Hello Everyone! For my postcard I chose to depict a lot of images representative of women – fashion, make-up, paper-dolls, and (most importantly) powerful women leaders. What I realized I value a lot in my life is being a woman. It seems simple, but I value all aspects of my femininity. I think it’s really important that the media and female mentors (family members and friends) get the word out that a woman can be both a feminist and feminine. These aren’t two mutually exclusive terms! A woman can wear exactly what she wants and be exactly who she wants to be. Women everywhere should stand-up not to be stereotyped into either one typecast or the other. When I choose to wear high-heels, make-up, and tight clothing, it does not diminish/provoke/affect my intelligence or my dignity. I can be a feminine feminist. I’m just waiting for the media to catch-up.
I agree with you that feminists can be feminine but it becomes a problem when the media latches onto this femininity as the defining trait of any serious woman. Look for example at the Hilary Clinton/ Obama campaign and how that was covered. There was a very strong focus on how Clinton looked, how she dressed, whether she was wearing makeup or not, and this kind of focus was not only placed on Clinton but on Palin and Obama's wife during the past American election. I found this movie on youtube that has many of these clips from the media.
I agree with Mary that we need to recognize women as a type of multi-dimensional organism, if you will. In school we compartmentalize feminism into first, second and third wave- which all represent (to me) major extremes that should be addressed.
Third wave feminism seems to be the mould that defines most young women that I know, but this model stresses femininity as a type of power- a way to exert subtle and destructive control over men while batting our eyelashes in innocence. I don't think that's what women should be trying to do. We should use our intelligence and inherent capacity for compassion (even in the darkest of times) to undo some of the damage that has hit our world.
Hello Everyone! For my postcard I chose to depict a lot of images representative of women – fashion, make-up, paper-dolls, and (most importantly) powerful women leaders. What I realized I value a lot in my life is being a woman. It seems simple, but I value all aspects of my femininity. I think it’s really important that the media and female mentors (family members and friends) get the word out that a woman can be both a feminist and feminine. These aren’t two mutually exclusive terms! A woman can wear exactly what she wants and be exactly who she wants to be. Women everywhere should stand-up not to be stereotyped into either one typecast or the other. When I choose to wear high-heels, make-up, and tight clothing, it does not diminish/provoke/affect my intelligence or my dignity. I can be a feminine feminist. I’m just waiting for the media to catch-up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that feminists can be feminine but it becomes a problem when the media latches onto this femininity as the defining trait of any serious woman. Look for example at the Hilary Clinton/ Obama campaign and how that was covered. There was a very strong focus on how Clinton looked, how she dressed, whether she was wearing makeup or not, and this kind of focus was not only placed on Clinton but on Palin and Obama's wife during the past American election. I found this movie on youtube that has many of these clips from the media.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-IrhRSwF9U&NR=1
I agree with Mary that we need to recognize women as a type of multi-dimensional organism, if you will. In school we compartmentalize feminism into first, second and third wave- which all represent (to me) major extremes that should be addressed.
ReplyDeleteThird wave feminism seems to be the mould that defines most young women that I know, but this model stresses femininity as a type of power- a way to exert subtle and destructive control over men while batting our eyelashes in innocence. I don't think that's what women should be trying to do. We should use our intelligence and inherent capacity for compassion (even in the darkest of times) to undo some of the damage that has hit our world.