What's on our agenda...

We are currently trying to plan a time to talk to teen girls about the Twilight Phenomenon and give them a critical analysis of why Twilight can be looked at in a negative anti feminist way. Our school of choice to talk about this is Nellie McClung in Edmonton. We will update the exact date and time we will be doing this once we gather more details.

A heavy list of alternative feminist reads other than the Twilight Series - where the hero is the woman.

We emailed a Women's Studies prof at the University of British Columbia, Kim Snowden, and she suggested us some readings and a description of each...

1) Angela Carter's The Lady of the House of Love (in her book, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories).
"It's loosely based on Sleeping Beauty yet this fairy tale princes is a teenaged vampire who dreams of true love and "for her prince to come" but always kills the men who visit the castle.  When the "hero" of the story arrives, his kiss doesn't end in love and marriage but it turns her human and she dies.  It's a fantastic story about the passive heroines of fairy tales and an exploration of why passivity is a desired trait in women - I compare this to the passivity of Bella in Twilight."

2) Fledgling by Octavia Butler
"It focuses on Shori, a 50+ year old vampire who looks like an adolescent girl.  She is the most powerful vampire because she is genetically modified to be able to walk in the sun.  The novel deals with discrimination as Shori is black and is not without it's problems when it comes to racialized bodies or sex (she looks like a child but has sex with older men)."

3) Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlene Harris
"These are the stories that True Blood is based on.  Sookie - at least in the books - is a very feisty and strong character.  Again, not without problems but compared to Bella I would call Sookie feminist."

4) Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series
"they push the boundaries of traditional vampire mythology especially when it comes to romance between vampires and humans and they deal with all kinds of sexualities.  There's a great essay in Third Wave Feminism and Television: Jane Puts it in a Box edited by Merri Lisa Johnson that compares Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Anita Blake. It claims that Anita Blake is much more feminist because of the way the books deal with female sexual desires."

5) Karen Chance's series of Cassandra Palmer books.
"Cassandra (who is clairvoyant and has obvious links to Greek mythology)  apparently evolves into a strong heroine in control of her sexual desires and powers and is often compared to Bella."

6) Dracula by Bram Stoker


FILMS AND TV SHOWS:

-Let the Right One In (the Swedish version, not the US remake). - movie
-Thirst - movie
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer - tv show
- True Blood - tv show


Thanks SO much for the recommendations Kim Snowden!

Stephanie Meyer vs UofA Students

Is Bella an anti-feminist heroine?

"When I hear or read theories about Bella being an anti-feminist character, those theories are usually predicated on her choices. In the beginning, she chooses romantic love over everything else. Eventually, she chooses to marry at an early age and then chooses to keep an unexpected and dangerous baby. I never meant for her fictional choices to be a model for anyone else's real life choices. She is a character in a story, nothing more or less. On top of that, this is not even realistic fiction, it's a fantasy with vampires and werewolves, so no one could ever make her exact choices. Bella chooses things differently than how I would do it if I were in her shoes, because she is a very different type of person than I am. Also, she's in a situation that none of us has ever been in, because she lives in a fantasy world. But do her choices make her a negative example of empowerment? For myself personally, I don't think so.
In my own opinion (key word), the foundation of feminism is this: being able to choose. The core of anti-feminism is, conversely, telling a woman she can't do something solely because she's a woman—taking any choice away from her specifically because of her gender. "You can't be an astronaut, because you're a woman. You can't be president because you're a woman. You can't run a company because you're a woman." All of those oppressive "can't"s.
One of the weird things about modern feminism is that some feminists seem to be putting their own limits on women's choices. That feels backward to me. It's as if you can't choose a family on your own terms and still be considered a strong woman. How is that empowering? Are there rules about if, when, and how we love or marry and if, when, and how we have kids? Are there jobs we can and can't have in order to be a "real" feminist? To me, those limitations seem anti-feminist in basic principle." - Stephanie Meyer

    Everyone has their own opinions of Bella - whether she is portrayed as a role model to some or a slap in the face for feminism to others. According to Stephanie Meyer, she defends the character of Bella as not being a negative example of empowerment. She claims that feminism is to "be able to choose" choices for yourself and because Bella chooses to be with Edward she is empowered. Having the power to choose is one important aspect of feminism but the concern is not so much the option to choose but rather how the choices Bella makes reflect who she is. And is this person reflecting feminist or anti feminist ideals?
     There are a countless number of myths associated with being a feminist. You must be a lesbien if you are a feminist. You must hate men if you are a feminist. You must be a hippie that never shaves your legs or ANY part of your body if you are a feminist. It is important to remember that these are all JUST MYTHS. Being a feminist means you believe in equal political, economical and social rights for women - such as equal paying jobs, universal daycares for mothers, and paternity leave for mothers to be at their jobs.
     In terms of Twilight, Bella is choosing to get married and give up having a career, much similar to the role of a housewife of the 1950's and is anti feminist. She clearly makes choices. She is just making bad ones. If any of your friends made choices like these, you would most likely be concerned for them and the obsessive quality of their relationship. But because this same idea of choosing to drop everything is associated with dating a VAMPIRE, there is some sort of appeal to it that makes it sexy. Don't get it. As well, marriage is subjective; one can get married whenever they see fit in life, as long as it is for the right reasons. We are not claiming to know what these right reasons are - but to basically give up her life in Forks as soon as she goes there so that a sparkly vampire can sweep her off her feet just because he is Edward - and on top of that be so willing to give up 1) a career and education 2) friends and 3) family and mortality is painfully obvious not for the right reasons.

As well, the fact Stephanie Meyer is claiming that because Bella is in a fantasy world she is making different decisions than she would in a normal world is pointless. It strays away from the question whether Bella is anti feminist or not because the truth of the matter is that the character of Bella is a role model for teen girls and even millions of adults across the world... meaning she has an impact on the public.

Team Alice!

- Response by U Of A Students

Three Ways You Can Fight Sexism

·         One way to fight sexism is to not buy into sexist products of the media. If you are going to read something like Cosmopolitan magazine, make sure you are thinking critically about what it is telling you.

·         A second way to fight sexism is to point it out. Be aware of it in your everyday surroundings and don’t be afraid to speak up. Don’t let your friends buy into the idea that they are just making a choice as opposed to performing gender.

·         A third way to fight sexism is to educate yourself. You have access to televisions, newspapers and the internet which are all the tools you need to make a change!

Also, if you want alternative reads other than the Twilight series, check out a few of these authors:

Sylvia Ann Hewlett  - http://www.sylviaannhewlett.com/site/about/bio 

                               - Creating a Life - Sylvia Ann Hewlett

Angela Carter - http://kirjasto.sci.fi/acarter.htm

                             - The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter

Francesca Lia Block - http://www.francescaliablock.com/books

                                        - Zine Scene - Francesca Lia Block

Nancy Drew Series — Carolyn Keene

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

                                       

Retrofeminism and Twilight

The right for a woman to choose what she wants to be or do is something that the feminists of the 70’s fought very hard for. They wanted every woman to have the same opportunities open to them as men did.  However, despite how hard these women fought for our right to choose, many women these days are throwing these opportunities aside and turning to an alarming school of thought; Retrofeminism. Retrofeminism is based on the idea that it is no big deal for a woman to revert to old-fashioned gender roles, like those of the 1950’s, because it is her choice to do so.  For example, a questionnaire done at Yale revealed that 60% of their female students planned to give up their career when they had children to stay at home with them, and that they would only consider going back to work part time when their children went back to school, if they went back to work at all! What a waste of an ivy-league education!

 Today’s pop-culture glamorizes retrofeminism. It is very prevalent in the media, showing up everywhere from song lyrics and music videos to books, television and movies.  One television show where this is apparent is TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress”. At first glance, this show appears to represent women from all walks of life, from very traditional, submissive women to strong, independent women. But, no matter what type of woman is featured, all of them want the exact same thing; the traditional fairytale happily-ever-after wedding. They all want the perfect white dress and for their daddies to walk them down the aisle and give them to their husbands-to-be.    

 But it doesn’t stop there. One of the music industry’s biggest stars right now is Taylor Swift. She seems very sweet and innocent when compared to a couple pop stars that came before her (but who doesn’t look like an angel when compared to Britney and her infamous umbrella throwing, hair shaving melt-down?).  However is her sweet, innocent persona doing more harm than good? Yes, there are some sexually overt pop-stars out there, but sex isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a healthy desire that most all humans experience.   By avoiding sex altogether, Taylor Swift may (however inadvertently) be telling young girls the same message that was told to young girls in the 50’s: good girls don’t have sex. Another problem is that her lyrics don’t paint the picture of a confident young woman. The best example of this is her song “Love Story” where she sings of her longing for a dashing prince to ride in on his horse and save her from the horrible fate of being alone, like there aren’t worse things in this world.  She dreams that this prince will come to her and say “I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress, it’s a love story, baby just say yes”.                                                 

Teenage girls are very easily influenced as they are at a point in their lives where they are struggling to find out just who they are. In an attempt to do this, many girls look to the celebrities presented to them in pop-culture, and they begin to see them as role models for how they should want to behave and live their lives.  Unfortunately they are being fed these retrofeminist ideals. One of the worst offenders of this is Twilight. By now if you do not know the names “Edward” “Bella” or “Jacob”, you must have been living under a rock since the Twilight phenomenon has taken over the world.  The danger with this phenomenon, though, is that many people do not understand how big of a feminist issue it is. It seems to escape the minds of the younger generation as being sexist and instead is looked at as a romantic love story. The Twilight series demonstrates sexist gender roles where the man dominates and makes all the decisions, especially in regard to what the woman can and cannot do, while the woman is submissive and yielding to the man. This really starts to become an issue when young girls and women believe that this type of man is an ideal boyfriend despite the sexist standards that are portrayed.       

            There are many examples of how the relationship between Edward and Bella demonstrates sexist ideals by being unrealistic, controlling, emotionally abusive and demeaning. For instance, within the first two chapters of Twilight, Edward and Bella go from being complete strangers to being obsessed and in love within a matter of two weeks.  Bella is willing to overlook his initial rudeness when he ignores her and glares at her across the cafeteria. She looks at this behaviour as mysterious and alluring when really she should be thinking “why is this guy creeping on me, I don’t even know him!” However, Bella is allowing this type of behaviour from Edward. She is performing gender by demonstrating hesitant and passive qualities (such as letting things slide and keeping her voice quiet) which is in turn subtly reinforcing traditional roles of women from the 1950’s where women should be seen and not heard.

 Another example of this is when Edward takes the engine out of Bella’s truck so she cannot visit Jacob. Instead of resorting to ANY other means of getting to Jacob’s house, she decides to obey Edward and keep her voice quiet. What kind of message is this sending to girls and women? Edward tries to justify his actions by saying things like: “Of course, keeping you safe is beginning to feel like a full-time occupation that requires my constant presence.” 

 Not only does Bella allow Edward to decide who she can and cannot be friends with but she also lets him make life-altering decisions for her.  For example, Bella is campaigning to be a vampire from the start of their relationship in Twilight however Edward always denies her this option.  Only when Bella is on her death bed does Edward finally concede to her wishes to turn her into a vampire.  If Bella’s life had not been at stake Edward would not have even considered turning her into a vampire and Bella would have graciously accepted his denial.

 Bella also gets married and pregnant while giving up achieving an education/career just to be with her husband whom she is so in love with. Bella is taking women back 50 years by getting married, having a child at such a young age, and being a typical housewife thus promoting a negative image of women. Just because it is Bella’s choice to get married does not mean it is acceptable to rush into a relationship and get married so soon, which the Twilight series has been clearly promoting throughout the books and movies. 

 The character of Bella is a prime example of following old-fashioned gender roles. When she goes to live with her dad she immediately begins doing the cooking and the cleaning. She doesn’t mow the lawn, or work on cars, or help with the plumbing, she does the duties that were always assigned to women.

            A huge problem with the character of Bella is how she has no confidence in herself. She is constantly looking to Edward for validation in order to feel like a worthwhile human being.  And if he’s not around she turns to Jacob. She depends entirely on these men for her life’s happiness. When Edward leaves her at the beginning of New Moon she goes into a deep depression. She sits alone in her room pining for him, and she starts doing dangerous things so that she can see Edward because his face magically appears to her when she is in trouble. Her need for validation is so strong that after a while of being a hermit she turns to Jacob for comfort because she needs to have a man in her life to feel good about herself, even if she doesn’t love him and doesn’t want to be with him, she is just uses him until Edward comes back. 

          In conclusion, even though most people do not know what retro-feminism is it is present in everyday life. Unfortunately, it is the most obvious in media which targets teen girls as their audience. This is especially evident in the Twilight series.  Bella, being the protagonist in the series, is the character that most young girls identify with. But she is arguably the weakest character in the entire series and displays anti feminist ideals. If girls believe that these are proper gender roles, they will grow up with very skewed interpretations of how men and women should behave and what a healthy, functioning relationship is. Worst case scenario, we will revert back to a society of unfulfilled housewives. In terms of this problem getting better, people must start talking about the issue. Otherwise people will keep acting this way and claim that all they are doing is exercising their freedom to make their own decisions as a way to justify acting like a 50’s housewife.

-UofA Students
Source: Girls On The Edge by Leonard Sax, Basic Books | April 27, 2010.

Twilight Feminist Parody

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9unrtDvsxA


This is an excellent Twilight parody demonstrating how Bella has limited choices and how she is portrayed as submissive toward all the men in her life. However, at the end of each scene the feminist side of Bella comes out and shows how independent she can be. Hope you enjoy and find it as comical as we did!

Twilight under the microscope ...

Twilight Feminist bookmarks made by UofA Students

Twilight under the microscope ...

Twilight Feminist bookmarks made by UofA Students