Scholar}}</ref>
One critique of social media feminism is the emotional toll it can take on active leaders and participants as a form of unpaid labor that can often have harsh repercussions in the form of online harassment and abuse.<ref name="Shiva-2019"/><ref name="Crane-2012"/>
Sahar Khamis, a professor at University of Maryland, argues that social media gives feminists a unique avenue to highlight moments of solidarity in the social movement creating a powerful energy.<ref name="Oren-2019">{{cite book |last1=Oren |first1=Tasha |chapter=Contemporary feminism |doi=10.4324/9781315728346-1 |title=The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Feminism |pages=1–19 |place=Abingdon, Oxon |publisher=Routledge |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-315-72834-6 |last2=Press |first2=Andrea L. |s2cid=216612655 |editor=Oren |editor2=Press}}</ref> Social media allows interconnected groups and individuals to network and connect with each other. Younger generations of feminists are more likely to form their beliefs and opinions and develop their support for the movement through social media.<ref name="Oren-2019" />
== Men and the fourth wave ==
=== Importance of men's participation === According to the International Women's Development Agency, feminism is "about all genders having equal rights and opportunities."<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Is Feminism? {{!}} IWDA |url=https://iwda.org.au/learn/what-is-feminism/ |access-date=2024-03-06 |language=en-AU |archive-date=14 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314053806/https://iwda.org.au/learn/what-is-feminism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> More than 70% of U.S. fathers take parental leave, but receive less than two weeks off after the birth of their child.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Sutanto |first=Cynthia |date=2023-12-12 |title=Feminism is for Men, Too |url=https://feminist.org/news/feminism-is-for-men-too/ |access-date=2024-03-06 |website=Feminist Majority Foundation |language=en-US |archive-date=25 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225172302/https://feminist.org/news/feminism-is-for-men-too/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Four times more men than women die by suicide in the U.S., due to stigma around mental health and seeking help for it.<ref name=":10" />
In Emma Watson's 2014 speech launching the HeForShe campaign for UN Women, she points out that "men don't have the benefits of equality either."<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |date=2014-09-20 |title=Emma Watson: Gender equality is your issue too |url=https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-your-issue-too |access-date=2024-02-29 |website=UN Women – Headquarters |language=en |archive-date=9 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309195845/https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-your-issue-too |url-status=live }}</ref> She cites examples from her own life where she has noticed this, including seeing her "father's role as a parent being valued less by society," and witnessing her male friends struggle to express their emotions.<ref name=":9" /> From the HeForShe website, HeForShe is "an invitation for men and people of all genders to stand in solidarity with women" in order to achieve gender equality for everyone.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page |url=https://www.heforshe.org/en |access-date=2024-02-29 |website=HeForShe |language=en |archive-date=27 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141127161100/https://www.heforshe.org/en |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Challenges for male feminists === Societal pressure and the ideals of toxic masculinity can make it difficult for men to support feminism.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Flood |first=Michael |date=2022-09-21 |title='Toxic masculinity': what does it mean, where did it come from – and is the term useful or harmful? |url=http://theconversation.com/toxic-masculinity-what-does-it-mean-where-did-it-come-from-and-is-the-term-useful-or-harmful-189298 |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref> In many societies, to be considered 'masculine', men must be "strong, active, aggressive, tough, daring, heterosexual, emotionally inexpressive and dominant."<ref name=":12" /> Among these types of traits is the idea present in many cultures globally that being a man "often involve[s] male domination over women."<ref name=":10" />
Fourth-wave feminism has reached a larger audience than previous waves through social media.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-04 |title=The Social Media Revolution is Reshaping Feminism – National Organization for Women |url=https://now.org/blog/the-social-media-revolution-is-reshaping-feminism/ |access-date=2024-03-06 |website=now.org |language=en-US |archive-date=22 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222040846/https://now.org/blog/the-social-media-revolution-is-reshaping-feminism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In May 2023, researchers conducted an experiment designed to find the effect of feminist content on social media on millennial men and men from Generation Z.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last1=Kosar |first1=Sophia Anneliese |last2=Muruthi |first2=Bertranna A. |last3=Shivers |first3=Carolyn |last4=Zarate |first4=Jose |last5=Byron |first5=Jordan |date=October 2023 |title=Millennials and Generation Z: Men's Perspectives on Hashtag Feminism |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10608265231175832 |journal=The Journal of Men's Studies |language=en |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=478–499 |doi=10.1177/10608265231175832 |hdl=10919/102110 |s2cid=258655810 |issn=1060-8265|hdl-access=free }}</ref> The findings included mixed messages, with one participant stating that so-called 'hashtag' feminism "[spread] real awareness of the struggles women face that [men] are not all the time aware of, and sometimes never aware of."<ref name=":02" /> The participants also felt that hashtag feminism was difficult for men to engage with, with one man stating that he doesn't "know how to engage with it in a way that doesn't come off as hostile."<ref name=":02" />
=== Men's feminist media and advocacy === In more recent years, the number of men acting to publicly support feminism has increased; celebrities such as Justin Baldoni, Terry Crews, Matt McGorry, and Alan Cumming have spoken and acted in support of the movement.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |date=2019-11-25 |title=Five Feminist Men We Are Thankful For |url=https://therepproject.org/five-feminist-men-we-are-thankful-for/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=The Representation Project |language=en-US |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227155715/https://therepproject.org/five-feminist-men-we-are-thankful-for/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Baldoni's TED Talk, "Why I'm done trying to be man enough", asks questions like "are you brave enough to be vulnerable?" and "are you strong enough to be sensitive?"<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |title=Why I'm done trying to be 'man enough' |author=Justin Baldoni |url=https://ed.ted.com/lessons/83OhjZcY |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=TED-Ed |language=en |archive-date=5 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305114936/https://ed.ted.com/lessons/83OhjZcY |url-status=live }}</ref> "Why I'm done trying to be man enough" touches on recognizing privilege, amplifying women's voices, and the importance of creating male friendships in which men can speak about real struggles together.<ref name=":32" /> In 2014, Terry Crews published his book, ''Manhood: How to Be a Better Man–or Just Live with One'', a memoir discussing how to be a "good man, loving husband, and responsible father."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Manhood: How to Be a Better Man – or Just Live with One |isbn=978-0-8041-7806-8 |language=en |last1=Crews |first1=Terry |date=20 May 2014 |publisher=Random House Publishing}}</ref> Crews has also publicly voiced his support for gender equality in an interview with BUILD Series<ref>{{Citation |title=Terry Crews Speaks Out Against Toxic Masculinity | date=22 January 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhWZPopmIto |access-date=2024-02-27 |language=en}}</ref> and on his Twitter account.<ref name=":22" />
In addition to celebrities, former president Barack Obama authored an article titled "This is What a Feminist Looks Like", discussing gender roles and the need for everyone to fight sexism.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Obama |first=Barack |date=2016-08-04 |title=Exclusive: President Barack Obama Says, 'This Is What a Feminist Looks Like' |url=https://www.glamour.com/story/glamour-exclusive-president-barack-obama-says-this-is-what-a-feminist-looks-like |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=Glamour |language=en-US |archive-date=18 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318081110/https://www.glamour.com/story/glamour-exclusive-president-barack-obama-says-this-is-what-a-feminist-looks-like |url-status=live }}</ref> Obama asserts that gender stereotypes "limit our ability to simply be ourselves" and that twenty-first century feminism is "the idea that when everybody is equal, we are all more free."<ref name=":4" />
In September 2014, the Obama-Biden White House founded It's On Us, which became the largest nonprofit dedicated to preventing sexual assault on college campuses in the U.S.<ref>{{Cite web |title=It's On Us {{!}} Our Story |url=https://itsonus.org/about-us/our-story/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |language=en-US |archive-date=5 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305005621/https://itsonus.org/about-us/our-story/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2015, ''The Mask You Live In'', a documentary film directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, premiered at Sundance Film Festival.<ref>{{Citation |last=Newsom |first=Jennifer Siebel |title=The Mask You Live In |date=2015-01-25 |type=Documentary, News |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3983674/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |others=Joe Herman, Michael Kimmel, Caroline Heldman |publisher=The Representation Project, The Annenberg Foundation, The Brin Wojcicki Foundation |archive-date=1 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201200416/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3983674/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The documentary details the environment and expectations that boys grow up with in the United States, using analysis from experts in various fields and firsthand accounts of experiences to illustrate how gender roles affect boys and men.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Mask You Live In |url=https://therepproject.org/films/the-mask-you-live-in/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=The Representation Project |language=en-US |archive-date=5 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305063032/https://therepproject.org/films/the-mask-you-live-in/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2017, Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore, Ian McKellen, Rufus Wainwright, and John Legend, along with a plethora of female public figures, attended women's marches across the country.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Park |first=Andrea |date=2017-01-23 |title=Celebrities attend Women's Marches around the world |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/celebrities-attend-womens-marches-around-the-world/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227155620/https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/celebrities-attend-womens-marches-around-the-world/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Timeline == {| class="wikitable" |+ !Date !Event/Campaign |- |2001 |Gather the Women |- |2010 |Hollaback Campaign<ref name="Shiva" /> |- |January 2011 |The International Slutwalk<ref name="Shiva" /> |- |March 2011 |#March4Women |- |October 2011 |Project Unbreakable<ref name="Shiva" /> |- |2012 |No More Page 3<ref name="Shiva" /> |- |April 2012 |Everyday Sexism Project<ref name="Shiva" /> |- |2013 |The Facebook Rape Campaign<ref name="Shiva" /> |- |January 2017 |Women's March<ref name="Shiva" /> |- |October 2017 |MeToo Movement<ref name="Shiva" /> |- |May 2022 |United States abortion protests |}
==Criticism== Fourth-wave feminism has been criticised for its reliance on emerging digital technologies; it is necessary to ensure that underserved communities can engage with these technologies in an empowering manner.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mauro-Flude |first1=Nancy |title=Writing the Feminist Internet: a Chthonian Feminist Internet Theory for the twenty first century |journal=Continuum |date=15 Oct 2021 |volume=35 |issue=5 |pages=788–804 |doi=10.1080/10304312.2021.1983260 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10304312.2021.1983260 |archive-date=25 September 2024 |access-date=27 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925092327/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10304312.2021.1983260 |url-status=live }}</ref> Ragna Rök Jóns argues that "[t]he key problem that this '4th Wave' will face will be the disproportionate access to and ownership of digital media devices", and that the fourth wave is left with the "inherent classism and ableism" created by giving the greatest voice to those who can afford and use technology,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bluestockingsmag.com/2013/08/19/is-the-4th-wave-of-feminism-digital/|title=Is the '4th Wave' of Feminism Digital?|last=Jóns|first=Ragna Rök|website=Bluestockings Magazine|date=19 August 2013|access-date=21 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220193323/http://bluestockingsmag.com/2013/08/19/is-the-4th-wave-of-feminism-digital/|archive-date=20 February 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> while the growth of social media in regions plagued by pervasive social injustice remains slow.<ref name="PSA">{{Cite journal|last=Munro|first=Ealasaid|date=September 2013|title=Feminism: A Fourth Wave?|journal=Political Insight|volume=4|issue=2|pages=22–25|doi=10.1111/2041-9066.12021|s2cid=142990260}} Republished as {{Cite web|last=Munro|first=Ealasaid|date=5 September 2013|title=Feminism: A fourth wave?|url=https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/feminism-fourth-wave|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202070519/https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/feminism-fourth-wave|archive-date=2 December 2018|access-date=1 December 2018|website=The Political Studies Association}} / {{Cite web|title=Feminism: A fourth wave? {{!}} The Political Studies Association (PSA)|url=https://www.psa.ac.uk/psa/news/feminism-fourth-wave|access-date=2020-06-27|website=Feminism: A fourth wave? {{!}} The Political Studies Association (PSA)|language=en|archive-date=10 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210124315/https://www.psa.ac.uk/psa/news/feminism-fourth-wave|url-status=live}}</ref> North American sociologist Amanda E. Vickery claims that fourth-wave feminism marginalizes women of color who are fighting for inclusivity, neglecting the specific injustices they face to make way for the mainstream struggle.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vickery |first=Amanda Elizabeth |year=2018 |title=After the March, What? Rethinking How We Teach the Feminist Movement |journal=Social Studies Research and Practice |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=402–411 |doi=10.1108/SSRP-05-2018-0020 |s2cid=150065703}}</ref>
Critics argue that efforts by large corporations such as Dove to capitalize on the movement through activist advertising<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2017/05/11/dove-invented-femvertising-but-its-latest-stunt-didnt-wash-with-consumers/|title=Dove Invented 'Femvertising' But Its Latest Stunt Didn't Wash With Consumers|last=Dan|first=Avi|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2019-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421142925/https://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2017/05/11/dove-invented-femvertising-but-its-latest-stunt-didnt-wash-with-consumers/|archive-date=21 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> may be inimical to fourth-wave feminism, which tends to be critical of capitalism as an economic system.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Annis|first=Ashley Hartman|date=Winter 2016|title=Which way is feminism leaning? A critique of Sandberg's 'Feminist Manifesto'|url=https://www.library.wisc.edu/gwslibrarian/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2016/07/FC_3712_Lean-In-Out.pdf|journal=Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women's Studies Resources|volume=37|issue=1–2|pages=3–5|via=GenderWatch|access-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160909212417/https://www.library.wisc.edu/gwslibrarian/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2016/07/FC_3712_Lean-In-Out.pdf|archive-date=9 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
The conservative critique of fourth-wave feminism is that when women believe that the world is set against them through social systems such as patriarchy, they will abandon all efforts instead of competing with men as equals. Author Joanna Williams writes in ''The American Conservative'' that fourth-wave feminism encourages women to "call upon external helpmates, like the state and ugly identity politics that push good men away". Williams also associates the movement with the "regressive left", claiming fourth-wave feminists are authoritarian and illiberal by dictating acceptable ideologies and policing the speech of men and women.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/fourth-wave-feminismwhy-no-one-escapes/|title=Fourth Wave Feminism: Why No One Escapes|last=Williams|first=Joanna|website=The American Conservative|date=4 September 2018 |access-date=2019-04-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402031653/https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/fourth-wave-feminismwhy-no-one-escapes/|archive-date=2 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
It is also argued that when people participate in Internet activism, they may not feel the need to do anything else to help the effort and to make themselves feel good.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitra |first=Zinia |title=Fourth Wave Feminism, Social Media and (Sl)Activism |publisher=Kitaab |year=2020 |isbn=978-981-18-0550-9}}</ref> This type of activism is addressed in feminist punk band Le Tigre's 2001 song "Get Off the Internet", from before social media came into the picture. Later, in 2015, Alex Guardado asserted in an article on Twitter activism for NewUniversity.org that after contributing their say, people "continue on with their day, liking other posts or retweeting". Some may think of themselves as activists while never attending a rally or extending their message beyond their Twitter fan base.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newuniversity.org/2015/03/opinion/hashtag-activism-the-benefits-and-limitations-of-activism/|title=Hashtag Activism: The Benefits and Limitations of #Activism|last=Guardado|first=Alex|date=3 March 2015|work=New University|publisher=University of California, Irvine|access-date=21 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503053133/http://www.newuniversity.org/2015/03/opinion/hashtag-activism-the-benefits-and-limitations-of-activism/|archive-date=3 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> While various feminist campaigns have spread via social media, the term slacktivism was coined to describe the mass media users who may speak out on their online platform but do little else to stimulate social action outside of their online platform.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Guillard|first=Julianne|date=2016-07-28|title=Is feminism trending? Pedagogical approaches to countering (Sl)activism|journal=Gender and Education|volume=28|issue=5|pages=609–626|doi=10.1080/09540253.2015.1123227|s2cid=148497865|issn=0954-0253}}</ref> This forms part of a greater dialogue surrounding the roles and requirements of activism in an age where communities operate almost as equally online as they do face-to-face.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kaun|first1=Anne|last2=Uldam|first2=Julie|date=2017-09-19|title=Digital activism: After the hype|journal=New Media & Society|volume=20|issue=6|pages=2099–2106|doi=10.1177/1461444817731924|s2cid=206729225|issn=1461-4448|url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-33458}}</ref>
Jennifer Simpkins of ''The Huffington Post'' argued in 2014 that fourth-wave feminism had created a hostile, ''Mean Girls''–like atmosphere, in which women are more likely to tear each other down. "I've actually never once been belittled and attacked by a man for believing in the cause of feminism ... but women are just about lining up to take a whack at the shoddy piñata of my personal tastes and opinions".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jennifer-simpkins/feminism-fourth-wave-became-mean-girls_b_4616597.html|title='You Can't Sit with Us!' – How Fourth-Wave Feminism Became 'Mean Girls'|last=Simpkins|first=Jennifer|date=20 January 2014|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=21 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510080539/http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jennifer-simpkins/feminism-fourth-wave-became-mean-girls_b_4616597.html|archive-date=10 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> British scholar Ealasaid Munro says that the call-out culture of fourth-wave feminism risks marginalizing and separating people over minor disagreements when they could serve better as allies.<ref name="PSA"/>
Women and their gendered issues are not uniform and many variations in issues are a result of related issues such as race, sexuality and class and Munro also provides the critique that mainstream feminism is focused on the struggle of middle-class white women.<ref name="PSA" /> Social campaigns that cast celebrities as the face of the movement, such as the Me Too movement, have been criticized, because celebrities often represent the privileged sectors of society, which in turn negate the efforts to expand upon the intersectionality of feminism.<ref name="Looft-2017">{{Cite journal|last=Looft|first=Ruxandra|date=2017-11-02|title=#girlgaze: photography, fourth wave feminism, and social media advocacy|journal=Continuum|volume=31|issue=6|pages=892–902|doi=10.1080/10304312.2017.1370539|issn=1030-4312|s2cid=148881977}}</ref>
The wave narrative itself is criticized due to perceptions that it is only inclusive of western feminist movements<ref name="Evans-Critical-Waves" /> and that the fourth wave itself takes place in the global north, often neglecting the struggle of women in other regions.<ref name="Phillips 930–943"/> Critics also argue that using waves to define periods of feminism is no longer useful.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Radford-Hill |first=Sheila |date=2002 |title=Keepin' It Real: A Generational Commentary on Kimberly Springer's 'Third Wave Black Feminism?' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/339638 |journal=Signs |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=1083–1190 |doi=10.1086/339638 |jstor=10.1086/339638 |s2cid=146387753 |issn=0097-9740 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=21 November 2022 |access-date=21 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121193819/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/339638 |url-status=live }}</ref> They believe there is no need for it anymore and that it can get confusing.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grady |first=Constance |date=2018-03-20 |title=The waves of feminism, and why people keep fighting over them, explained |url=https://www.vox.com/2018/3/20/16955588/feminism-waves-explained-first-second-third-fourth |access-date=2022-11-21 |website=Vox |language=en |archive-date=5 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405172242/https://www.vox.com/2018/3/20/16955588/feminism-waves-explained-first-second-third-fourth |url-status=live }}</ref> The wave narrative is also contested due to the overlapping nature of the waves of feminism and the lack of concrete definitions due to disagreements between scholars and activists as to what the waves respectively encompass.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chamberlain |first=Prudence |date=2016-04-15 |title=Affective temporality: towards a fourth wave |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540253.2016.1169249 |journal=Gender and Education |language=en |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=458–464 |doi=10.1080/09540253.2016.1169249 |s2cid=147625970 |issn=0954-0253 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=25 May 2023 |access-date=25 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525050959/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540253.2016.1169249 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Other critiques of fourth-wave feminism include its lack of clear evidence in most cases of social media use. Along with this, some argue that, though all issues should be addressed, smaller issues should not be inflated by the feminist movement. One example of this is Matt Damon's response to the Harvey Weinstein case, "I do believe that there is a spectrum of behaviour, right? [...] There's a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right?" Social media also can be seen as ineffective as it brings down "bogeyman" individuals rather than, "invent[ing] a different language or logic that can excise or alter the structures of oppression" as Sarah K. Burgess describes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Burgess|first=Sarah K.|date=2018|title=Between the Desire for Law and the Law of Desire: #MeToo and the Cost of Telling the Truth Today|journal=Philosophy & Rhetoric|volume=51|issue=4|pages=342–367|doi=10.5325/philrhet.51.4.0342|jstor=10.5325/philrhet.51.4.0342|s2cid=149835737|issn=0031-8213}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Feminism}} {{Div col|colwidth=19em}} * Anarcha-feminism * Equity feminism * Feminism and media * Materialist feminism * Political lesbianism * Postcolonial feminism * Postfeminism * Radical feminism * Riot grrrl * r/Feminism * Social justice warrior * Transfeminism * Who Needs Feminism? {{Div col end}}
== Citations == {{Reflist|30em}}
=== General and cited references === {{Refbegin|30em}} * {{Cite book |last=Bates |first=Laura |author-link=Laura Bates |year=2014 |title=Everyday Sexism |location=London |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4711-3157-8}} * {{Cite book |last=Baumgardner |first=Jennifer |author-link=Jennifer Baumgardner |year=2011 |title=F'em! Goo Goo, Gaga, and Some Thoughts on Balls |location=Berkeley, California |publisher=Seal Press |isbn=978-1-58005-360-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/femgoogoogagasom0000baum}} * {{Cite book |last=Chamberlain |first=Prudence |year=2017 |title=The Feminist Fourth Wave: Affective Temporality |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-319-53682-8 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-53682-8}} {{Refend}}
==Further reading== {{Refbegin|30em}} * {{Cite journal |last=Diamond |first=Diana |year=2009 |title=The Fourth Wave of Feminism: Psychoanalytic Perspectives |journal=Studies in Gender and Sexuality |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=213–223 |issn=1940-9206 |doi=10.1080/15240650903228187 |s2cid=144825387}} * {{Cite book |last=Cochrane |first=Kira |author-link=Kira Cochrane |year=2013 |title=All the Rebel Women: The Rise of the Fourth Wave of Feminism |location=London |publisher=Guardian Books |isbn=978-1-78356-036-3}} * {{Cite journal |last=Munro |first=Ealasaid |year=2013 |title=Feminism: A Fourth Wave? |url=https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/feminism-fourth-wave |journal=Political Insight |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=22–25 |doi=10.1111/2041-9066.12021 |s2cid=142990260 |access-date=8 November 2015 |archive-date=2 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202070519/https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/feminism-fourth-wave |url-access=subscription }} * {{Cite book |last1=Retallack |first1=Hanna |last2=Ringrose |first2=Jessica |last3=Lawrence |first3=Emilie |year=2016 |chapter='Fuck Your Body Image': Teen Girls' Twitter and Instagram Feminism in and Around School |editor1-last=Coffey |editor1-first=Julia |editor2-last=Budgeon |editor2-first=Shelley |editor3-last=Cahill |editor3-first=Helen |title=Learning Bodies: The Body in Youth and Childhood Studies |volume=2 |location=Singapore |publisher=Springer |pages=85–103 |doi=10.1007/978-981-10-0306-6_6 |isbn=978-981-10-0306-6}} * {{Cite book |last=Rivers |first=Nicola |year=2017 |title=Postfeminism(s) and the Arrival of the Fourth Wave |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-319-59812-3 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-59812-3}} {{Refend}}
{{Feminism}}
Category:Fourth-wave feminism Category:2010s in politics Category:Feminist movements and ideologies Category:Intersectional feminism