Feminism: A Fourth to be Reckoned With? Reviving Community Education Feminist Pedagogies in a Digital Age

Abstract

The notion that feminism is in its ‘fourth wave’ is undoubtedly controversial and highly disputed amongst feminist circles (Munro, 2014). On one hand there remains a plethora of misinformation on the ‘death of feminism’ and a widespread common sense understanding of our indisputably ‘equal’ society (Faludi, 1993); on the other, a still active, strident movement fighting against such common misconceptions in order to achieve true freedom of rights and opportunities, regardless of sex and subsequent socially constructed gender (Redfern and Aune, 2013). In recent years there has been a noticeable resumption of feminist debate, discussion and activism due to the surge of digital spaces. This nurtures a new form of culture and expression in which global voices can be heard and changes made through the power of online platforms. Feminist thinkers are declaring this a new wave of feminist gusto, ‘the fourth wave’, in which the power of digital media is harnessed to tackle the gross inequalities prevalent in social, economic, and political domains. The enduring relevance of feminism irrefutably persists for, in the apt words of second-wave bumper stickers; ‘I’ll be a post-feminist in a post-patriarchy’ (Kavka, 2002 p29).