Feminism is defined as " the advocacy of women ' s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes ' � Despite some peoples belief that it is only based on women, feminism aims to gain equal rights for all people regardless of gender( if you ' re put off by the word feminism sounding more female than masculine, have a word with yourself please) and assists men just as much as it does women. Until recently, many believed feminism was unneeded; it wasn ' t until its social media boom that people started listening and educating themselves on the sociologic, |
economic and political differences that still exist for many people.
This has bought feminism to the forefront of people ' s minds, but mainstream popularity of a serious topic comes at a price. Quite literally, in some aspects; a t-shirt emblazoned with " Yes, We Should All Be Feminists " was shown as part of the Dior collection last year, a t-shirt with a $ 700 price tag. It seems strange that already wealthy companies are profiting from a movement that is dedicated to minimising the gap between classes and financial situations. Isn ' t capitalism and what has come to be known as ' woke couture ' everything feminism is against?
Many high street stores have followed the highend ' s lead and stores like Topshop and Primark are selling clothing with prints like " Feminist AF " and " This Is What A Feminist Looks Like ': complete with emojis of course.
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This is insulting on a number of levels. Not only have these brands treated feminism as a trend that can be displayed alongside their " Tacos 4 LVF " jumpers, but they ' ve also dumbed it down for a teen audience. To imply young women aren ' t interested in anything unless it ' s covered in emojis is weird, and they are more than capable of understanding what feminism is without the use of slang terms.
Despite this, the cringe clothes and celeb shout outs have pushed the word feminism into normal everyday vocabulary, as opposed to a few years ago when not many really understood what it meant. It ' s hypocritical and often screaminducing, but it is getting people talking and at the end of the day the more people who are aware of feminism and what it means, the better. Maybe the popularity of such items will encourage brands to research feminism for themselves, and discover how years and years of systematic oppression,
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protests and women who died for their cause are not best represented by a fun t-shirt. As long as they can understand what comes with the word they are wearing, how it represents so much for so many people, and how it should never be used as something to boost sales then there isn ' t really anything wrong with them highlighting it through their products. Somehow it ' s very clear they don ' t understand that though, isn ' t it? We can hope. |