I just finished reading an article from salon.com about the rise of female power at the box office, specifically Hunger Games. I haven't seen it and I've not read the YA novels. Mainly because I'm not a YA at this point and I was burned last time I read a YA novel, believing the hype (Twilight was terribly written).
I'd also been carrying on a conversation with my mother via email, about a different article on salon.com, discussing the GOP's big swing from being the party that signed the nineteenth amendment (women's vote) and is now attempting to dismantle progress by women. It struck me these two articles were in the same online magazine. Its a liberal website, to be sure, the main reason I'm attracted to it. But what got my attention is that while this site is touting the rise of female power at the box office, its also talking about the annihilation of women's healthcare/contraceptive rights. I'm not at all bashing this site, I was just struck by the news they were conveying; women are gaining ground in one arena while totally losing ground in another. I don't think this is because women are changing focus, I think its because movies are considered frivolous. Movie stars are expendable and there's always another starlet to be discovered and the young girls/women who go see the movies and read the novels are considered by some to be just as frivolous.
Starlets equal big business because young female viewers will pay to see them, perhaps inspiring the young viewer to find her own voice and eventually lead her to great things. Yes, this is an enormous leap but take this journey with me, won't you? If the average young viewer sees a strong female character and is then herself focused on forming her own inner strength, might that lead her to eventually get an education, do some self-reflection, grow into a strong women... only to have her strong personality ridiculed and mocked and totally disregarded? And this isn't just about Sandra Fluke.
I was from the post-feminism generation. I didn't have to fight to vote, get an abortion, marry because I didn't have any job prospects. I still encountered moments of open discrimination for having a uterus but it was from a school administration that needed to be put to pasture and were long outdated in their ideas on women.
Are we telling littel girls and young women to be the change they want to see, only to then allow neanderthals completely trample their rights when they come of age? I'm not speaking about just the politicians but their constituents too. Politicians are both playing to their voting base while simultaneously ignoring larger key demographics, namely, single, college educated women.
Why is it this country is all about promoting a positive sense of self in children and then tearing females down when they become old enough to vote? What sort of mixed message is that? What are we as a society to take from these actions?, "you're great just the way you are and can be whatever you want... until you're old enough to have a voice in things and then you're a whore, a slut and too stupid to understand your reproductive choices".
The Republicans seem to be leading the charge against females in general and the Democrats are stunned but can't seem to gather enough garner enough support to counter the fiery rhetoric emanating from the GOP. I'm disappointed with both sides. I didn't think the right would go with archaic issues long since decided and I certainly didn't see the Democrats reaction as being nothing more than a stern finger wagging.
I can't decide if this is a reaction from those who feel threatened by the blurred lines of gender roles, stereotypes being upended and frank discussions about sexuality and responsibility. And if they're not speaking from a place of fear, WTH are they doing? Do they not see the disparity between fostering independent young women who can make their own way in the world, then throw up roadblocks whenever they feel squeamish with progress? I don't think small girls or young women see it (yet) and some of my own friends don't even recognize it. I'm genuinely concerned I'll actually have my voting rights taken away. Don't laugh, I didn't think in 2012 we as women would have to fend off overzealous right wing politicians hellbent on dismantling decades of progress, all in the name of "freedom".
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