Diet Feminism

In the last few years, feminism has entered the mainstream and been picked up as a part of pop culture through celebrity endorsements, product advertisements, and clothes with catchy slogans. I can’t go a day without seeing a shirt or a laptop sticker decorated with a feminist slogan. A personal favorite of mine is the laptop covered in a mosaic of stickers overlapping each other, a mysterious allure surrounding the half obscured feminist sticker. Said laptop-owner has exercised enough care to both purchase and place the sticker, but only enough to leave the femi- portion visible.

Though these trendy products often make me roll my eyes, seeing these symbols everywhere is empowering because it reminds me that other people are aware of the injustices in this world and are taking some small step to fight against them. This popularization, however, has also made me stop and think: how does this “trendiness” actually impact the feminist movement as a whole?

In some ways I think it helps introduce more people to feminism by making it a common household term. At the same time, I can see how it waters feminism down to empty slogans and moves the focus away from what feminism really is. As a result of feminism being portrayed in a very vague and broad manner, the concept of intersectionality—the recognition that individuals face oppression from multiple different aspects of their identity—is often overlooked. The merging of feminism with pop culture has helped to create “diet” feminism: Feminism Lite™. It’s like feminism but more palatable and commercialized than the original!

Shirts with slogans like, “Feminist,” and, “This is what a feminist looks like!” are all the rage, as are flashy laptop stickers and buttons. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing inherently wrong with buying and wearing these products if they are ethically manufactured. The true problem arises when this merchandise is used as a substitute for activism by performative feminists, “feminists” in name only. Easy access to symbols of the feminist movement allows performative feminists to gain a bigger footing in the movement while maintaining a comfortably low level of understanding and involvement. Performative feminists toute the slogans and merchandise but none of the values, thus skewing what it means to be a feminist and misleading others into thinking that this shallow level of involvement is something to be applauded.

It’s almost like they’re social justice tourists—making stops at different booths, buying a couple of shirts, then returning home and telling everyone that they saw sooo much of the country and learned all about the local culture. Wearing those trendy shirts makes people feel good about themselves, and this quick self-validation often stops them from educating themselves further and becoming true allies; they feel they’ve done their part by repping the brand. This increasing focus on how we outwardly present our support of feminism takes focus off true intersectionality, thus moving the term “feminism” further away from the root of the movement.

On top of the merchandise with feminist slogans, advertising campaigns have started using “female-empowering” themes and imagery to create the impression that they support social issues and marginalized groups. Some campaigns make an actual impact by partnering with charities and nonprofit organizations who give back to the community, but this is not the case for majority of businesses. Their ultimate intention and goal is to make money, and they co-opt the feminist movement to help them do so while giving very little back in terms of social action.

This move to the mainstream also allows people to be selective in their feminism, producing a culture where performative feminists feel supported and validated. They are seen as feminist simply because of how they present themselves, allowing them to ignore intersectionality and instead focus only on issues that impact them. Because this validation is so easily given, people don’t feel the need to educate themselves further and learn more about feminism, giving rise to white feminism and other problematic stances. Commercialized feminist products make it easy to fall into this trap of only addressing issues that apply to you, because the products you consume are often just about you. When the products around you are focused on just one issue, it makes it easy to ignore other equally important issues. When these products get thrown under the banner of feminism it’s also much easier to miss how said product may be exclusive toward certain groups. For example, the infamous “Pussy Hats” commercialize vaginas as the defining symbol of womanhood, excluding transgender women and gender nonbinary people in the process.

Stickers and shirts are ways of aesthetically showing off your personal brand, but listing feminism as a special skill on the resume that is your laptop is hardly impactful or meaningful. The simplest way to avoid being performative in your feminism is to educate yourself. If you appreciate that quote or image enough to wear it or stick it on your laptop, don’t stop there! Find out who that art is by, read and learn about more of their work, and explore some ways to support their cause. Your next steps could be trying to inform those around you. Authentic feminism is all about investing in feminism by educating yourself and using what you learn to contribute back to the movement in whatever way you can.

by Sona Raju