We're doin it for all you baby feminists out there
When I think back to when I was young, I think of myself as being very self absorbed. I didn’t think about the world or society or oppression or the grand scheme of things. I thought about myself. I was too busy worrying about what I would wear the next day and drama at the lunch table. I was simply struggling to fit in and struggling to grow up. I wasn’t worrying about changing the world. In fact, I didn’t even know the world needed changing. I blame my obsession with myself on society and sexism.
As feminists I think that one of the things we strive to do is make life easier for girls. We want all females to live easier lives not affected by a sexist society. If we alleviated the pressure put on women and girls to be beautiful, thin, and popular, girls would have time to think about other things besides which brand of clothing is most in style. I think that is the point of Girls Studies. In an academic setting we can try to understand and analyze the problems that girls face in our misogynistic culture. Then we can figure out solutions and try to break down those barriers. Changing our culture in this way will leave room for younger girls to be strong and independent. This will also free up their time so that they can look at the bigger picture instead of focusing on themselves. They will have time and tools to focus on injustices and oppressions that face them and become social change agents themselves. This also creates new generations of women who can “continue to fight a war on patriarchy” (Eisenhauer 84).
One thing that I found particularly interesting in the readings was Taft’s discussion of Postfeminist Girl Power. As a young girl, I was a huge fan of the Spice Girls and I never thought Girl Power was anything but a positive influence on me. After reading this article, though, I realized that Girl Power did give me confidence and positive girl role models, but it also let me to believe that I would never face opposition because of my gender. This version of Girl Power was “dismissing the need for feminist action” and made the claim that “girls have attained all the power they could ever want, and there is nothing left to be done” (Taft 72). I realize looking back that this type of Girl Power gave girls a false sense of self-esteem and a false version of reality. I definitely agree with Taft’s article and thought it was an eye-opening argument.
A super sweet website/blogsite by and for young feminists called All Girl Army: http://www.allgirlarmy.org/
As feminists I think that one of the things we strive to do is make life easier for girls. We want all females to live easier lives not affected by a sexist society. If we alleviated the pressure put on women and girls to be beautiful, thin, and popular, girls would have time to think about other things besides which brand of clothing is most in style. I think that is the point of Girls Studies. In an academic setting we can try to understand and analyze the problems that girls face in our misogynistic culture. Then we can figure out solutions and try to break down those barriers. Changing our culture in this way will leave room for younger girls to be strong and independent. This will also free up their time so that they can look at the bigger picture instead of focusing on themselves. They will have time and tools to focus on injustices and oppressions that face them and become social change agents themselves. This also creates new generations of women who can “continue to fight a war on patriarchy” (Eisenhauer 84).
One thing that I found particularly interesting in the readings was Taft’s discussion of Postfeminist Girl Power. As a young girl, I was a huge fan of the Spice Girls and I never thought Girl Power was anything but a positive influence on me. After reading this article, though, I realized that Girl Power did give me confidence and positive girl role models, but it also let me to believe that I would never face opposition because of my gender. This version of Girl Power was “dismissing the need for feminist action” and made the claim that “girls have attained all the power they could ever want, and there is nothing left to be done” (Taft 72). I realize looking back that this type of Girl Power gave girls a false sense of self-esteem and a false version of reality. I definitely agree with Taft’s article and thought it was an eye-opening argument.
A super sweet website/blogsite by and for young feminists called All Girl Army: http://www.allgirlarmy.org/
Comments
Also, I think that just in day to day life when we interact with young grrrlz that we know through family or whatnots we do have a sort of influence. Just by example we can make a difference in the young grrrlz we interact with day to day.