[feminist] brief history

There are three "waves" of feminism in the United States:

1st wave: abolition movement, suffrage
1848 Seneca Falls Convention
1869 National Women's Suffrage Association (NWSA) founded
1878 "Anthony Amendment" (women's suffrage) introduced to Congress
1890 National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)-- today the League of Women Voters
1920 the 19th amendment was ratified, giving women the vote
important names: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Sarah M. and Angelina Grimke, Henry Blackwell, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman

2nd wave: 60's  and 70's (academic) push for women's studies in academia
coining of the term: "the personal is political"
1963 Equal Pay Act
1964 Title VII in the Civil Rights Act-- forbidding workplace discrimination
1967 Affirmative Action extended to women
early 1970's creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
1970 first women's studies department was founded at San Diego State University
1972 Title IX of the Education Amendments Act-- equal education, forbid gender discrimination in schools (especially in sports-- this was why I was able to participate in my high school wrestling team)

3rd wave: "contemporary" feminism
today we can define two core principles of feminism, despite the definition of feminism varying from person to person
-- concerns equality and justice for all women; seeks to eliminate systems of inequality and injustice in all aspects of women's lives
-- inclusive, affirming; celebrates women's achievements and struggles; works to provide a positive and affirming view towards women and womanhood

Feminism is personal perspective, political theory, and social movement

[feminist] mass produced bras and my breast reduction surgery

In response to:

Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. “Breast Buds and the ‘Training’ Bra.” 1977. Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings, 4^th edition. 249-254.

Before reading this I had no idea that the first bra was created in 1913, “designed simply to flatten,” and that the more current/modern bra came about in the 1930’s (Brumberg 250). The concept of the bra is so new yet so universal now. Mass production and mass media are so influential in society, and the bra is a prime example. With mass production came sizing—A, B, C, D, the infamous DD, and the realm of un-tamed breasts even larger. (As a person who once wore the “more than a DD,” I know firsthand the impossibility of buying a bra in a department store that will be the correct size.) I was still in middle school when I made the transition to “larger than my mother” and up to DD, and had to face the realization that I wasn’t just larger than normal, larger than my peers, but I was freakishly, abnormally larger than society as a whole. For years I wore two minimizer bras at a time in an effort to “tame” my breasts even more, as they continued to grow. I was known as “jugs” for years in high school before I had breast reduction surgery, after which I spent my final year in baggy shirts so that no one would I know that I had “gotten my tits cut off.”  (which to this day people perceive as a “tragedy” despite the fact that it was practically a medical necessity)

The physical pain I had from wearing underwire bras aimed at “taming” my breasts has always led me to wonder why anyone would wear a AAA or AA (or even an A) bra when to me they so obviously don’t need one. But with stores and brands like Victoria’s Secret a AAA girl can wear a bra that makes her look like she has real B-size breasts. (I’ve always wondered how disappointed the boyfriend is once the bra comes off?)