Where can I get some Girl Power?
As Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner state in Feminism and Femininity: "We see third wave not as a specific set of assumptions or theories, but as an evolution of feminism building on previous generations" (63), I believe that this is the way girls are brought up; girls come from a variety of backgrounds and then grow for against their families and the cultural standards that raise them.
This made me think more about “Girl Power” and its relationship with feminism and girls. On pages 71 and 72 of All about the Girl, Jessica Taft talks about this type of “contained expression of strength” which is seen as more ideally “girlie” and capable, but still “make(s) no indication that this alternative is a project for social or political change”. I felt that this was the perfect description of how Girl Power exists in our culture today. It is sold on Wal-mart shelves and bought up by consumers who still function under the rules of Girls rule and Boys drool, which still forces children to choose a side and act through hierarchy.
I also viewed this as a sort of joke between parents, that “Oh, kids!” response which assumes that these social issues don’t play crucial roles in the lives of children. I saw two notebooks in the dollar bin, on a middle school girl eye-level shelf that said “Gossip starter” and “I pass notes”. Making these roles empowering functions the same way that Girl Power does: putting something buyable in front of young people in order to make them have an identity that “counts” in their social scheme of things because “When being ‘young’ is discursively linked with inexperience, the critiques issued by those identified as ‘young’ become constructed as naïve, disrespectful, and historically uninformed,” (82, Eisenhauer).
With all of this being said, feminism plays a sketchy role in the lives of girls. It seems so difficult to step into that deeply embedded thought process which has so thoroughly manipulated girls today. I agree that feminism should be something all of us claim for ourselves, but I also have a hard time saying that girlie is the solution to these issues. Confident women in the board room is one thing, but confident women painting their nails to prove a point is another. This is difficult for me personally because I don’t identify with being “girlie” and have some beef with saying that nice hair and painted nails dresses are naturally female traits and interests. I think that so long as we’re all mindful of why we make our decisions and proving confidence through our actions, young girls have the ability to choose that kind of feminism for themselves, too.
This awesome feature story is about a girl who took charge on her own and made a difference.
http://www.youthcomm.org/NYC%20Features/Special-Topics/Teen-pregnancy/NYC-2004-11-06.html
Comments
That portion of your essay made so much sense to me. I never thought of how products give girls an identity. That is why I love this class, it helps me to see things from so many other perspectives. Thank you for the great post!
“I think, generally, it was trying to tell myself that this didn’t give me a stained resume. It was a pockmark, it was a scar, but not something I should be embarrassed about. I’ve overcome it.”
I watched the Abortion Diaries today and most of the women said that they weren't sad about having an abortion but about the stigma that surrounds it.
And I completely agree that products give girls their "identity" and it's usually not a good one. I hate when I see little girls (or babies) that have shirts that say "drama queen"- that shouldn't be a identity you want.