Designing the SocialDesigning the Social

How to map a movement? Was there one feminist movement, or many? Were some in dialogue and others not? Was there really a 'second wave'? And what legacies did they build on?

Other social movements, such as antifascism, the squatters' movement, the leftist students' movements across Europe, and transnational solidarities against political oppression, apartheid and racism informed feminist efforts for change. A movement isn't linear. There were many strategies deployed in the 1970s and 80s by countless groups in the Netherlands, to stand up for their rights as women, but also as non-binary and queer people, and trans men and women. Some left a trace, others didn't.

Mapping a feminist landscape can never be complete, but this room aims to show especially how Dutch feminist initiatives informed and reimagined design disciplines such as architecture and (graphic) design, as well as pre-digital network building.

What we today call intersectional feminism, makes use of a term coined by the American professor of law Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, to indicate that experiences are formed by multiple, intersecting parts of every person's identity. In the Dutch context, intersectionality can also be referred to as 'kruispuntdenken' (crossroads thinking), introduced as a term by Gloria Wekker, Maayke Botman and Nancy Jouwe in their book Caleidoscopische Visies (2001). Both terms use 'the map' as a metaphor to illustrate the non-linear and interwoven dimensions of difference (between people), and how they relate to various forms of discrimination.

Even without the term 'intersectionality' being used, the notion of intersecting and parting realities was discussed by Dutch second wave feminists, who recognised the shortcomings of assuming all women shared a common ground based on their oppression. Some feminists experienced or understood the multiple systemic forces that shape a (woman's) biography, such as race, migration, sexuality, health, wealth and education. Their lived experiences taught them that the fight against patriarchal politics and institutions, as well as everyday (micro)aggressions, would always have to be connected to opposing other forms of oppression.