Englightened Feminism response

If ever there was an article I wished I could plaster around every common place on this campus, this is it. This article successfully highlights so many truths about our society, how feminists are viewed and what girls are taught/brainwashed into believing. Yes, you can become a lawyer like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, but don't expect your story to go like hers. And how did she get into Harvard anyway? By using her natural assets to convince the male Harvard admissions panel to "diversify" their student demographics. But when you graduate from law school girls, don't expect to be as immediately successful as her or begin your own company. No, that creepy old guy who hit on you probably would be your boss, or another guy just like him.

Like the example given above, when I read this article I began to think about the role models and ideals that the media began giving to girls around my age (and slightly younger) as we were growing up. For starters, we had the beautiful Elle Woods, the Bratz dolls (a very popular line of questionable dolls, who--in their defense--were supposed to become famous fashion designers and models), Anne Hathaway in the Princess Diaries (who was still a wonderful, intelligent person who had to abandon her looks to conform to the royalty image), etc. Meanwhile, certain rappers and musicians began to glorify and objectify the female body in all of their lyrics and videos, so that those subtly coded lyrics became all too clear once you flipped the channel to Vh1 or MTV. And did the parents still buy these products? Oh yes they did.

So as the article mentioned, the companies and media successfully "bought both girls and women off" by presenting the image of wholesome or fun or hip products, while letting its true colors show to the young girl/teenage population. What was once inexcusable became hidden by the flashy lights, hip beats and "fun" dialogue emanating from the product. Thus, although the media started this whole bad-mouthing of feminism, the complacency and lack of authority on the parent's part to look over what was being advertised to their children, as well as our own susceptibility to these gimmicks, is what led to this problem in the first place.

I really wish more people paid attention to what was being presented to them instead of blatantly saying "I like it" and then buying it...or buying into it.