Bryn Pennetti
Editor-in-Chief
Feminism is really coming into a stronger light these days and I am really excited about how supportive the world has become towards strong, newly empowered women. Female heroes are important in a girl’s life. So many women in media and politics today are taking a stand to represent how successful women can really be. But many people, men as well as other women, are still predisposed in rejecting this newfound empowerment.
Take Hillary Clinton for example. She is a strong, powerful, and successful politician who is also an advocate for women’s equality. She is the definition of breaking the glass ceiling. So shouldn’t people be supportive of her career? This isn’t about politics. This is about the fact that because Ms. Clinton is a powerful woman, she is threatening, specifically to men. Throughout her career, she has been continually stabbed by sexist remarks from reporters and politicians, though she has proven her abilities time and time again. She has even been devalued based on her appearance (and why should her haircut matter when she is trying to run for office and discuss serious issues?) In the same way, men in power are consistently taken seriously no matter what they look like. Why are powerful women automatically marked as “ugly bitches” and why are powerful men seen as “go-getters” and “the boss”?
Women are repeatedly put down and seen as less-than in respects to men, and these sexist tendencies are hidden in everyday life. One huge example is the media. Celebrities who are represented in the media are targeted based on their careers. But even though male and female celebrities may have equally high levels of achievement, females are always subconsciously pushed down by their male counterparts. This can most easily be shown through the covers of magazines. Men on covers are celebrated for their achievements, and therefore, are dressed appropriately to match the level of this publicized honor (i.e. clothes on, hair combed back).
But women, no matter what achievement they are being celebrated for, are represented as sex objects- “oh you did such a serious, dramatic performance in that movie, let’s push your boobs together and slap three pounds of makeup to make you more eye-catching!”. Why can’t women wear a classy suit on the cover of Cosmo, sans cleavage? If you’ve earned a platinum record, why can’t magazines highlight your talent instead of your thigh gap? And many of the women on these covers have been edited to near humanless perfection. This is how girls grow up thinking they have to perfect their appearance and sexualize themselves in order to gain importance and attention. But though the media and men devalue women, we are put down even more so by our own gender. Girls in the hallway pass around the word “bitch” and “slut” like nicknames. But by calling each other these names, we are allowing men to call us this as well. We passively give them full power to call us whatever we want because we do not acknowledge the value of those words. They are not positive in any way and have been used to belittle women for years. Women need to begin to appreciate and respect one another. If we do not learn to fight for ourselves, no one else will.
We, as individuals and as a society, have to start learning the significance of encouraging the empowerment of women. Currently powerful women have to become better represented in the media so that women all over the world can believe they can become a CEO without being seen as a bitch.
