Feminism in the United States. Feminist history in the United States can be categorized into four distinct waves. Though there were many prior examples of female empowerment, the First Wave (1848-1920s) focused on legal aspects of how women were treated. In this wave, the suffragette movement began to make a name for itself with events like the Seneca Falls Convention, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, where the Declaration of Sentiments (demanding equal rights and outlining suffrage) was drafted. This was followed by the establishment of the National Woman Suffrage Association (1869), founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. After many years of fighting and the spread of this foundational movement, the 19th Amendment (women’s right to vote) was secured. This initial wave (though crucial and empowering) solely focused on white middle-class women, excluding women of color and lower classes.

The Second Wave (1963-1980s) introduced a broader range of activism, including education, reproductive rights, legal inequality, and employment. Key topics during this wave feature the publication and popularization of The Feminine Mystique (1963) by Betty Friedan, which critiqued the societal expectations of women, the founding of the National Organization for Women or NOW (1966), Roe v. Wade in 1973 legalizing abortion nationwide, and the introduction of Title IX which prohibits sex and gender discrimination in federally funded education programs. This era of feminism bolstered the call for social freedoms for women, but again often lacked intersectionality as it focused primarily on the needs of white women.

The Third Wave (1990s-2011) sparked the initiative to include diversity, individuality, and identity into the mix. During this wave, the term intersectionality became more common with people like Kimberlé Crenshaw (civil rights advocate and a scholar of critical race theory) alongside the embracing of LGBTQ+ rights and sex and body positivity. Feminism started to permeate pop culture as certain ideas like a universal female experience began to become more rejected by this feminist movement.

The Fourth Wave (2012-current) has taken wing through the popularity of social media, which mobilized and raised awareness for topics such as violence toward women and gender justice. In 2017, the #MeToo movement, founded by Tarana Burke, started a large protest toward sexual assault and harassment, while advocacy rose for consent education, trans rights, and non-binary inclusion.

Feminism in Politics. One of Fillinger’s motivations for writing the play came from how women were spoken of in political spheres, specifically mentioning Donald Trump’s “pussy-grabbing tape” upon his selection as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate. Second Wave feminist Carol Hanish’s slogan “the personal is political” has additionally been a primary focus in political feminist ideology. Many with a feminist ideology hence agreed on a call to politicize the private sphere in addition to the public sphere, especially as the previous legal victories didn’t guard against what would happen in private (like domestic violence or workplace inequality). There is also a call to attention in political philosophy claiming that the current political theories largely don’t include a female perspective due to the majority male presence in politics and the social state in which the United States government was built, one that prioritized men. From this came a modern Feminist Political Theory, which overall aims to reconstruct and understand conventional political theory, critique current and past political theory, and support political sciences that factor in gender bias to support better statistical conclusions.

Feminism in Farce. There will be more on this in the following section. Farce and comedy on live stages and television were primarily occupied by male performers, often not leaving much room for female opportunity.