Experiencing Third Wave Feminism

Abstract

Third wave feminism is concerned with challenging the categories used by second wave feminism to represent experience; so, while a concern for understanding women’s experiences is shared with the second wave, third wave feminism returns to the category of experience to question the presumed uniformity of women’s experiences. This is enacted with the hope of opening up the possibilities for a new feminist identity to be formed across multiple locations. Many third wave texts therefore emphasize the role of the personal in making claims about the meaning feminism has in women’s lives. For many critics, this focus on the personal results in overprivileging the individual, who is positioned as the ‘authentic’ producer of knowledge and, as such, as one who cannot be challenged. When deployed critically, however, personal theorizing encourages a deconstructive view of experience, which supports an analysis of how gendered subjects are produced through particular experiences. While the category of personal experience may not be dealt with as critically and self-reflexively as it could be, within much third wave literature its presence is suggestive of epistemological and methodological strategies for engaging with the production of new femininities.