Fourth Wave Feminism and the Construction of Women as Criminals

• In Event: “Isn’t the Revolution Over?” The Demise or Persistence of Feminism in CJ and the Lives of Students

Abstract

Welcome to the fourth wave of feminism! This fourth wave movement follows the first-wave campaign for votes for women, which reached its height 100 years ago, the second wave women's liberation movement that blazed through the 1970s and 80s, and the third wave declared by Rebecca Walker and others in the early 1990s. The shift from second to third wave took many important forms, but often felt broadly generational, with women defining their work as distinct from their mothers'. Each wave of feminism has helped bring women into the mainstream, step by step, in an effort to achieve equality. Similarly, at each step the social construction of women as criminals, victims and CJ professionals expanded. What's happening now feels like something new again. It is defined by technology: tools are allowing women to build a strong, popular, reactive movement online. This paper will explore the impact of technology on feminism, as well as its impact on women as criminals.

Author

• Sharon Redhawk Love