HOW POP CULTURE EMBRACED THE F WORD
"The modern self-labeled feminist is binge-watching Orange Is the New Black while courts continue to lock away women who were simply defending themselves against an abuser."
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- Andi Zeisler in 'We Were Feminists Once'
Saturday, November 5th 2016
‘Feminism’: the buzz word of the last few years which began its reign on the timelines and Twitter headers of pop culture in 2014. A word once synonymous with negative connotations of man-hating, the F word has now been granted entry to the hallowed halls of pop culture fame.
There has never been a better time for women in pop culture than there is right now, with Theresa May occupying 10 Downing Street and Hillary Clinton days away from potentially becoming the first female US President, girls may just be about to rule the world (shoutout to Beyonce). But these aren’t the figures young women are idolising or posting pictures of captioned ‘Queen’ onto Instagram. That space is occupied by the Beyoncés, the Rihannas and the Kardashians of the world.
Most recently, we have seen Lina Esco’s ‘Free the Nipple’ movement blow up, with support from the likes of Miley Cyrus, Kendall Jenner, Naomi Campbell and even Orange is the New Black star Matt McGorry to the tune of millions of Instagram likes. Topless protests have taken place from LA to Brighton beach as women have dared to bare parts of their bodies which Instagram would like to pretend don’t exist.
The real turning point was Beyoncé’s performance at the 2014 VMAs, when 8.3 million people tuned in to see their Queen B standing in front of a backdrop of words taken from Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk, We Should All Be Feminists. One hundred foot-high pink letters spelled out the word ‘feminist’ in block capitals as Beyoncé sung ‘Flawless’, and an academic movement was borne into the mainstream. When Adichie gave her talk in London in April 2013, it was heard by a small group of African thinkers and academics. In 2014, the same words were brought to an audience of millions thanks to Beyoncé’s performance and went on to wallpaper Facebook and Twitter profiles across the world. This is one step further than the ‘girl power’ of Destiny’s Child and the Spice Girls; this is saying a little more. It’s not, ‘girls stick together to stand up to men’ this is ‘women stand up and fight for equality’.
Andi Zeisler, author of We Were Feminists Once however prefers to call this ‘marketplace feminism’. The modern self-labeled feminist, Zeisler argues, is binge-watching Orange Is the New Black while courts continue to lock away women who were simply defending themselves against an abuser. Her book club read Girlboss, but she has no idea that domestic workers are organising for better legal protections in her own state.
Whilst many pop culture ‘feminists’ may not fit the bill of a traditional feminist or be out on the streets protesting for justice and equality, they may just be opening a gateway to widespread conversation that leads to something more substantial. If this is the way to plant the seeds of empowered equality in the minds of millions of young women, who are we to complain?
“It’s not my revolution if I can’t dance to it” said Emma Goldman; a phrase which rings true literally (music wise) and figuratively - if we weave feminist values into much-loved sources we instil them into the hearts of millions, rather than the select few hardcore supporters who live and breathe activism. Sure, we want all women to stand up and fight for equality, but not every woman is willing or able to do so; perhaps this new breed of watered-down feminism which keeps the access bar quite low is the answer to begin the moulding of young minds. Or as Ann Friedman succinctly puts it, “get people dancing, and it’s possible to pull them into harder, more meaningful activist work.”
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Read the post-US election response piece here
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This article was written for FEMMEHOOD magazine, view the full publication here
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'Do you think pop culture provides young women with authentic feminist icons?'
REBECCA: ​"It’s an impossible conversation. I believe it goes against all my understanding of what feminism is to judge another woman on her choices. Feminism does not condemn all women to behave a certain way, I think it allows them to be whoever they want and I would hate to pass judgement on whether anyone in the limelight was unauthentic. All I will say is that we are the ones who choose our own icons and I don’t care who yours are as long as your reason for idolisation is based on more than purely physical appearance."
COURTNEY: "YES YES!! I think there’s so many out there, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Rita Ora; all women who are powerful and in my opinion, independent women. I just think young girls need role models which allow them to think, ‘yes I can grow up and be a fabulous independent woman!’ I mean Destiny’s Child - ‘Independent Woman’ (no more needs to be said)."
NUALA: "Mmm yes and no – you still get a lot of people refusing to use the ‘feminist’ title, even though they fully stand for gender equality. Then you also have big names like Lena Dunham, Emma Watson, Taylor Swift etc. coming out as being feminists on the media but also doing problematic things. Grimes, Brook Candy, Adwoa Aboah, Clio Peppiat, Ione Gamble are all famous people who have been feminist influencers for me. I think that Instagram & social media culture plays a huge part in it too because most of the people who truly inspire me are my feminist friends, and feminist peers who I’ve connected with through social media. Who would you class as ‘the modern suffragettes’? Activists of today like the people who run ‘Free the Nipple’, ‘The Homeless Period’ (I’m involved in the Belfast branch of this!), and the ‘Everyday Sexism’ campaign. People who are shouting about tampon tax, abortion rights, genital mutilation, the gender pay gap, sexual harassment…the list goes on."
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ANNA:​ "Yes. There’s so many powerful female pop stars, not just at the moment, but from all time. Madonna, Tina Turner, Lady Gaga, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Beyoncé, Kate Bush, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Joni Mitchell... Too many to count!"
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