Generation Gaps

I was wondering recently (again, to Kyle) about whether Second Wave feminists can now be counted as Third Wave feminists if they uphold the tenets of the younger crowd. Is there an age limit? Is my mom Third Wave? I'm not sure. The most interesting example of this conundrum that I've found is Betty Dodson. A quintessential Second Waver, and one of the first feminists to be specifically pro-sex, she is famous primarily for her books and videos teaching women to masturbate. (These videos involve women of various ages using vibrators and vaginal barbells to achieve orgasm--no euphemisms, nothing hidden, highly instructional...and, trust me, not particularly titillating.)

She's now the sex columnist for Bust, the most assuredly Third Wave magazine. The column's actually not great--it's okay, but repetitive, and I draw the line at the phrase "sweet little clitty"*. But what's most interesting to me is the title: Ask Aunt Betty. The moniker "Aunt" acknowledges that Dodson is from a previous time--she's a benign maternal figure giving friendly advice, but she's not in the trenches with us. It suggests that our parents' generation can't really be called Third Wave. And I find much of her attitude tellingly quaint, especially (as I'm about to discuss in a new Mythbuster!) in her treatment of various kinds of orgasms.

I'm not sure why age should be such a factor. Perhaps it's that, as discussed in Manifesta (I'll find the quote when I get home), young women were so excluded from the movement once it started to age. To me, Riot Grrrl is a true example of the differences between the two waves**, and it was by definition youthful. Women my age, having grown up with an awareness of feminism, have different needs and different longings. All of which is obvious. Is it simply that older women can't relate? Or are we pushing them aside?

Or, perhaps: I've often felt that most Third Wave women (for better and for worse) live feminism rather than fighting for it. If that's part of the ideology, then shared experience is a prerequisite. And that prerequisite exists in many movements, so it's difficult to say whether it's bad or good. But if you have to do in order to be, maybe our foremothers are happy cheering us on from the sidelines.


*Ugh, I could barely stand typing that.
**More on this to come.