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.
-UofA Students
Source: Girls On The Edge by Leonard Sax, Basic Books | April 27, 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment