In the indie clubs and nu-rave gigs, down electro-tinted alleyways and the places where the cool queers prowl, lurks a new plague. As it infects, it turns back decades of effort, making hitherto sane women strip off and growl and men wear pink glitter eyeliner. Its name? TRENDY FEMINISM.
A relatively recent phenomenon, trendy feminism is a growing fad amongst those who like to think of themselves as alternative whilst remaining safely within the indie mainstream. The premise is as follows…
Straight Women: I am alternative and like to embrace queer culture as it makes me feel edgy and, um, alternative. I indulge in a little light gender bending and kiss girls but really it’s just so I feel risqué. I listen to lots of rave music and electropop that has its roots in the kind of music that was Riot Grrl. They were feminists.
I will say I’m a feminist even though I know nothing about it because it must be cool. I will then interpret feminism to mean wearing almost nothing, sleeping around and listening to girl bands. I will make bad-quality zines and stand around in an impenetrable clique, glaring at those who are not cool enough to be feminist.
After all, the fact that I’m out partying and drinking with the boys and not at home sewing makes me a feminist, right? Now I’ll just go and flash my tits to this man next to me- he seems vaguely interested.
Lesbian Women: I am gay, thus I must be feminist. After all, I really like checking women out and I don’t want a man in my life so that must be feminist, right? I wonder if my girlfriend has cooked me dinner yet…
Straight Men: I am embracing elements of queer culture to try and feel edgy and to find an alternative to the usual macho image. I don’t really fit into that one. Being a male feminist means that I’m challenging the structure that tells me to be a certain way, even if I don’t actually care much about women. Plus, if I say I’m a feminist, I’ll get laid.
Gay Men: Since we don’t identify with normal masculinity and don’t want to objectify women, we might as well bat for the other side, so to speak… the feminist side, that is.
Now this may seem colossally unfair and, well, it probably is. I realise that there are many genuine feminists from all of the above groups and that their views and motivations are obviously wildly different to the ones outlined. My problem is with people who do not even know what feminism stands for but use it as an excuse to adopt an identity or behaviour that they are not themselves quite comfortable with, or know is not accepted by the wider world.
Let’s get one thing straight. Feminism is not about female supremacy. It is not about stripping. It is not about a particular kind of make-up, music or fashion. It is not about dungarees and sensible shoes. It is not about any particular sexuality.
Feminism is the search for equality. I don’t just mean the right to work in a bank or use contraception, though both of these are laudable, but rather a search for a way for women to have equal cultural presence, authority and freedom as men.
And in one sense, it cannot be a bad thing that so many people are proud to label themselves feminists. But deep down, it is clear that there is no point in people championing something that they have misinterpreted. If they are using feminism as something it is not, there is a danger that it will become warped or tainted. If uninformed people appropriate a movement for their own ends, it can’t end well.
I spoke to some people on the MSt Women’s Studies course to hear their views and to check that I was not being a closed-minded elitist. One of the students said, “Feminism is just as important today as it was fifty years ago. There may have been political and economic improvements for women but culturally there is still a long way to go.
“Women are still valued on the basis of their appearance, men primarily on their minds. If feminism is misunderstood to mean purely sexual and social freedom, without looking at how people are granted authority and respect, then this gap is only going to widen.
“If people are interested in feminism, that is fantastic. They should read some books and think about it, but going to the right clubs does not make you a feminist. Trendy feminism stands to undermine feminism as a whole by representing it wrongly.
“Some people I know who claim to be feminist don’t think women should work and have kids. Others think feminism is the right to get drunk and have one night stands. I’m far from being judgmental, but I fear that if this is what feminism is reduced to, women will be subjugated forever.”
So how did this strange phenomenon come about? And how can we fix the damage it could do, and is doing?
Trendy feminism has emerged from a certain confusion as to what feminism today is for. There is a split between feminists who want to work on a practical level, setting up rape crisis centres and pushing for female politicians, and those who want to work more theoretically, looking at how women are denied agency and authority on a cultural level.
The practical applications of feminism are undeniably valuable; after all, they are what affects our daily lives. However, I would like to suggest that practical applications of something are essentially useless if there is nothing to apply and, as such, we still need the theory. If anything, the theory must come first.
The debate, however, has created a mist of bafflement that has left a gap into which trendy feminism has rushed, lyrics screaming and lipstick blazing.
Trendy feminism is a direct result of the over-emphasis on practicalities.
In the last few decades, there has been a massive push for women to have equal employment rights. When the current equality laws were put into place, it was assumed by many that the work of feminism was done.
You hear it all the time… “Why do we need feminism today/why are you a feminist? Society is pretty much equal, isn’t it?” Well, firstly, no. It isn’t. Not remotely. Not even on a purely economic level – the pay gap between full-time working men and women is 17 percent.
Secondly, the use of the phrase “pretty much equal” is a let down. Society is not truly, totally equal, and people prepared to accept the current hodgepodge of measures protecting women’s rights need to have a rethink.
But back to the point… when a certain group of people assumed that all practical feminists could sit at ease, job done, they needed to redefine feminism. Lacking the theoretical urge, they chose to move from equal pay marches to dances and songs that revelled in the female spirit.
Whilst women can definitely have fun, the redefinition of feminism as “girl power” seems a little impoverished and shallow – an excuse to sell a few albums, rather than a profound statement of what gender equality means.
So, how can we weed out this trendy but shallow brand of feminism? Well, in the words of former Prime Minister Tony Blair: education, education, education.
Every time someone says they are a feminist, we should question them and push them into understanding that there is more to feminism than wearing mini-skirts or being allowed to go to university. We should encourage women to speak with their minds and voices, not just their bodies.
We should show them that feminism can be fun; it can be an expression of joy about women and their ways; it can have danceable tunes. But it also runs deeper than that, aiming for individual respect, pride, freedom, authority and ability, not just some kind of pastiche of femininity.
You don’t have to study to be a genuine feminist, you just have to think hard about what feminism stands for, how society works, about how women and men are valued and about the kind of image you project.
You have to challenge everything, even yourself, especially yourself, and not follow anyone else’s view blindly. And what you have to do next is ponder, in the bath or while walking home, how relations between men and women could be better. Then you canfinally apply this conception to your life, changing the world in whatever small or large ways you can.
Above all else, genuine feminists stand for complete equality. They stand for freedom for women to be whatever they want to be and to be respected. They stand for the right for all women – yes, even trendy feminists – to go out and dance without fear of objectification, harassment or loss of respect. They stand for both the right to have fun and the right to be valued and respected just as much as men.
So, genuine feminists, show those trendy feminists what it’s all about; get on your dancing shoes and boogie, if you want to, with your minds…
