Hashtag Activism and Recap of #MHPTwitter Chat
This post originally appeared on April 12, 2014 written by Tara L. Conley.
This post originally appeared on April 12, 2014 written by Tara L. Conley.
Check out our latest Storify on hashtag activism featuring #MHPTwitter. For more on this conversation, follow us at @hashtagfeminism!
#GirlsCan Accomplish Their Goals Without Makeup
This post originally appeared on March 17, 2014 written by Gretchen Edwards-Bodmer.
This post originally appeared on March 17, 2014 written by Gretchen Edwards-Bodmer.
Have you seen the new Cover Girl ad featuring celebrities like Ellen Degeneres, Pink, Katie Perry, Queen Latifah, Sofia Vagara, Janelle Monet, Becky G, and female hockey player Natalie Wiebe telling us that #GirlsCan do anything? How awesome it is that advertisers are using feminist rhetoric in their ads! Or is it?
Does this feel a little like Virginia Slim’s “We’ve come a long way baby” advertisement of the 70’s, during the height of the second wave women’s liberation movement? That slogan served to signify to women that they had accomplished all they needed to and they should just sit back, relax and enjoy a cigarette. Unlike the Virginia Slims ad, Cover Girl’s message serves to encourage girls to move forward, not sit on their laurels. So, in that sense, we have come a long way, but don’t call me baby.
Granted, there are some really powerful statements and inspirations in Cover Girls’ ad. For example, Ellen Degeneres points out that when someone says a girl can’t do something, “sometimes you hear it, but more often you feel it”. This is very true. You feel it at your core when others say you can’t accomplish something worthwhile. I love Ellen because I think she uses her fame to help those who have faced hardship, while calling out sexism and homophobia, and even inspiring us to be good to each other. However, I was a little disappointed when she became a Cover Girl. I’m disappointed more in the system, not her personally. More on that later.
MT @COVERGIRL: @Upworthy joins #GirlsCan http://t.co/LEzcVJWq0w — tell a girl she "can't" & discover a girl who "will" #AdsWeLike
— Upworthy (@Upworthy) March 12, 2014
Queen Latifah tells us about time she was told girls can’t rap. She used that negatively to fuel her passion for music. Latifah not only became a famous rapper, but now owns her own business and produces and hosts her own daytime TV show.
Natalie Wiebe, an elite level women’s tournament roller and ice hockey player, as well as an elite level mens’ league ice hockey player, was told that girls can’t check. She sure proved them wrong!
Yes…it's an ad. But the message speaks our language and the execution is fantastic. #GirlsCan http://t.co/xB4NPE8jxT
— UniteWomen.org (@UniteWomenOrg) March 11, 2014
I would definitely share this video with all the women in my life. It’s an awesome message to follow your dreams, no matter what anyone else says. However, the fact that their selling makeup, even with its wonderful women’s empowerment message is problematic for me. Girls are taught from a very young age that they need makeup to look beautiful. But all of these awesome women who have accomplished so much in their lives have done so without makeup. I wonder if Natalie Wiebe needs makeup to kick butt on the hockey field?
The beauty industry makes billions of dollars off of our low self-esteem that, mind you, they help to cultivate. The usual message in makeup ads is that we’re flawed and need to be corrected, and that we can be beautiful if we just buy their products. They beat us down just to build us up with a false sense of self so they can make a buck. Dove started a trend of using women’s empowerment to sell their products and now Cover Girl wants to do the same. They’re co-opting language used by feminists to empower women to make their money.
it's smart business for beauty companies to use their influence to empower girls/women-big emotional buy @ProcterGamble @COVERGIRL #GirlsCan
— MichaelaAngela Davis (@MichaelaAngelaD) March 4, 2014
Have you ever heard of “Girls Can’t What?” That’s an online business of gifts and tees showing examples of girls doing a variety of non-traditional jobs and activities that was started after its owner was told girls can’t do web design. I’m not saying that Cover Girl intentionally ripped off “Girls Can’t What?” or that they even knew it existed. However, I’m starting to see a pattern with marketers.
Remember those Special K commercials that showed women stepping on to a scale that told them they were “awesome” instead of telling them how much they weighed? That was totally ripped off of a feminist artist who made “Yay Scales”. More on that here. That wasn’t all Special K has done to co-opt women’s empowerment rhetoric around healthy body image to sell their weight loss products. Here’s yet another example.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather marketers use empowering language than the usual rhetoric that tells girls and women we’re not good enough. I’m just exhausted from trying to undo all the damage that has been done by the media at the expense of girls’ self-esteem. But I march on.
Corporate media’s goal is still to sell makeup and keep our focus on making sure we’re “beautiful” while checking a hockey player, rapping, dancing, singing our asses off, and while telling hilarious jokes. Can’t we just be awesome and do the things that make us happy without taking the time out of our day to put on lipstick all while shoving out cash, of which only serves to oppress women? Yes, I said oppress. I’m sure my friend who loves to wear makeup is cringing right now, so let me explain further.
Omg I'm so stupid! Duh "be courageous" is the way to get over gender oppression! http://t.co/5YpxYM2Hri #girlscan
— Suey Park (@suey_park) February 27, 2014
@suey_park because a company that makes billions of dollars off of women's insecurities is exactly who I look to for help with empowerment
— Anne Thériault (@anne_theriault) February 27, 2014
Recently I put on a “Go Natural Day” event encouraging girls and women to go a day without makeup and get their picture taken. I made sure that they knew I was/am not wagging my finger at women who wear makeup everyday but at the oppressive system that tells us we need makeup to be valued in public. If you want to participate in an event like this of your own, I encourage you to use the #NoMakeupMonday hashtag and post a selfie on Twitter! I know some makeup can be used as a form of expression and I think that’s great. I just want women to feel respected, valuable, and empowered to pursue their dreams without that nagging thought that they better put their “face” on before going out into the world. Can you imagine if the same messages about beauty standard were marketed to men?
My goal here is to ask you to think critically about the messages and products that you are consuming before handing over your money in efforts to boost your self esteem with bottles of foundation, blush, eye shadow, mascara and the various other “beauty” products on the market. Cover Girl tells us to “make the world a little more easy, breezy and beautiful”, but I say make it a little more supportive, empowering and equal, and for goodness sake make it less about women’s appearance and more about their character, accomplishments and contributions to our world.
Critiquing Feminism: A Response to #IDontNeedFeminism
This post originally appeared on March 10, 2014 written by Kelly Ehrenreich.
This post originally appeared on March 10, 2014 written by Kelly Ehrenreich.
On Saturday, March 1st, the first day of Women’s History Month, #IDontNeedFeminism trended. It wasn’t the first time this HT appeared on Twitter, and certainly not the only time women have expressed the sentiment. But this time it got to me. I found myself going down the rabbit hole, getting more frustrated by the second as I read tweets mostly by young, Christian, Republican, heterosexual, white women (based on Twitter bios), spouting misconceptions about Feminism and why they were above the concept.
The most recent #IDontNeedFeminism trend started with @repubsunited. The vocal tweeter commented about her disapproval of Feminists, and tweeted a picture of reasons she doesn’t need Feminism:
Apparently it's sexist to advocate for women to work hard for what they want, make no excuses, and accept no leg-ups. Whoops.
— Repubs (@repubsunited) March 1, 2014
— Repubs (@repubsunited) March 1, 2014
@feministlady if you followed any more than one tweet you'd know I advocate for feminism globally, just where women are actually oppressed.
— Repubs (@repubsunited) March 1, 2014
From a former feminist. #IDontNeedFeminism pic.twitter.com/nWQcyMTiVf
— Repubs (@repubsunited) March 1, 2014
I scrolled through @repubsunited and other’s tweets that ranged from slightly silly to willfully ignorant, to outright hateful and mean-spirited, but I didn’t respond to any of them. I make it a practice not to engage with people I disagree with on Twitter because I know it will never make a difference or change someone’s mind. It seems more difficult these days to attempt to make a coherent argument in less than 140 characters without coming across like an attack. That said, however, many from the online Feminist community reclaimed the HT with tongue-in-cheek#IDontNeedFeminism tweets:
Welp. So, #IDontNeedFeminism HT is quite a good portrayal of delusional privileged people shining their ignorance so brightly & loudly.
— Arnesa (@_arnesa_) March 2, 2014
#IDontNeedFeminism because let's face it, if we all just pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps the wage gap would magically disappear
— Sarah Jones (@onesarahjones) March 2, 2014
I know those who proudly tweet about defying Feminism are unlikely to be swayed by either reason or emotion, but I still couldn’t resist wanting to address these folks. Ultimately, there is one thing I would like to say to everyone who tweeted #IDontNeedFeminism: It is not about you.
FEMINISM. IS. NOT. ABOUT. YOU.
Don’t get it twisted, I don’t mean to imply that “If you don’t want to play by my rules, then I’m going home and taking my beloved feminist Barbies with me.” No. I mean literally, Feminism is not about you or me. Feminism is a movement made up of individuals. It’s about the collection of people; about how all of us fit together and form society. It’s about the mosaic, not the individual tiles.
Based on their tweets, it would seem that the #IDontNeedFeminism crowd doesn’t seem to grasp the fundamental idea that feminism is about concern for all people, not just a myopic few:
@repubsunited #IDontNeedFeminism pic.twitter.com/rCbwpojA5P
— Right Wing Girl (@rightwinggirl08) March 2, 2014
#IDontNeedFeminism because my parents raised me to work for what I want. I shouldn't be entitled to anything just because I'm a women.
— Some Southern Girl (@SouthrnBelle302) March 1, 2014
Granted, folks claim Feminism based on their individual experiences. This idea ought not be confused with the premise that people choose to align with Feminism because they want to gain something for themselves. A Feminist wouldn’t cease being a Feminist if, for example, (s)he were to advocate against rape and gendered violence even though s/he didn’t experience any abuse. A Feminist wouldn’t say “I haven’t been attacked so *brushes hands* I’m good!” Furthermore, a Feminist who advocates for pay equity, and fortunately receives fair pay doesn’t say that the work for gender-based income equality is complete simply because she gets a nice pay check.
#IDontNeedFeminism because I think like a man and beat them at their own game.
— Melissa Pawlak (@MelissaPawlak) March 1, 2014
Feminism is fine and all but honestly if you really think the world is going to be fair, you're sadly out of luck.
— Melissa Pawlak (@MelissaPawlak) March 1, 2014
And look if you let people get in your way of doing things you're a weak person.
— Melissa Pawlak (@MelissaPawlak) March 1, 2014
Alright I think I'm done, #IDontNeedFeminism because I'd rather live in the real world than a fairy tale.
— Melissa Pawlak (@MelissaPawlak) March 1, 2014
Feminism is a complex idea, and although online activism has helped our movement, allowing more Feminist voices to weigh in (which we celebrate here at Hashtag Feminism) doesn’t mean that all Feminists do is complain. It may be difficult for some to understand that when Feminists critique the pay gap, or the lack of women and people of color represented in the media and politics, or other socio-cultural problems, we are not asking people to hand us a check, a job, or a Senate seat. We are asking of others and of each other to be more critical of the status quo.
We point out these things to encourage everyone to take a second look and consider the implications of not having diverse perspectives in workplaces, government, and society at large.
Moving Beyond #IDontNeedFeminism
Quite unlike the perception of those who tweet #IDontNeedFeminism, our online activism is doing work, exchanging ideas, asking questions, and opening minds. Most of all, Feminism strives to teach compassion, which all of the #IDontNeedFeminism tweets sorely misunderstand.
On Saturday, the NY Times wrote a piece on the “compassion gap” which nicely addresses these problems. Yet some may claim Feminism has a compassion issue.
I argue that Feminism isn’t about anger, judgment, and certainly not about taking away freedom or choice. To the women who say they do not need Feminism because they are happy to stay home and take care of their husband and children, I say two things:
Brava! Feminism wants women to have the freedom to choose, even if other Feminists wouldn’t make the same choice for herself (or himself).
I question why you so aggressively denounce Feminism. If you feel that you have been judged or attacked by Feminists because of your choices, I apologize on behalf of my cohort. We’re certainly not perfect.
On the other hand, if in some way you are projecting guilt or fear at the possibility of women making choices for themselves and not on your behalf, then I would ask that you to be more open-minded and empathetic.
In the vein of open-mindedness, I considered the most useful tweet I found in the#IDontNeedFeminism discussion:
#IDontNeedFeminism is a time to learn the misconceptions people have about feminism. Never belittle for you can always learn. #NotesToSelf
— Zaid Shahid. (@Tigershah26) March 2, 2014
Exactly.
Instead of letting exasperation win, and calling out the privilege or ignorance of these tweets, @Tigershah26 suggests that we learn from them. Taking another look at the #IDontNeedFeminismtweets, there are some helpful cues about how we can improve our online Feminist community. Ironically #IDontNeedFeminism mostly rejects behavior Feminist themselves abhor: hostility, hypocrisy, and exclusion.
For the most part, @repubsunited and others are critiquing behavior like saying someone should be raped, claiming that a man cannot be abused by a woman, or judging a woman’s choice about how we have a family. The problem may take some time to correct, but the proliferation of the online Feminist community may help to work out some of these misconceptions that Feminism is not a welcoming space for Republicans, Christians, heterosexual women who choose to stay home with their children, etc.
So, when you tweet #IDontNeedFeminism, you are rejecting these methods: calling out double-standards only when it benefits you, and rejecting others’ experiences. Congratulations, you may be a Feminist! Because, in this sense, I agree with the #IDontNeedFeminism crowd. I don’t need that kind of Feminism or those kind of Feminists, either.
Not Funny #LaughingAtGirls
This post originally appeared on March 3, 2014 written by Mara Dauphin. This was Mara’s first for Hashtag Feminism.
This post originally appeared on March 3, 2014 written by Mara Dauphin. This was Mara’s first for Hashtag Feminism.
On Thursday, February 20, Michelle Obama appeared on The Tonight Show as part of a longstanding media campaign to support healthy lifestyles for children and teens. The didactic sketch into which she was inserted was “Ew!”, a recurring skit that originated on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. In its new iteration on The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon and comic actor Will Ferrell present as teenage girls Sara and Stacey whose response to everything (except a Harry Styles poster) is “Ew!”
What struck me most about this sketch was that it seemed devoid of an actual joke. The sketch’s main source of humor, at least according to the laugh track, could be explained by the portrayal of extreme feminine vapidity and by its embodiment in grown men. Ultimately, the joke here is that girls are idiots. That’s it. That’s the joke.
Forget, for a minute, the problems inherent in marketing a campaign for teenagers to make “healthy eating choices” through a representation of female shallowness and cattiness. How have we allowed teenage girls to become the last socially acceptable target of misogynistic humor? When we encourage representations of vacuous girlhood, we do more than promote actual vacuity; we’re perpetuating anti-woman humor, which shapes real-life interactions between girls and society, and using ageism to cover it up, saying “it’s not sexist; it’s about how silly teenagers are!” In fact, however, the perception of youth “silliness,” or the types of silliness available to youth is inextricably tied to gender.
The male embodiment of the ridiculous straw-girls Sara and Stacey serves to complicate the matter even further. Eric Shorey, frequent contributor at New Now Next, LogoTV’s gay-male-focused media news site, headlines his brief article on the sketch as “Jimmy Fallon and Will Ferrell in Drag” and refers to their “best boy-crazed teenaged girl realness.”
What does it mean in this instance for Fallon and Ferrell’s performance to be claimed as drag?
At one level, much as drag performance does, their sketch denaturalizes gender and reveals it to be constructed. This does not mean, however, that all cross-gender performance is radical or queer. As Judith Butler tells us in her 1993 work Bodies That Matter,
“there is no necessary relation between drag and subversion, and that drag may well be used in the service of both the denaturalization and reidealization of hyperbolic heterosexual gender norms.”
While the gay men at New Now Next are celebrating what appears to be a media affirmation of gender construction and fluidity, this “queer” celebration of the sketch at best relies on and at worst actively supports the image of girls and the women they grow into as intellectually bankrupt.
Ultimately, how do we understand drag’s relationships to feminism and to the misogyny of both gay and straight men? Is there a difference between a professional drag queen and a straight male comedian’s representation of a teenage girl? If so, how does the gay community value that difference? Finally, how does femininity detach so easily from female embodiment in the quest for “humor?”
Share your thoughts on Twitter using the #LaughingAtGirls hashtag
It’s Time to #LoveYourSelfie! #F
This post originally appeared on January 23, 2014 written by Gretchen Edwards-Bodmer.
This post originally appeared on January 23, 2014 written by Gretchen Edwards-Bodmer.
If you have a camera phone then you’ve probably taken a selfie. You’ve probably also posted that picture to social media, and your friends and family responded by telling you how awesome and beautiful you are. It’s a wonderful feeling, isn’t is? Unfortunately, we’re not used to receiving positive body image message through mainstream culture. Instead, we’re used to having the “beauty industry” tell us through ads and with Photoshopped models that we’re not good enough, but that we can fit in to their narrow standards of beauty if we just buy their products. They trample on our self-esteem in order to make a buck.
To counter these negative messages, Dove released a short film called “Selfie” that was recently featured on the Today Show. The film interviews girls and their moms about redefining beauty and, as a response, encourages them to take selfies. I was glad that this film spoke to both moms and daughters and that they discussed how sometimes moms unintentionally pass along their insecurities about their beauty to their daughters. It’s hard enough to deal with the negative messages in the media about our bodies, we shouldn’t have to also deal with those messages regurgitated to us by those that we love.
#loveyourselfie I’m my own kind of beautiful! pic.twitter.com/TPk9bbBoOS
— Alisa Vesely (@TheAlisaVesely) January 22, 2014
Dove took the selfies from their participants and hung them in a public gallery. The company invited folks to write what they liked about each others’ pictures on sticky notes, and asked participants to comment about how beautiful the person is (sort of like a live version of Facebook).
#LOVEYOURSELFIE EVEN WHEN THE ONLY POSE YOU CAN THINK OF IS SOMETHING LIKE THIS pic.twitter.com/tRXg5RnChm
— \m/ish (@michelleDeRose) September 26, 2013
This made me think of Operation Beautiful where you leave sticky notes with uplifting messages in public places for random people to find.
#Beauty comes from within, from a warm & caring heart. #orangeroom #loveyourselfie#saynotomakeup #kcco pic.twitter.com/WPLH67sSlj
— probably a Greyjoy (@chivettelo) January 22, 2014
There’s been a lot of debate about whether selfies are a “cry for help” or “tiny bursts of girl pride”. There’s even a #365FeministSelfie challenge, created by veteran blogger Veronica Arreola (@veronicaeye). With all that’s out there about selfie culture, I see selfies as empowering because we are in control of how we want to be seen as opposed to how others want us to be seen.
@TODAYshow #LoveYourSelfie natural beauty all day! pic.twitter.com/tphGOH25qV
— Eva Miller (@EvaMende9) January 22, 2014
To be seen, in and of itself, is empowering right? I hardly ever see anyone with my similar body type in the media, and I know people like me exist because I see them everyday. There’s power in being able to add your picture to the media landscape that purports narrowly defined beauty standards. We now can send a message to the “beauty industry” that they’ve gotten it wrong about what is real and beautiful.
#todayshow today and everyday…loving me! #loveyourselfie pic.twitter.com/wOu8lf1euY
— DIVASTYLE (@DIVASTYLE5) January 22, 2014
That said, however, selfies are more than just about beauty. We don’t have to spend all of our time and money trying to look like the models in the magazine ads. We are so much more than our appearance. We are smart, funny, creative, curious, generous and badass. All of those characteristics and more can be shown through selfies, all while redefining for ourselves the value of beauty.
#loveyourselfie my mom told me.to never care about what people look like I’m 15 and I’ve never touched make up pic.twitter.com/Px7vfM73lU
— Taylor goodwin (@rockingbaby9297) January 22, 2014
I think it’s about that time to #LoveYourSelfie.