Feminism And The Feminist Movement

Combining with the motif of protest was the issues of women rights. Women celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 19th amendment, and liberal abortion laws in the year of 1970. No longer merely entertainment, popular music became a powerful means of protest and an effective force for social change. The whole feeling of fighting for what is right was often found in lyrics and music of the time. Although women had been in the music industry for centuries the song of the seventies that backed the idea of woman’s push for power was “I Am Women,” by Helen Reddy. The first line simply stats the mood of the whole song by stating, “I am women, hear me roar.”

In 1997, Shania Twain released the song “Man I feel like a woman!”. The catchy melody immediately made this song a huge hit, but it’s the meaning of the lyrics that made it the feminist anthem that is still loved after so many years. The music video itself is empowering as it shows a confident Shania in the spotlight surrounded by her male musicians. However, the lyrics are what this analysis is more focused on. Twain sings about being her true self and letting loose. The song is an example of feminism, because it challenges gender stereotypes, the pressure put on girls to look a certain way and gender norms. The argument will be structured in three paragraphs, each developing on one of the ideas found in the thesis.

Women’s music came from radical, grassroots origins in the 1970s thanks to contributions by brave women, mostly lesbians (Mosbacher, 2002). These women used non-violent, peaceful force to forge their own way into the music industry. It was a peaceful yet political revolution of togetherness and liberation. It brought together women of different backgrounds who produced easy-listening, mellow harmonies played with lyrics filled with tumultuous

Early feminism was typically focused only on white women, likely because racism was still extremely prominent at the time feminism began emerging. It was not until Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced the term “intersectionality” in 1989 that feminism started to look at oppressed group’s needs (Nash, 2008, 2). Intersectionality is a way of thinking that acknowledges that when a person has identities that belong to more than one oppressed group, it impacts their quality of life more negatively. In this paper, I will argue that intersectionality is important in the discussion of feminist theories and activism because it ensures that feminism is for all women, not just a select group of them. Intersectionality has changed the way the feminist movement handles the overlapping of different identities, which has helped feminist theorists understand the experiences of women of colour much more clearly. While intersectionality has a very important role in the conversation and practice of feminism, there are certainly critiques of the concept that should be brought up. These critiques, however, can offer a way to improve the study of intersectionality.

This song displays the traditional messages sent by male artists. What about female artists? What do their songs portray? Andsager and Roe’s findings give a good description. According to them, there are two kinds of female artists. The strong, more established female artists portray women as “fully equal.” These women are in their thirties at least, they are more established, and they dress in casual suits. They sang romance, female emancipation, and heartbreak like the rest, but they did not compromise their image in their videos. They use Trisha Yearwood as an example in her song Everybody Knows. The other type, were women who “fell into the lowest level on the consciousness scale.” They used Deana Carter’s song We Danced Anyway as an example. In this song she rolled on the beach in a wet t-shirt. Another one is Faith Hill’s song Breathe. In this song, Hill is seen rolling around in her bed sheets with no clothes on.

Charlotte Bunch once said “Sexual, racial, gender, violence, and other forms of discrimination and violence in a culture cannot be eliminated without changing culture.” Our society experiences all of these problems and I would like to focus on the gender perspective in the 21st century and how women have had more of an influence in music than people actually realize. Men have dominated the music industry and business but women have been the underlying reason as for why men and other females have been so successful in the music scene.

Each woman’s experience plays a different note that completes a beautiful melody and through their voice you see the essence of a woman.

Nowadays, certain style of music are becoming more involve in our society than others. For instance, the R&B and Rap/hip pop are now getting the top on the Medias. We will try to explore those music’s gender. We will try to understand why and how they are what they are now?

Members of this all-girl band consisted of African American women, Asian women, white women, Hispanic women, and women of Native American descent. In the back of my mind, I was perplexed that this group even existed given the time period– mid 1900’s. But then I realized that World War II switched up society and negotiated previous gender roles. Women took on once “male roles” in society, like working in the factory. Initially, I did not think of music as one of these male dominated platforms.

Her lyrical voice, however, has to be strong to be felt over the beat. A mosaic of swift deep bass, hollow tom-toms, and quick ringing bells, quickly get your feet tapping in an unconscious need to dance. The stacked rhythm grows with synthesized

One of the scariest things I see time and time again is how so many women didn’t even realize how unfairly they were being treated. It was only after being reached by social movements or reading books, like The Feminine Mystique, that they realize their treatment is unfair. That fact really illustrates how an entire half of the population can be oppressed even when they hold so much social power.

Terms such as ‘menist’ and ‘meninism’ have become popularized through social media and online forums within the last few years. Theses terms denote a semi-satirical gender equality and men’s rights movement that voices concern over the way men are ‘victimized’ by modern-day feminism. Although, meninism and its association with men right activist groups (MRAs) is not typically well received within feminist circles, this movement is a part of the larger men’s liberation movement that has been ongoing since the early 1970s. Granted that this movement has been going on for some time, it has picked up steam in recent years due to the accessibility to the internet. Today, the many websites that support a menist agenda are vocal about issues related

When one hears the word “feminist”, many different things may come to mind. One may think of the “bra burning” feminists of the 1960s or the “riot grrrl” feminists of the 1990s. It can bring to mind issues such as abortion, birth control, and unfair wages. There are many different aspects of feminism, some of which are understood only by those involved in the movement. But like most things people are passionate about, feminism has held a strong place in music since its very beginning, and can be seen in its festivals, its politics, and in the average American’s everyday life.

In the world of music there are many different niches and types of music. From country to jazz, to hip-hop to local ‘indie’ bands, the world of music seems to have something for an endless variety of tastes and likings. When looking at music to assess gender inequalities, I will then focus on so-called ‘top hits’ in order to assure that the songs chosen have reached a large crowd, therefore influencing more people.

Music has had a huge influence on my life. I listen to music everywhere, in the car, on my way to class, at the gym, etc. The reason I love music so much is because there are so many songs about so many topics. When I found out that we were assigned to write an essay on a song that we loved and relate to a real life issue that we read about in our text, I was excited. I love analyzing the music I’m listening to and making sure I know what the artist is talking about rather than just blindly listening to the song. I chose to write about the song Big Girls Don’t Cry, by Fergie. I personally relate to this song because I went through a breakup in high school and it was a very difficult time for me. I didn’t cry but my whole support system of family and friends expected me to. I think that this song relates to chapter eight in Dalton Conley’s book You May Ask Yourself very well. This chapter is about gender and how the world perceives the idea of gender and gender roles. In this song, Fergie describes a girl who has gone through a breakup. This song relates to chapter eight very well because the gender section talks about how women are expected to act and portray themselves. There is a lot of change happening in the country about gender roles and gender stereotypes. People are trying to end gender roles, and expectations of people just because of their gender. I felt that this song would be appropriate to write about since gender issues are very prevalent today. Conley defines