The Fourth Wave of Feminism: Psychoanalytic Perspectives Introductory Remarks

Abstract

This introductory paper traces a century of 4 waves of feminism from a psychoanalytic perspective. The first phase focused on political change as the suffragette movement was undertaken at the turn of the 20th century by feminist activists who lobbied successfully for women's right to vote; the second phase, a broad sociopolitical-cultural movement located in the 1960s and 1970s, focused on consciousness-raising around gender issues, women's liberation (Betty Friedan, Kate Millet, Simone de Beauvoir, Bela Abzug, Gloria Steinem), and job and economic parity. With sexual freedom and job opportunities more established for women, the third phase evolved in the 1980s and 1990s, emphasizing women exploring gender pluralities; “having it all”; and juggling career, sex, and motherhood. The fourth wave moved into the 21st century as women turned toward spiritual concerns about the planet and all its beings, putting themselves in the service of the world, ecology, and the downtrodden.

Notes

¹The papers in this symposium formed a colloquium convened as the Invited Panel sponsored by Section III (Women, Gender, and Psychoanalysis), Division 39 (Psychoanalysis), American Psychological Association, April 2006, Philadelphia, PA.

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Notes on contributors

Harriet Kimble Wrye

Harriet Kimble Wrye, Ph.D., ABPP, FIPA, is Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at Los Angeles Institute & Society for Psychoanalytic Studies (LAISPS); cofounder of Division 39 Section III Gender and Psychoanalysis, West Coast; and coauthor of The Narration of Desire (Analytic Press, 1994) and numerous articles on gender and transference