The Future of the Women's Movement
Everyday young teenage girls are faced with the hardships of peer pressure, finding themselves, and understanding what it means to be a woman. I interviewed my younger cousin, MKL. She is twelve years old and about to turn thirteen. MKL identifies herself as a woman and has been through many hardships. I focused on feminism, equality, beauty and the struggles teenage girls face every day. I feel this is an important age for girls and many, including myself, were affected by the pressures of society and other peers. I chose to interview MKL because she has grown up as an unhealthy, overweight young girl and has faced many tribulations because of this. When I asked her about women and what makes them strong she offered some of her own stories, a third wave consciousness raising. MKL discussed how she went through her parents divorce at a young age and moved with her mom, and new husband, farther away from her dad. On top of this, MKL has been in a camp this summer away from home to lean better eating habits, the importance of exercise and the overall importance of self esteem. She said that being at this camp made her stronger and more independent. As well as loosing sixty five pounds she has overcome many self confidence issues, but it is a constant battle and struggle being back in middle school. MKL continued to discuss problems she has had with pressure from other girls her age to fit in and other problems she has had with her friends. MKL shared her story but stressed how it was important for all women to share their stories of strength and success because it would inspire other women. She feels that stories and experience from women are an important type of activism in the feminist movement. After interviewing MKL I have discovered that there are many concepts she shares with third wave feminists, but there still so much progress should be made with younger generations of feminists.
I have read a media criticism on the film, Knocked up and other media critiques and noticed that media is the main concern for the younger generations of women and feminists. I think many ideas are formed and shaped about society and what it means to be a woman during the ages from nine to seventeen. I have babysat, worked at summer camp, and with the Boys and Girls club; as well as experiencing being a teenage girl first hand. From my experiences interacting with young girls I have seen the same results and opinions. Many girls feel that media shapes what the terms “woman” and “man” mean, and these are extremely skewed interpretations from reality. I asked MKL about how she thought that television, magazines and popular media affected girls her age. She confirmed what I assumed and thought that it can steer many girls the wrong way. She also said that it gives girls an idea of what is stylish and what is pretty but she took note that although they can keep you updated on fashion they can “tear us down”. When I proceeded to ask her who us was, she said all women and all girls. I think this affirms my analysis of thirteen year old girls being affected by popular media. We continued this conversation into the hot topic of the Pussy Cat Dolls and the comments matched those that we read in the article on the Pussy Cat Dolls. MKL feels that these women are good role models because they help girls understand that that can be anything that they want to be, and they represent girl power. MKL also focused on the negative aspect of their clothing and the way they chose to dress. She feels the skimpy outfits may inspire other girls to dress this way and this could be a negative thing because then girls will only think they are pretty because they are wearing little outfits and may be seen in a negative light in the eyes of boys.
MKL and I discussed many aspects of strong women, feminists and third wave feminism. MKL said she would define herself as a feminist and this impressed me because I did not claim the title of feminist until later in life, after more experience. Because MKL is a self proclaimed feminist I wanted to ask her what her definition of feminism was compared to other third wave feminists. MKL answered my question with a bold statement stating that a feminist is a woman who believes that women and men should have the same equality and power. She continued, although there are negative terms that go along with this label, it shows that you are a fighter. This definition correlates with definition of third wave feminism from much of the reading and research I have done about third wave feminism from Rebecca Walker and Richards and Baumgardner. After doing readings about third wave feminism I feel the concepts of this era are based around the idea of simply being a strong woman who chooses to fight for what she believes in and picks the subjects that are important to her, rather than fighting for set guidelines. Further into this I asked MKL what she thinks defines a person as a strong woman; her answer seemed parallel with many concepts third wave feminist share. MKL said it is important for a woman to be the best she can be and never give up fighting for what you believe in. She also talked about how it is important to understand that life isn’t fair and it is hard and a women needs to be able to accept who she is and stand up for what she believes in; she said the most important idea of a strong woman is to be proud that you are a woman. Other third wave ideas that MKL coincides with include women’s rights to their own choice. MKL feels that women should pursue a career, but there is nothing wrong if they decide to stay at home and have children, she also emphasized this concept by stating, “We are women and we can do anything we want to do, why not do both?” MKL said she did not believe it is right to have an abortion but feels that women should be able to make their own decisions and it is okay if a woman doesn’t want to have children. Third wave feminism also focuses on fighting for what you believe in, I asked MKL what she would fight for and she said as she gets older she will fight for equal job payments because it is important that women and men be paid the same amount of money for the work they do. As far as fighting for things she believes in at a young age, MKL says she does not appreciate raciest or derogatory jokes made towards women and if she hears these jokes she makes a point to tell either a stranger or a friend that it is not right and they should stop making those types of jokes.
One of the problems with third wave feminism is backlash. This term focus on the concept that women have done a good job on feminism and there is nothing left to fix. Although both MKL and I disagree with backlash, the evidence shows that backlash is prevalent with younger generations. MKL says that women’s rights have come such a long way, from what she understands, but feels that it is still a major issue although it may not be as large as it was. Many girls in her school think that the women’s movement is something that occurred many years ago, and since women have the right to vote there is little left to fight about. When discussing other girls her age, MKL said that she does not agree with them but many of the girls feel that attractiveness, who their boyfriend is, and how much money they make is the most important things for a woman. This is an example of how media has negatively affected younger generations of females. On top of this MKL has observed in history classes that
No comments:
Post a Comment