General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why "fun feminism" should be consigned to the rubbish bin [View all]Prism
(5,815 posts)What old school feminism has accomplished - and it should not be sniffed at - is putting this pendulum in motion. It will invariably swing too far in one direction. Right now, there's a hypersexualization in culture. But this hypersexualization isn't merely limited to women. Men are right there with them. If anything, I find young men and women behave more alike nowadays - and that is a kind of equality. It may not be the kind envisioned twenty or thirty years ago, but there's no denying men and women are becoming more similar over time than different. This is progress. No progress is perfect or exactly where we thought we were going. When has it ever been? But bemoaning "Wait, I didn't know they'd do that!" Horse, barn, etc.
However, just as freedom allows Generation Y to grope their own way forward, there will invariably be a reaction against it and an adjustment. The pendulum will move the other way, and women will collectively scrap together a new idea of what it means to be empowered and valued.
My one problem with pieces like these, however, is that they are narrowly focused on pop culture. Pop culture can be indicative of trends, but it can also stereotype like the Dickens. While I know plenty of young women who behave as the article describes, I also know plenty who do not, women who have grasped at their sexual freedom without taking it to the volume the author decries.
Think of gay men. For every club-hopping fashionista who's having fabulous sex with a new man every week, there are four other gay men sitting at home with their boyfriends watching 30 Rock. But what image prevails? And what image do cultural commentators always reach for when bemoaning Where The Community Went Wrong?
There's a laziness here, an almost intentional lack of nuance and subtlety. Yes, some women are going wild. But how many? Most? I wouldn't say most. A noticeable bunch, certainly, and there are a few cultural trends that are worrisome, but hedonism is a strong word, and I think the authors are giving too much weight to this aspect of Generation Y's feminism.
I see a lot of sexually liberated young women out there. I do not see roving bands of cosmetic surgery obsessed bimbos. They're the exception. They stand out because they are the exception.
I don't think the authors are giving today's young women nearly enough credit. They're not graduating college in record numbers by boobage alone. It's weird to see feminists intimating that that is too much the case.