February 13, 2013

Where is FEMINISM!?

Feminism!
In Emily Nussbaum's article, "The Rebirth of the Feminist Manifesto", she wrote about how there is a new role in blogging. It is for empowering women through feminism. Blogging is a new space for self-expression and for raising consciousness on feminist issues. Nussbaum also says how blog writing is between a call to arms, a confession, and a stand-up routine.

 For many, feminist blogs are the places to visit to raise your consciousness on various feminist issues and to satisfy your need of feminism!

  • thefbomb.org
  • bitchmagazine.org
  • feministing.com

Feminist blogs have not been the place where I go to relieve my need of feminism. I have access to the internet, and I know the websites, but I really do not like staring at a bright computer screen for so long. I feel I could be reading feminist blogs for hours and hours. I do not feel the new revolutionary shift of online activism.
So where have I gone when I needed feminism in my life?

I thought that maybe I could satisfy my need of feminism on my college's own HerCampus website. I hoped it would be different from today's degrading women's magazines such as Vogue, Seventeen, and Cosmopolitan.

But no.

This site is basically a replica of the Seventeen and Cosmo magazine website. Like these websites, HerCampus has many articles that push students to remain in the gender binary. It's major message to young women is to focus on your exterior values such as hair, makeup, and fashion so that you can be sexually appealing and available to men. It seems as though HerCampus is really made for HisCampus.

Their Christmas holiday article is about being hot for the holidays. 

What you should think about when the holiday comes around!
This is a quote from St. Olaf's HerCampus’ Mmm Ya Ya: Hot for the Holidays article:

"Even just a cute new red thong will do to bring out your holiday spirit just a bit more."

I understand the need for outlets to read and talk about sex, but this is not freedom of sexual expression!!!
This is not really a space for women's sexual expression! It is colored with capitalism! It makes people feel inadequate so they can go and buy all this junk to help improve the inadequate parts of their body, in which they never even knew was inadequate until articles like these propose how women need to be sexually available for men to enjoy.

Why not instead write about the ways in which we can challenge the reasons why women are continuously fed to internalize degrading messages of society's distorted ideal of beauty?

What ever happened to the values of women's leadership?  

Perhaps the "celebrities" tab is the closest thing to feminism on this site. But wait, it's called: celebrities... What does that sound like to you? Should women leaders of St. Olaf College be called celebrities? 

So...what has taken care of my need for feminism? 
Academia. 

 I have never been more enlightened than when taking courses that incorporate critical feminist theories behind it. These courses fulfilled my need for feminism: Ecofeminism, Islamic Feminism, Gender and Literature, Philosophy of Feminism, and more.

 I loved reading and pondering deeply about the works of Betty Friedan, Judith Butler, Gloria Anzaldua, Sarah Steingraber, Courtney E. Martin, Fatema Mernissi and more! I have yet to read more blogs for I do believe it is powerful and insightful!
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4 comments:

  1. genderprofFebruary 22, 2013 at 5:47 AM

    Thanks for this well-supported critique of HerCampus. I wondered if I was just being a cranky 2nd Wave feminist by not finding empowerment burbling in the selection of subjects and images. Does the organization declare itself feminist or simply for women?

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  2. monzong_chaFebruary 22, 2013 at 9:50 PM

    After reading a chapter from Gender Stories: Negotiating Identity in a Binary World written by Sonja K Foss, Mary E. Domenico, and Karen A. Foss, I had more confidence in critically analyzing the HerCapus website. In one part of this book, it analyzed materials that are marketed towards adults--one being Cosmo. It said how shopping is the key route to sexual attractiveness and you can see this featured in not only the advertisements all over Cosmo but in feature articles that promote beauty products(111). For instance, one Cosmo article is titled, "Beauty: His Picks". It discusses "lipstick shades he likes" and tells where to buy them (111). "Cosmo women are supposed to be sexually attractive for one reason: to be available to perform sexually in ways that are pleasing to men" (112). The magazine remind women of achieving this goal by offering advice about sex, how to look, dress, act and more. This analysis applies to HerCampus' website articles. How can HerCampus organization declare itself for women if it is does not come with a more critical feminist foundation?

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    Replies
    1. genderprofFebruary 23, 2013 at 6:46 PM

      You present a useful framework of analysis. Do you suppose HerCampus could have a post-feminist bias?

      Delete
    2. monzong_chaFebruary 24, 2013 at 12:02 PM

      I have not studied post-feminism. How can I evaluate HerCampus this way?

      Here are some of my ideas to why HerCampus may be is this way:

      1. HerCampus is under false consciousness. HerCampus thinks they are feminists and are helping the cause of women when really they are doing more damage. The way HerCampus represents the social relations around women (needs & status) systematically hides and obscures the reality of women's subordination, marginalization, and exploitation. HerCampus is suffering from false consciousness in this way.
      2. HerCampus is confused on what is feminism.
      3. HerCampus doesn't care. They will write articles based on topics that are most "popular". (And this popularity is tainted with poor media messages of women).

      To be honest, I do not know why, but these are the connections I've made so far.

      I feel my peers are confused what the word feminist is. To generalize, we do not openly claim to be a feminist. We are unsure. We are lost. [I wish more people had the energy of 2nd wave feminists--radical!]

      Anyways, I think that maybe the writers of HerCampus may feel they are feminists, but have really become lost in it.

      What is feminist?
      We are not sure because we are getting overwhelmed by all the contradictions such as...
      -Am I still a feminist if I wear make up?
      -Am I still a feminist if I want to wear a red thong for the holidays? YES and NO...

      We're getting rather overwhelmed by the contradictions that we do not know where to stand anymore.

      For one, we feel we are being anti-feminist when we judge the choices women. Women should be able to do whatever they wish.
      But then we take a few steps back to analyze what is impacting the women's choice and find that it is capitalism or some sort.

      Why do you think HerCampus posts articles that discusses how women should dress sexy (I'm sure we don't do it simply to "turn ourselves on")? How have you thought critically about HerCampus?

      Delete

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