Feminism : A Feminist Perspective

Throughout history women have been depicted and treated as an inferior to the male all aspects of life. It is without debate, that to this day, like many other countries, the United States of America is a patriarchal society, valuing men over women and using various tactics to oppress women by constructing gender roles. These gender roles are thrust upon people before birth and are reinforced through society within the media. This object here is to provide an overview of the portrayal of women in magazines from the late 1800’s to present day. As the years progress, so do the number of women’s rights. While women are still fighting for equality, the birth of feminism has done much to close the gender gap. Mass media, magazines in particular, facilitated in fostering a stereotype which became the standard, and continues to be, used by society. A society that continues to oppress and suppress its women. However, as the mass media has the capability to demystify, or to bring down and/or destroy a particular group or person, they also have the ability of mystification, or emulating a person or group into society’s graces. I plan to review how women were portrayed since this country’s inception with an analysis of how gender equality might be possible today.

The modern definition of feminism: “an ideology that, in its most basic form, directly opposes sexism by supporting gender equality and portraying women and men as equal.” (Finsterbusch 59). This definition was the early direction towards treating women like human beings rather than a housebound body, and this is why feminism should not be viewed as a harmful ideology. By exemplifying the importance of the ideology of feminism, by refuting those who claim that women have used feminism to exploit their personal wants and desires, and by presenting women’s first hand encounters of inequality, case studies, sound arguments and documented research one will be persuaded that the ideology of feminism is not discrimination towards men, but rather an encouragement for a woman’s rights and equality.

Feminism has become an ugly word. Some say it does not even live up to its definition anymore. However, the definition remains unchanged in the pages of history. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary’s definition of Feminism reads, “The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” If one digs deep into this definition, beyond the surface of society’s view on feminism today, one can see that feminism would benefit both sexes. The true ideals of feminism break down gender roles, thus benefitting men, women and future generations.

During these last thirteen weeks, I have discovered a lot about myself, not only as a student, but as a feminist. Before taking this class, I knew that I wanted to be a feminist. I believed that women should stand up and exercise their rights to be equal to men on every level. Be that as it may, I lacked the education required to develop my own sense of feminism--my feminist manifesto, if you will. When approaching the topic of feminism, every person needs to ask themselves a list of questions: Who am I? Who do I want to be? What has influenced me as a person? How can I help? These are the beckoning questions we, as developing and purposeful human beings, ask ourselves every day, and these are the questions that will lead each and every person

In today’s time the word ‘feminist’ is one that is often in the media frequently. The question remains, is there a right or wrong way to be a feminist. Being a young woman in society individuals may ponder if they identify with what a true feminist is. The text Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay suggests that the depiction people have about feminism is highly incorrect. Women are to be portrayed in a particular manner if they would like to be considered an essential feminist.

To further my understanding of feminism, I am currently taking the class Introduction to Women’s Gender and Ethnic Studies. During the first unit, I studied more in-depth about different types of feminism, and the feminism waves throughout

Inequality has been an issue throughout history and has affected minorities; as a consequence, there are multiple ideologies and groups that pursue equality. Feminism is a movement that seeks equality between the sexes in all areas (Issit & Flynn). Women have come together to fight for their rights and obtain privileges that were granted only to men. Feminism, according to Quidlen, has worked as a vehicle for change to improve women`s lives. Moreover, it has raised awareness of the issues women face and offered solutions. In spite of all of these improvements and its long history since its inception, feminism still exists and has the same relevance as in the past. However, as with any ideology, people have different perspectives about feminism; just as there are supporters, there are also opponents. Interestingly, while both sides have different perspectives of what equality means, there are ideas and values upon which both groups unintentionally agree. This common ground creates a third perspective; presenting feminism as a more inclusive movement by changing certain aspects of it such as the label “feminism”, in order to show the evolution of this movement. As discussed in the following paragraphs, both pro and anti feminism perspectives have valid arguments that must be explored to reach a solution that satisfies both sides.

Every aspect of the media is controlled and manipulated to look a certain way. Meaning that while it may seem like the media is trying to sell you a product they are really trying to sell you a message, subconsciously. For example, TrueCar, a car pricing service, released an ad suggesting that women can now go car shopping without a man tagging along. While the ad may seem like it is about a car pricing service, it is really about suggesting that women are useless about men. There was no point in adding in the fact that women can now go car shopping without a man. They could have easily said anyone can go car shopping alone rather than singling out women, making us look useless. My point is, that the media is constantly proving that women’s oppression still exists. Jean Kilbourne refers to this at her TED Talk, where she proves the objectification of women in the media through images and videos from real-life ads. Jean goes on to explain that women are only seen as objects as seen by the media. Through ads, the media is constantly bringing women down and objectifying them. My point is now proven, women’s oppression is continually remade through the media and many other platforms as well. We see women’s oppression everywhere, in our surroundings, from the train all the way to our jobs, women’s oppression is an ongoing

Feminism in a nutshell solitary word is: equality- a basic human right that has been the basis of every social movement throughout history and history to come. In one way or another, every ethnicity, race, and gender has been oppressed in some form. All of the “-isms” have fought to shed light and bring about change to these “lesser” groups. Feminists are no exception. Feminism has many branches: radical feminism, cultural feminism, liberal feminism, anti-porn feminism, pro-sex feminism, third-wave feminism, womanism, and many more. However to keep this paper readable in a sitting or two, we’ll focus on first and second wave feminism including important figure heads, projects or social events, goals of each group, when they happened, and who opposed or criticized these groups.

Our world is surrounded by media. Media plays an enormous role in affecting the way we perceive gender and gender roles. Media as well as communications are known to be the key elements of how people live their life in the modern age. The media can be a very inviting place, since it has so many things inside of it that appeals to people worldwide. At the same time, the media can be a cruel, judging and corrupt area that can be scary to involve yourself with. That being said, the mass media has had its history with harsh stereotyping, particularly when dealing with women. Many people within the media view women as a gender that is only allowed to be at home, whether it is cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, or being a slave to their male counterpart. Even with women who work inside of the media are usually overlooked, bashed by their appearance and do not get an equal opportunity as men do in order to succeed in life. This has been the case for hundreds of years, but there are still a myriad of problems that women face today, whether in the media or life in general.

The media has the power to change and manipulate public perceptions with very little effort and can effectively end a person’s career with a single scathing article. Gender equality is at the forefront of societies battle to create an inclusive society which recognises the achievements of women to the same degree that the achievements of men are

Almost one hundred years later, and the media still portrays the feminist movement and feminists themselves in a similarly negative light, which have effectively contributed to the misinterpretation of many individuals’ deception of what a “feminist” is and what their purpose is. This subjection and oppression of feminists in the media affect the decision of women on whether or not they want to be a part of this movement in fear of what society will think of them. Through hindrances of oppression such as negative stereotyping of feminists through the media, society will never be able to reach a state of complete equality among all genders despite the constant advocacy of women's rights throughout history and the modern

People have many misconceptions about feminism. A main problem is that the media misrepresents feminism. The media bases the information it releases about feminism on the second-wave feminist movement that took place from the 1960s-1970s. Due to this distortion, there are myths that feminists are only fighting to make women more equal to men and that feminism liberates women at the expense of men. However, the truth is that feminism not only liberates women but also liberates men. Feminism breaks down standards that are put up for both men and women by society and fights for people of every “[color, class ethnicity, nationality, religion, and cultural background]” (McCarty, 467). Early last year, the Fawcett Society designed a t-shirt that read, “This is what a feminist looks like” as a movement to empower women.

Another area that illustrates massive shifts in public opinion and judicial decisions involves gender discrimination. This issue area is extremely controversial as the feminist movement has been strong since the 1960s, paving the way for equality for women. Today in America, women take advantage of the rights feminist leaders have won while debating new issues. For example, in the past two years, the gender wage gap has been seen as a major issue with many men trying to claim it does not exist or, if it does that it is a woman’s fault for picking less lucrative careers (NOW 2016). The Feminist in the modern media is portrayed as crazy, with comments on feminist posts stating “Feminism’s goals are to demonise men, control and bully women, and secure advantages for feminists. It is an odious cult” (Guest 2015). This stereotype of radical man-hating runs deep and has destroyed the credibility of the movement (Bedard 2011).

Although Western feminism started in the 1900s, yet, it didn’t reach the Islamic world until most recently, a couple of hundred years later than the West. Despite the fact that both of the feminism movements come from totally different back grounds, and they are affected by different history and culture, still, both of them aimed for women’s best interests. Muslim women were profoundly feeling aggrieved by the discrimination they have against them. They stereotypical reputation about them in the West, and their presentation in the Western media didn’t help either. They started and supported a new fight to regain themselves the equal status they were granted by Islam centuries ago. Muslim women didn’t like to be looked at as being backward and oppressed by men in a male-dominant world. According to the feminist historian Margot Badran, “Islamic feminism is a feminist discourse and practice articulated within an Islamic paradigm. Islamic feminism, which derives its understanding and mandate from the Qur 'an, seeks rights and justice for women, and for men, in the totality of their existence.” (Badran, 2001)