somebody might wave back

Why didn't we talk about International Women's Day at the café? Well, I just feel kinda defeated this year and I did not want to rain on any parades. Perhaps it is the pillory of Hillary. Perhaps, as a child of second wave feminism, I am hurt by the part of the pillory of Hillary that refers to her as a second wave feminist supported by second wave feminists. Perhaps it that people are talking about waves of feminism as if they were movements pitted against each other rather than proof of a vibrant, dynamic movement that is able to respond to growing understandings and changing conditions.

Perhaps it is this report on conditions:
At 47%, women make up almost half the workforce, a 10% increase since 1976 -- but:
> only 22% of senior management positions are held by women, a decrease from 27% in 1996;
> a Canadian woman's annual income in 2006 was 63% of a man's;
> and in 2006, a Canadian woman earned 72 cents to every dollar a man in similar work earns, a decrease of 8 cents since 1999.

all from the ACTEW Canadian Women's Labour Patterns Fact Sheet

Perhaps it is the cynical use of feminism to justify wars and military occupations and all kinds of outrageous behaviour.

Perhaps it is, as a friend reports, the pink t-shirt for a two-year old girl emblazoned with the slogan "Love me, love my body."

I know that there is probably some good change happening somewhere, but as I engage in the popular, social and political culture of my community, I have a horrifying sense of being pulled backward into a pre-second wave time and I just do not want to live there again.

Or perhaps it is just me. Stuck somewhere between the second and third wave, wondering what the fourth wave will bring -- knowing that it may have already started without the 40-somethings like me.

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For an interesting conversation across waves, click here. I had a weird reaction to this. Even though I agree with Ms. Harris-Lacewell that not acknowledging the ways that race and gender intersect is "the very worst of second wave feminism," I found myself feeling quite defensive about Ms. Steinem. Which of course is why I will not be invited to the fourth wave. But then again, as feminist riding any wave, why would I wait for an invitation?