Social Constructionism and the Message of Feminism

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Recommended: Gender socialization and stereotypes

In this essay I will define social constructionism and how the theories of social construction altered feminism’s message during its second wave.

The second wave of the feminist movement started during the 1950’s and is thought to have ended with the failure of the equal rights amendment. The amendment was only three votes shy of being ratified. Prior to this era the first wave of feminism seem to focus mainly on suffrage, a women right to vote and own property. During the second wave era, feminist incorporated the theories of social construction in their message. Social construction is the theory based on the idea that things that are present in our society were created by said society. As it relates to the message of second wave feminism, the biological factors of gender, physical traits, genitalia, hormones and the like, do not determine behaviors, gender roles, social status, and male superiority. Our society forms these conventions.

Women during the years before the second wave were being coaxed back into the home. To quote Betty Friedan, “They were taught to pity the...

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