It's hard to talk about sexuality without mentioning the F word. Not that one. Feminism, I mean. Feminism has been a part of my life since I was an 11 year old bopping along to the Spice Girls, learning to embrace the idea of Girl Power. For me, the notion that girls we're cool, popular, awesome, and worthy was, surprisingly, something new. Countless years of elementary taunts to "not be such a girl" or to "pull up the skirt" instilled in me the sense that being a woman was to receive the boobie prize in life. Girls couldn't play sports, they cried too much, and if any girl in my peer group had any ambition beyond "being cute and having boys like her", it was the desire to be at least just like a boy so as to achieve semi -equal admiration. Clearly, the female traits we were socially constructed to display weren't worth shit in the real world.
Along come the Spice Girls and other female pop stars that drastically changed the narrative for a young female like myself. They touted messages of "strength", "Independence", and "power" which were very influential in me developing a sense of female pride. But what I didn't know was that something was going on under the surface that was cleverly targeting the female youth demographic and it has had some very damaging repercussions for the status of women today.
Gone are notions of female pride, power and potential, and in their place exists a discourse that women's sole value derives from her sexual marketability (aka her ability to successfully please and pleasure a man). Ironically, the very pop stars that I idolised as a pre-teen were the catalysts to a patriarchal paradigm that completely shifted women from "person" to "object". I believe this was the beginning of the commercialisation of women's oppression through the guise of sexual empowerment, and the subsequent sexualisation of female power. This was a deadly combination that has resulted in a hefty rejection of Feminism by today's generation.
"I'm not a feminist, but...." is a phrase that has increased in popularity by youth who desire the have the same status, rights, pay, treatment and value that are afforded to the men in our society, but don't wish to join the fight to achieve it. I believe the sexualisation of girls and women has had a direct hand in creating this "fear of feminism". Aside from the cliched stereotypes that feminists are hairy legged, Birkenstock wearing, man-hating lesbians, there exists a real trepidation to identify as a feminist due to the fact that women, and girls, for once in their lives are finally being seen and supposedly "fitting in" with the status quo. To ask for more (progress) would certainly be seen as greedy and selfish and no doubt would result in a backlash for women everywhere. After all, at no time in Western history have women had more "status" than they do today. But it's a false status: Women may have better job opportunities, but they are STILL payed 20% less, STILL do the majority of the unpaid household work and STILL are subject to (and blamed for) any sexual harassment or assault that comes their way (frequently).
Yet women believe they have more power than ever - to the point where we have "moved beyond a need for feminism".
It's clear to me that someone high up in the hierarchy of social commands made the clever decision to sell to young women an image of power that would blind their notions of inequity, and make it literally impossible to ever achieve true power in the current gender climate. All while leading them to believe that they were making progress. That's right - someone planted a Trojan horse into feminism and now we have an army of young women fighting to achieve the highest of patriarchal subjugations. Behold a false sense of power based solely on women's bodies and sexual potential. And young men and women are buying into it.
If you flip through a magazine, listen to popular radio or watch any TV show or movie you will be bombarded with images of beautiful women in undeniably sexy outfits, poses or situations. Our pop stars strip down, shake their asses and sing lyrics that play into men's deepest fantasies. The poses are incredibly passive, the lyrics are incredibly submissive and serving, and the clothes...well sometimes there just aren't any. I've come to the point where I can't tell whether a pop star is a porn star or a singer if I were to do a google search. It's clear these women are not being valued for their talent but rather for their ability to turn a guy on. And young girls are taking note: The increase in popularity of "rainbow parties", to the prevalence of sexting naked photos of yourself casually to your male classmates, to the horrifying Twitter storm of girls saying about Chris Brown: "I would let him beat me, I don't know why Rihanna complained". Clearly girls are rejecting their own sense of safety and sexual autonomy to be popular, desired, loved. To be acknowledged.
And the sexualisation of female power doesn't stop there. When it comes to strong women like pro-athletes, we hear more about who's posing for playboy than what spectacular play they made. Female athletes no longer have skill, but rather sexual marketability. As well, our superheros have become overly pornographied; Lara Croft and Cat Woman are no longer figures of strength but rather of sex appeal. Indeed the oppression has leaked into the highest of ranks: Take our political leaders such as Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama. Both women have made incredible advances as humans, as members of society, yet are continuously subject to scrutiny over their outfits, their hair, their makeup. It would appear that Hillary's political worth is based on her appearance alone. Further we are told women's main objective in life shouldn't be to make progress or policy, but rather to achieve arms that are as toned as Michelle's.
So what is the message being sold to our female youth? Strive to achieve the beauty ideal. Strive for nothing else. Because it is ONLY through achieving maximum sexiness that you will be seen, heard, remembered, desired, and valued. Sexuality = power. The subtext of this message is the plea for women to not attempt to makepolicy or progress lest they succeed in finally challenging the status quo.
And the message is working. The beauty ideals are so unattainable, and the stakes so high, women will stop at nothing (vaginoplasty anyone?) to be seen as "fuckable". This leaves little room to fight for change. And since the alternative of being "fuckable" is to be invisible* we aren't willing to take the risk. We fought so damn hard for women to be acknowledged that we refuse to let it slip through our fingers.
But power is not in our fingers anymore. In fact these unattainable ideals (aka the prospect of having absolutely no worth otherwise) has created a perfect breeding ground that maintains a culture where men profit and women pay. And if women really are so exhasuted trying to achieve unattainable beauty (aka " sexual power") that they don't have time left over to fight for things that really could make a difference for women in the world, it looks as if we will be subject to the burden of patriarchy for many years to come. Women have become so scrutinised over their bodies, and have developed deep insecurities as a result, it's no wonder fewer and fewer women are signing up for highly visible political positions in society. Afterall, it would only guarentee her endless torment and bullying. Yet the fewer women we have in charge, the less progress we make.
Clearly the commercialisation of women's oppression through the sexualisation of female power has worked; increasingly we are rejecting notions of feminism as a "necessity of the past". Our society truely believes that the increased sexual visibility of women is an indication that we have achieved equal status in society. But I'm not buying it and I know for certain that this is NOT what the women of the sexual liberation movement were fighting for.
So where do we stand now? In a context where women's rights are actually decreasing, Feminism has become a four letter word. But it needs to be re-vived! How can we, as a collective (men, women, trans), come together and redefine what it means to be a strong, powerful women, person, in society worthy of equality? How can we ensure feminine characteristics are just as valuable in society as masculine characteristcs so that all genders can freely express the whole spectrum of their personality? How can we reclaim our sexuality, our beauty, our sexiness, and our desire to be desired without it being soley constructed through, and for, the male gaze?
It begins with YOU. Within you lies the next, crucial, wave of feminism. Contrary to what so many of today's generation has been told, change doesn't actually always come in the form of angry, hairy-legged, man eaters. But if it does, that's great too, because right now we need all the change we can get!
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* Please see the documentaries Sexy Inc. and Sext Up Kids for this reference.
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