Just what makes up third wave feminism? It is a movement that seeks to get away from what it considers “essentialist” feminism that was the hallmark of the so-called second wave of feminism. The third wave does not believe in the concept of a universal female identity, but rather seeks to show that there are many types of women in this world. It feels that second wave feminism focused to greatly on the needs of upper-class white women and assumed that the needs of these women were the same as the needs of all women, which is of course completely and totally incorrect.

In this, third wave feminism often focuses on smaller, individualized problems rather than great, sweeping universal concepts (such as women’s suffrage). Among major issues of this third wave of feminism is the concept of queer rights, reproductive rights, and the issues of language.

There are many terms used derogatorily towards women, which are specific to their gender. It is the view of the third wave feminist that these words should be reclaimed by women. Rather than discouraging their use and keeping the derogatory meanings in place, they seek to take over these words and turn them into positives that no longer have negative connotations.

The right to have an abortion is one of the major issues of third wave feminism. They see a woman’s right to control over her own body as one of the most essential rights that a woman has. Thus, by seeking to restrain abortions, the government is seeking to take away this basic human right: the right of a woman to decide what happens with her own body.

Third wave feminism also seeks to establish meet the challenges faced by women of all ages, races and creeds not only in the United States but throughout the world. While the feminist movement has made some important strides in America, there is still more work that needs to be done and there are many women throughout the world who do not even have the same rights that women in America have: third wave feminism is very aware of this fact.

The genesis of this new movement in the feminist world comes from 1991. Although some of the important precursors to the movement had already been set in place during the 1980’s, the official naming of the movement came in an article from feminist Rebecca Walker. After the Anita Hill scandal, in which Clarence Thomas was accused of sexually harassing the woman when she worked for him, and the fact that this did not keep Thomas from gaining admittance to the Supreme Court, Walker declared herself part of the “third wave” of feminism. Her point was that there was no such thing as “post-feminism,” because the issues that confronted women, such as sexual harassment, were still as real as ever and still needed to be confronted head on.

In short, the basic principle of third wave feminism is the complete liberation of women. There enemies are any who might oppress women, for whatever reason or under any method. Free women who have all the basic human rights that any person should have: this is what the third wave feminist wants to see.