Believe in the Strength of Women

On November 30^th, the Billboard’s Women in Music event honored pop star Katy Perry as the “Woman of the Year.”  Her speech started out on a very inspirational note about how she had to “fight for [herself] and [her] vision.”  Yet, right after she said that, she spewed out the words, “I am not a feminist, but I do believe in the strength of women.” 

Her statement poses the question – what exactly is feminism, and why is she so reluctant to call herself a feminist?  The goal of feminism is simply to give women equal rights and opportunities as there are for men. 

She said that her mantra is “If you believe in yourself, you can be anything.”  Many of her songs, including Firework and Part of Me, express the theme that you can achieve anything as long as you put your heart to it.  Perry is strong, independent, and confident – all of the qualities she has developed through her life experiences like being denied record labels multiple times and overcoming her failed marriage to Russell Brand.  Despite embracing all of the qualities of a feminist, she chooses to separate herself from the word.

Perry could have just as easily omitted that part from her speech to focus solely on the strength of women.  The fact that she went out of her way to mention it shows that feminism has a negative connotation attached to it.  Feminists don’t cover themselves with war paint and prance around a bonfire nude.  Feminists don’t smear lip gloss all over their face and go up to men screaming “Is this what you want?”  Feminists don’t exterminate the male population so they can rule the world. 

In my blog, I have written about many aspects of feminism – my view on Taylor Swift’s music, rape culture, wearing makeup, abortion, the Victoria’s Secret fashion show.   The beautiful part about feminism is that it is not black or white, but rather a diverse spectrum of thoughts and ideas.  It is a shame that it is often viewed as a bra burning cult of psycho women.  

Because just like Katy Perry said, the goal of feminism is to exercise "the strength of women."

Katy Perry's entire speech can be viewed at: http://www.billboard.com/news/katy-perry-s-woman-of-the-year-acceptance-1008036452.story#/news/katy-perry-s-woman-of-the-year-acceptance-1008036452.story.

A Response to: The Victoria’s Secret “Fashion Show”: A Feminist Rant

The author of the blog peacehopetrees.tumblr.com strives to prove that Victoria’s Secret “teaches women that [they] are objects to be owned and experienced.”  She goes on to show that the male-dominated company is catered towards pleasing the needs of men.  As a result, women are the subordinate sex by blindly supporting Victoria’s Secret.

The author criticizes Victoria’s Secret for having their models play a “passive role” where they are “hyper-sexualized” and “anti-intellectual.”  The models play everything but a passive role in the annual fashion show.  Victoria’s Secret is one of the very few modeling industries that encourages their models to express their creativity and individuality both on and off the runway.  The women are not walking closet hangers with their mouths sewn shut, they are all unique individuals who show how down to earth they are in interviews and segments in between the runway in the fashion show.  For example, the 2012 fashion show had a segment on Candice Swanepoel’s life growing up in South Africa and discovering her passion for modeling.

 

Also, the author gives into the stereotype that models are brain-dead beauties.   All of the models are inspirations rather than train-wrecks – they show how women can live a balanced life between their career, family, and simply enjoying life.  Miranda Kerr, for example, manages being a mother to her almost two-year old son Flynn, wife to Orlando Bloom, CEO of her organic skincare line Kora Organics, author of the self-help book Treasure Yourself, and one of the top Victoria’s Secret models.

Considering both of the CEOs for Victoria’s Secret are women – Lori Greeley and Sharen Jester Turney – the author’s claim that the company gives into a “media culture created for men by men” is false.  Even if the company were run by men, this is a business, and they are simply catering to their audience of females.  As a matter of fact, the Examiner reveals that more women than men watch the fashion show, with “twice as many women as men in the 18-34 age group.” 

Victoria’s Secret is critiqued for focusing more on how women can “better please their men” as opposed to their comfort.  The company sells more than just lingerie; their fashion show also advertises their fragrances, beauty products, clothing, footwear, active wear, and swimwear.  Judging by the success of this company, without them having basic comfort, it is doubtful that they would get this far.

The author ends with the notion that women should boycott Victoria’s Secret for “favoring misogyny” and keeping women in the mindset that they can “purchase success” and look like their models.  It is natural that Victoria’s Secret will have high standards for their models, simply because they are a company and they are looking to maximize their profits.  Just like McDonald’s has a food stylist to make the burgers looks perfect on commercials, Victoria’s Secret casts models that will help sell their merchandise. 

Because ultimately, that’s the goal of Victoria’s Secret: sell merchandise, not dehumanize women. 

Unpopular Opinion

I’ve found that throughout the United States, it is popular for women to hold up signs advertising the message “Teach men not to rape.”  They seek to show the folly in our society – that we teach women how to avoid getting raped instead of teaching men not to rape.

There is no doubt that rape is bad.  It has been implanted in our brains ever since we were born – from when our parents told us to keep our hands to ourselves in kindergarten, when we watched the first episode of Law & Order: Specials Victims Unit, when we saw that story on the news about the unfortunate incident that happened to a woman walking to her car alone past midnight.  Rape is consistently portrayed in a negative light; in no way has ‘society’ taught men that rape is “ok” or “good.” 

So what’s so bad about teaching women some preventative measures to avoid being raped?  The fact that college security teaches women to watch their drinks when they’re at a party, walk to their car to with their keys wedged between their knuckles, keep pepper spray with them in case of an emergency, practice the buddy system, or learn basic self-defense isn’t shameful to society – it’s helpful.                 

Just because we have established that rape is wrong – just like robbing banks, massacring innocent people at gunpoint, and stealing people’s credit card information – it doesn’t mean that it will stop.  Stealing thousands of dollars from a bank is wrong, but it still happens.  Killing people by gunpoint is wrong, yet the incident is Connecticut has left twenty-six victims dead.  Stealing people’s credit card information is wrong, but then again identity theft is a common occurrence.  The fact of the matter is rape will never stop. 

America is well past the stage of psychologically teaching people that rape is wrong.  It is in countries like Saudi Arabia, where the victims are blamed for putting themselves in this situation and are sentenced to prison and lashes in civil court, that must work to spread this message.  American citizens need to realize that rape is and always will be wrong, but learning ways to prevent it isn’t.