Feminism, Birth Control, Disney & More

We are now going to look at the history of the feminist movement and the impact it has had on sexual culture. The etymology of the word femina in the Greek simply means woman. The addition of the suffix –ism means doctrine or theory. So, we could conclude the doctrine or theory of being a woman or a female.

In 1837, the word feminism first appeared in France. Then, in 1851 it became to be defined as the state of being feminine. In 1895, it was recorded and used in English to mean advocacy for woman’s rights.

I would define feminism as the advocacy for social, political, educational, financial, business equality in personal and professional relationships regardless of race, social class, or sexual orientation. Many great and needed improvements have occurred because of the women’s movement. Women, men and children of all races and religions have benefited directly and indirectly from this movement. However, like any movement that starts with good intentions, it can oftentimes create unintended negative effects.

There are always minor and major players and influencers heading in many directions with different names and timelines. This is simply a summary of my research.

We are going to look at a brief overview. These blogs are only to inspire you to do your own research, ask difficult questions, learn new perspectives, and come to your own conclusions.

The women’s suffrage or feminist movement is often thought of occurring in three waves in the modern age. I am remined as we look at the following historical events that women and men have worked together to make these changes in science, medicine, politics, and economics. Men, husbands, fathers, and sons have believed in the women, wives, mothers, and daughters they love for the betterment of both. Neither can thrive without the other.

The First Wave is cited to be from 1848-1940s, which focused on the need for women’s political and education equality, property ownership, work placement, and the right to vote.

Prior to this, from Mary Wollstonecraft from France, published in her work A Vindication of Rights of Woman (1792) wanting the same educational opportunities as men. She later returned to her home country of England. That was 233 years ago!

In 1848, Declaration of Sentiments by Elizabeth Stanton was a key part of the first two-day Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls NY, which listed their 18 grievances and 12 resolutions. We are going to explore a timeline of these significant events.

1792- Vindication of Rights for Women published
1848- Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention
1893- New Zealand gives the women the right to vote
1855- Rubber condoms released
1902- Australia gives women the right to vote
1905- Sigmund Freud 3 Essays on the Theory of Sexuality
1906- Finland gives women the right to vote
1911- Nester Film Company est. First Hollywood film studio

The fist “sexual revolution’ was believed to occur due to the works and writings of Sigmund Freud in 1905-1933. Margaret Sanger promoted women’s contraception, founded Planned Parenthood (1916); supported woman’s sexual freedom of white women but then believed in and supported forced sterilization for black women deemed “unfit” even without patient consent of tens of thousands against their will.

1913- American Churches agree to and gain Nonprofit tax benefits from US Government known as the Revenue Act
1916- Planned Parenthood founded
1918- The United Kingdom gives women 30 and older the right to vote
1914-1918 WWI occurred and women played a significant role in the allies victory at home with an estimated 8 million volunteering with the Red Cross, and over 35,000 active duty in the military as nurses, translators, clerks, mechanics etc.
1920- The United States passed the 19^th Amendment gives women the right to vote
1920- Rise of the “flapper” young women who challenged traditional clothing and behaviors
1920- Latex condoms released
1923- October; Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio founded
1926- Disney renamed Walt Disney Studios
1928-1929 Discovery and release of Penicillin by Sir Alexander Flemming
1929- US Government requires a “marriage license” to get legally married becoming financially contractual within the state you marry.
1932-1972 US Government studied and withheld penicillin from over 600 infected poor black men the treatment for syphilis aka The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
1939- Radio Corporation of America (RCA) Demonstration at NYC World’s Fair
1939-1945 WWII it was estimated 350,000 women served the US armed forces, an estimated 19 million served in the US work force at home, 6 million took factory jobs directly related to the war supply efforts, 3 million volunteered for the Red Cross
1946- Bikini Atoll unveiled by Louis Read in Paris public pool
1946-1950 Television sets jump from 6 million to 50 million homes in US

The Second Wave dated from 1948-1980s by historians is jam packed with changes most recognized for the silent or second “sexual revolution,” not only for women but for men as well. The focus of the second movement continued the scope of the first. Feminist sought equal pay, better access to education, jobs, reproductive rights like birth control, abortion and protection against domestic violence and sexual harassment. Significant events occurred at this time are not limited to the following:

1948- The Kinsey reports published The Sexual Behavior of the Humane Male
1949- The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir analyzed the historical and social constructions of women
1950’s- Use and “release” of LSD by US Government CIA and MK Ultra projects into the public hospitals and prisons
1953- Playboy publication launched by Hughe Hefner featuring Maylyn Monroe
1953- The Kinsey reports published The Sexual Behavior of the Humane Female
1955- Rosa Parks’ defiance of segregated buses
1956- Coast-to-Coast TV Broadcasting
1956- Elvis appears on the Ed Sullivan Show
1959- Lycra Spandex Leggings released by DuPont
1960- Progression of “Mini skirts”
1960- Explosion of the Color TV
1960- FDA allowed to prescribe Enovid aka “The Pill” and oral contraception
- Why Birth Control Affects More than your Ovaries: https://drbrighten.com/can-birth-control-affect-who-youre-attracted-to/#:~:text=As%20Dr.,a%20different%20type%20of%20partner
1963- Equal Pay Act
1963- Legalized Abortion
1963- The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan was a voice for the widespread dissatisfaction of suburban housewives. She is best known for encouraging women’s independence to put their career and independence first; motherhood later in life and second. You can have both.
1963- September first black students enter Alabama Public School System
1963- November John F Kennedy “assignation”
1964- The Civil Rights Act passed
1965- Supreme Court ruling Griswold vs. Connecticut gave rights to married couples to use contraception
1965- “Make Love, Not War” movement
1965-1973 US Military Involvement in Vietnam War
1965- Penthouse porn magazine released in United Kingdom.
1968- April 4^th Marin Luther King shot and killed
1969- July 20^th Tel-A-Vision US “Moon Landing” and landline “phone call” to “astronauts”
1969- Woodstock event in Bethel NY; Jimmie Hendrix Star Spangled Banner
1969- No Fault Divorce passed by California Legislation and signed by Ronald Regan.
- The Shocking Pattern of Divorce: https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2025/04/06/research-reveals-a-shocking-divorce-pattern-among-middle-aged-adults/

1969- ARPANET US Department of Defense development of decentralized computer
1972- Supreme Court Eisenstadt vs. Baird contraception rights given to single people
1973- Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling establishing a woman’s right to abortion
- It is estimated that over 63 million legal abortions have occurred in the US alone since 1973. Globally, it is estimated that since 1980 3 billion abortions have occurred.
1974- Hustler porn magazine released in United States
1974- Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ACOA) gives women access to personal and business loans or credit without the signature of a man for the first time
1978- November; Jonestown Massacre in Guyana “don’t drink the Kool-Aid” was birthed
1978- The “Feminist Sex Wars” Feminism has never officially declared war on men. However, it was this time period when there was deep division within the movement and debates around pornography, sexuality, power, dislike toward men, and the future of the movement.
1979- Women’s university enrollment exceeds men’s enrollment for the first time in US and continues to widen
1981- Ain’t I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism by Bell Hooks addressed the oppression and sexism of black women
1982- You can have it all: Love, Success, Sex, Money… by Helen Hurley Brown
1983-TCP/IP Establishment of the Internet
1985- October Breast Cancer Awareness Month launched
1986-NSFNET National Science Foundation connects University Supercomputer Centers. becoming the primary backbone of the internet

The Third Wave 1990-2010s is by far the most fragmented with subgroups and restructuring. They continue to challenge gender roles, wanting equal rights, while promoting individualism and self-expression. They struggle with their cohesive definition of what a woman is even in opposition to the views of the second wave and its predecessors, wanting to be more inclusive of all who identify as women, recognizing how race, class, sexuality, and other factors intersect to shape their experiences (intersectionality).

1990- Estimated over 60% of women in the US workforce; majority of homes are two income families
1991- Release of the world wide web
1992- Ms. Magazine Article Becoming the Third Wave by Rebecca Walker after the Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill Hearings
1992- Pink Ribbon Campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness
1993- First generation female condom released
1993- First “User Friendly” browser
1995- The explosion of blogs and ability to self-publish and express
1995- Match.com launched
1995- Craig’s List launched
1997- President Bill Clintons apology US Public for The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
1998- The first Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) aka Sex Expo was held in Las Vegas NV
2000- Release of RU486 “the morning after pill”
2000- United Nations adopted Palermo Protocol an International Agreement to recognize and address all forms of human, sex trafficking, forced labor, and coercion.
2004- February, “TheFacebook” was launched
2003- MySpace platform launched
2005- Youtube platform launched
2006- Twitter app launched
2007- June, first i-Phone released
2009- Grindr dating app launched

The Fourth Wave of feminism is believed to have started in 2010. Intersectionality is now the focus on the oppression based of race, class, gender, roles, sexuality like LGBTQ+ and disabilities. With the new technology, “hashtag” activism spreads messages quickly such as #MeToo and #YesAllWomen to address rape culture and sexual harassment on a larger scale.

2010- Public disclosure by US Government of Guatemala syphilis experiment conducted from 1946-1948
2010- Instagram launched
2010- Disney Prince Brand launched
- Marketing Feminism in Youth Media: A Study of Disney and Pixar Animation:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681320300689
2010- Study shows shift from the 1950s with Hollywood portrayal of men, fathers, and husbands being confident and wise leaders to now bumbling, incompetent, emotionally unavailable, and dumb, having to be tolerated by their female partners compared to women and mothers being portrayed as “hyper-competent,” nurturing, emotionally available, and assertive
2010- United Kingdom first female Prime Minister, Margret Thatcher, as conservative voice of female success in a male dominated field of work while rejecting traditional feminist values
2010- “Roxxxy” the first sex robot prototype released
2011- Rollo Tomassi defines female hypergamy and how feminine exclusive birth control form the 1960s gave women feminine primacy and total locus of control. The female imperative became the normalized imperative. The male imperative became silenced and shamed in fist world nations. Due to this, the fem-centric or gyno-centrism reality became what we know and is accepted today.
2011- SnapChat launched
2011- The Flipside of Feminism by Susan Vemker a conservative, and Phyllis Schlafly explore how feminism is out of sync with a woman’s natural and biological nature and desires. Illustrates how feminism has created a war between the sexes.
2012- Why Woman Still Can’t Have it All article by Anne-Marie Slaughter
2012- Tinder dating app launched
2014- The Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay explores the definition of feminism today
2014- Bumble dating app launched
2016- Tik Tok Released
2016- November; OnlyFans launched
2017- Explosion of the “Me Too” movement by Tarana Park but founded in 2006
2018- “Harmony” first AI-enabled sex robot launched by Abyss Creations
2020- March, Global shut down COVID-19 Pandemic
2022- Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health overturning the legalization of abortion in Roe vs. Wade 1973
- Since this ruling, the total number of abortions in the US has NOT slowed down but has slightly increased.
2024- Micro Plastics Study and the Negative impact on reproductive organs and sex drive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG32V_qm4yQ
2025- Make Him a Sandwich by Candace Owens addressed toxic feminism and the #MeToo movement. Also, author of Black Out released in 2020 addressing how the Democratic Party has exploited blacks.
2025- Camille Paglia self-proclaimed feminist criticizes feminism and the devaluation of two biological genders. Women now have the access to do and work how men work but are more unhappy than ever. Women have lost the tradition of connecting and being around other women of multigeneration. She challenges women to stop blaming men and take responsibility for their actions and choices. Do women need the connection and community with other women? Did traditional cultures understand things that we have lost or forgotten? View Camille Paglia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDX-MFntcAM

A Journey of Cycles

In our journey of these historical events, I hope you have learned some things. I know I have a much better inner-standing of feminism, technology, medical advancements, politics, and the sexes. Women would not have been successful without men. Men would not be successful without women. More unity and less division would be wise.

What events are missing? What would you add? What events have shaped your perspective in your life, family, friends, community, nation? Have modern women now become entitled with such high expectations that are no longer sustainable? Do women need men if they have the same access to money as men do? What are the positives and negatives feminism has brought to the sexual marketplace for men and women?

Some believe feminism did not start 233 years ago. Some believe it started as far back as Plato which is 2,451 years ago (approx. 428-347 BCE), as his writings supported women having “natural capacities” on one hand, yet on the other he supported limitations and restrictions to their education, inheritance, and ownership of property.

Finally, I have learned there is always more to learn. Dig deeper, and we can go before the book of Genesis, the Talmud, the Zohar, Epic of Gilgamesh, even a small reference in the book of Isaiah as well as others reference the first forgotten women Lilith. Lilith is often demonized, even intentionally erased, yet believed to be the first wife of Adam. Myth, legend, writings, and oral tradition indicate her unwillingness to be “under Adam’s authority” due to her superior powers, abilities, and knowledge. But that is a blog for another time.

There is really nothing new under the sun. Events of history continue to recur in cycles over and over, balancing each other out much like waves in the ocean crashing upon the rocks of the shore then returning to the sea. There are periods of time when the ocean is calm; and other times, it is raging and violent. Neither is “good” or “bad” but a dance of push and pull/ All are a part of the experience and memory of the ocean. All moments serving the purpose of lessons to be learned.

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Cory Schortzman Executive Director

Cory Schortzman is an author, speaker, teacher and licensed mental health professional. Since 2008, he has served as the Executive Director of Transformed Hearts Counseling Center in Colorado Springs, CO. He is the founder of SARA, the Sexual Addiction Recovery Association. Cory is passionate about helping couples and individuals overcome sex addiction. He is also passionate about bringing awareness to the public and supporting the elimination of sex and human trafficking. Cory has been married since 1998 to his beautiful wife, Kerry, and lives in Colorado with their four daughters. He and Kerry have been seen on the CBS Early Show, Inside Edition, and ABC Good Morning America, Fox 21 News, and TLC/Discovery discussing the harm of sex addiction and the joys of recovery. He has also been heard on numerous radio programs.

Cory’s books include: Out of the Darkness, Into the Light the Workbook, Into the Light the Steps, Ashes to Beauty the Steps, 301 Dating Ideas, 301 Conversational Ideas, 301 Ways to Say I Love You, 301 Ways to Love Your Children & 301 Recovery Tools & Tips.