#WCW All Month Long by Jessica Smith

#wcw All Month Long

By Jessica Smith

As March is Women’s History Month, it is time to honor those women who have made a difference in the world.

But to me, it is also a time to honor and bring attention to some women whom we have grown up watching and who continue to strive for equality.

My top “women crushes” this month are Emma Watson, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and, though you would never have heard it from me several years ago, Taylor Swift.

Emma Watson has been a huge influence in my life since the first Harry Potter film came out. As a lifelong fan of the series, I began to idolize Watson, who so faithfully portrayed the unapologetic brainiac, social justice advocate, and overall badass lady, Hermione Granger (let’s face it: Harry would have died, or worse, been expelled, long before Voldemort’s return without Hermione.)

Now, at age 24, she is a UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador, Brown University graduate (with a degree in English Literature, might I add!) and will soon be acting as Belle in a live-action retelling of Beauty and the Beast. She is humble, extremely intelligent, and is using her fame for positive change in the world—not just in Hollywood, but across the globe. She is pushing for gender equality in the developing world, not just in the western world, and strives to rebrand feminism as what it always should have been: solidarity between all genders, for the benefit of all humanity. As a soon-to-be 22 year old, I am in awe of all that she has accomplished, and hope that I can achieve just one fraction of it in my own life.

Beyoncé is another woman who I grew up admiring, ever since the Destiny’s Child album “Survivor” was a constant soundtrack to the endless foosball tournaments between my sister and I. Songs like “Independent Women, Pt. I” taught me, as a young girl, to take pride in my accomplishments as an individual, not just my romantic conquests. They taught me to love myself with songs like “Bootylicious” and to let go of the petty conflicts and move on with “Survivor.” And, later, their song “Say My Name” taught me to confront dishonesty and value myself, not to allow others to treat me as disposable.

Beyoncé continues to act as a role model for all young women to this day. Though she is married to Jay Z, another artist, she still does her own thing and owns the stage in her own right. Not to mention, she fully claims the label of “feminist.”

Beyonce may be known as “Queen B,” but hip hop and rap have another queen as well: Nicki Minaj. While some women may discredit her for her overt sexuality, I think that her use of sexuality is definitely empowering. She owns her body and uses it to incite conversations. Exhibit A: the artwork of Anaconda, which caused a huge controversy and tons of censorship. Minaj immediately responded by comparing the reactions of people to similar depictions of white women, which are seen as acceptable.

Minaj always has control when she is being sexualized in her videos. In fact, Nicki is quoted as saying, in reference to an iconic moment in Anaconda’s music video: "At first I’m being sexual with the banana, and then it’s like, ‘Ha-ha, no.’ It was important for us to show in the kitchen scene, because it’s always about the female taking back the power, and if you want to be flirty and funny that’s fine, but always keeping the power and the control in everything.”

Her mission is not just about empowering and taking back female sexuality, though; she is also very into supporting young women, especially her fans, to empower themselves, get a good education, and take part in healthy relationships. “I love my females,” Minaj said in an interview. “I give them confidence to say ‘I am me, take it or leave it, I love it and I don’t care what you think about it.’” She is often telling her young fans to do their best in school, study for exams, and go to college if they have the opportunity—an opportunity Minaj herself did not have.

And, despite that lack of higher education, Minaj is wise and always ready to confront stereotypes and double standards, as well as encouraging others to do the same:

“My advice to women in general: Even if you're doing a nine-to-five job, treat yourself like a boss. Not arrogant, but be sure of what you want - and don't allow people to run anything for you without your knowledge.”

Finally, let’s talk T-Swift. When I was in high school, I had some seriously mixed feelings on this country-pop princess. I really liked some of her music, but she had a reputation for dating men, breaking up, and writing and singing her sob stories about them. Honestly, the biggest problem I had was with her song “Mean,” which struck me as petty, encouraging female-to-female hostility, and just immature.

But throughout the past few years, we have watched Taylor grow up and mature in so many ways. Whereas “Mean” seemed to call out and incite drama with whoever it is about, today she avoids petty conflict. For example, although she apparently has no love for Katy Perry, she refuses to feed the media’s fire by talking trash about the other singer. And while she was, in the media’s eyes at least, a little “boy crazy” for a few years, she now says that she wants to stay single for a few years and just have fun. What time she spent with boyfriends and flings before, she now seems content to spend with a group of gal pals, or all by herself, pursuing new hobbies: painting, working out, talking about cats...

Even looking at her lyrics side by side, we see true growth and maturity. (Link here) While older songs might have a hint of slut-shaming (“Better Than Revenge,” I’m looking at you), boy obsession, etc. there is much more to her songs, then and now.

What we can learn from Taylor Swift is that people won’t always get us, or even try to get us. For example, in a recent interview, Taylor addressed the talk about her ‘boy bashing songs’ which are really just songs of heartbreak from a female point of view. She said: “People have to simplify things. Everybody’s got busy lives, they don’t have time to form a complex opinion of me and my music.” In other words, people are always going to misunderstand you. The best thing you can do is “shake it off,” ignore the haters, get a strong group of girlfriends, and love yourself. Oh, and get a cat, or ten.

Who are your women crushes? Take at least a few minutes this month to think about your female role models, past and present, and think about what they have taught you about being a woman and a human being. And think about what kind of role model you want to be for the girls in your life.

Meninism—Who is to blame for men’s problems? By Jessica Smith

Meninism—Who is to blame for men’s problems?

by Jessica Smith

Negative responses to the feminist movement are nothing new. One backlash movement that began in 2013, but seems to have picked up speed and garnered more attention in the past few months, is “Meninism.”

#MeninistTwitter first started trending on Twitter on December 16, 2013, in the United States. Since its beginnings, this “movement” has been disorganized and disoriented. Some self-proclaimed meninists said they were attacking feminism and the hypocrisy they saw in the women’s rights movement. Others said they were making their own version to bridge the gaps of gender inequality that males experience, which go unseen by women’s rights activists.

Some early tweets, gathered by the BBC in December of 2013, included:

“I am a strong, independent man and I don’t need no woman to make me happy!”

“It’s not cheating if they’re both your girlfriend.”

“If you wanna be married so bad, why don’t you buy my ring and propose to me?”

“It’s December...why didn’t you bring your own jacket?”

As you can tell just from this small sample, the concerns posed by these men range from the silly to the disturbing. Some are definitely worth consideration, but the problem is that many of the problems these men have can be traced back to the toxicity of traditional gender roles and the expectations these place on both men and women.

For example, the first one is obviously mocking the “strong independent woman who don’t need no man” trend. What the man here is failing to recognize is that, for a woman to say that she doesn’t need a man is a way for her to fight back against traditional gendered expectations, which alienate and make invisible single women—single men have never risked being looked down on as a “crazy cat lady,” an “old maid,” or a “spinster.” On the contrary, a man who does not need a man is fitting the status quo; men have always been able to support themselves without a heterosexual partner, and in fact are in some ways respected more for not “tying themselves down.”

Meninists seem to be part of a younger offshoot of Men’s Rights Activists, a group who claim to be fighting for gender equality but in fact spend most of their energy doxing feminists who speak up or whining about custody laws. While there are concerns over the inclusiveness of feminism, the men’s rights movement is probably ten times worse. All of their issues are those central only to the white, middle-class, cisgender male, with no concern for transgender men, men of color, or gay/bi/asexual males.

The majority of the tweets and posts related to Meninism bash women for expecting men to pay for dates, open doors, or make the first move. They also point out the double standards between men and women: for example, women expressing a preference for taller men. I could go on and on about this—I myself had a preference for taller men for the longest time, simply because it is expected that in a heterosexual relationship, the female should be petite, cute and, well, feminine, while the male should be taller and stronger. Our society constantly reinforces this idea. However, meninists have jumped on this, saying that if women are allowed to only date taller men, that should basically give men permission to call overweight women fat cows and pretend that they don’t exist.

Kat Blaque noticed the same trend in these meninist posts. In her YouTube video, #MeninistTwitter and Anti-Feminism, she says: “What I’ve noticed from a lot of men who criticize feminism is that almost everything they talk about refers to a romantic or sexual situation they have with a woman and menimist tweets are almost exclusively that.”

Blaque goes on to state: “What these men don’t seem to understand is that feminism is already fighting against these things.”

Essentially, the men jumping on the Meninist bandwagon are failing to understand where the expectations being put on them—to be gentlemanly and chivalrous—are coming from. Today, many women don’t care if you pay for the date, as long as you are a nice guy. And I don’t mean a “Nice Guy,” like “I’ll be nice to you with the expectation that my Kindness points will go in and you will put out.”

Men, before you put on that #Meninist shirt, do a little more research. Look past the first level feminism you see so much on Tumblr these days. Talk to one of your female peers or classmates and try to really listen to what she is saying; maybe you will learn that, underneath everything, women are the same as you, with the same hopes of being respected and spoken to as human beings, not sex machines.



Want more information? Watch Kat Blaque's video: here