14.2.4 The Fourth Wave: The Local is Global

The fourth wave explores feminism in the context of the digital revolution. While some authors (see Price in Wetherly, 2017, p. 270) suggest that the current era could be better seen as an extension of the third wave into the virtual world, the online world has empowered previously marginalized voices and renewed attention to and provided new insights into the collective experiences of women.

Fourth wave feminists are perhaps the most powerful promoters of feminism globally. If the second wave could be identified with slogans like “the personal is political,” then perhaps the fourth wave should be seen as the movement that globalized the local – “the local is global” would be a fitting slogan – reinforcing the universality of women’s struggles in particular conditions and contexts. Fourth wave feminists appear to be learning through their own experiences what the previous waves had theorized but struggled to practice (such as intersectionality and body positivity). The virtual environment enables unprecedented levels of contact and dialogue between various feminist views and theoretical perspectives. Also, social media provides a powerful tool, not just for sharing diverse experiences, but for creating awareness and mobilizing for protest and action.