Do Not Trust the Feminism in Media
By Sophia lee ’24
Click on Youtube to find female pop stars’ performances, and you’ll see that most of the time, their legs are fully shown, with their bodies squeezed into tight, swimsuit-like outfits. The comments either slut-shame or sexualize the women. Turn to a video of a male performer, and they’re likely wearing much simpler outfits. Maybe even just jeans and a t-shirt. And they don’t get nearly as much criticism for the way they dress on stage.
When we think of successful female pop stars, many of them heavily sexualize not only themselves, but also their music. To name just a few examples, Cardi B’s release of WAP in 2020 was wildly celebrated as a feminist anthem. Before that, Nicki Minaj was worshiped as a notorious sex symbol in hip hop. I argue that such happenings are not because they’re empowering or “feminist,” but because they’re profitable.
Just to clarify, I’m not shaming Cardi, Nicki, or any other female musicians with similar musical expressions. I’m also not an old-fashioned person who simply hates all nudity, and I’m certainly not conservative. I also acknowledge I’m writing from a very binary perspective, but I hope to highlight why female and male artists in the pop industry dress and market themselves so differently.
The increasing amounts of nudity endorsed by female artists are, contrary to popular belief, not actually conducive to the feminist movement.
With the body positivity movement came the idea that anyone can be sexy. No matter your weight, body shape, or appearance, anyone can be sexy. This was especially liberating for women. Women claimed they could be sexy for themselves, that their desire to look good and seek face and body modifications, such as plastic surgery, was for their own pleasure. However, when you live in a patriarchal, misogynistic society, such statements cannot be entirely true. Such actions taken by women are inevitably influenced by the pervasive male gaze, which causes women to internalize the patriarchy’s toxic beauty standards.
Let’s imagine a woman is looking at herself in the mirror and she wants to get lip fillers. It’s not to please a guy, she thinks. She claims it’s for her own self-confidence and her own pleasure. In reality, it’s not. Where does the desire to get lip fillers come from? Why would getting lip fillers supposedly increase her own self-confidence? It’s because the beauty standards she saw on social media or likewise, perpetuated by male perspectives on what the ideal woman looks like, made her feel like her lips weren’t large and plump enough. This beauty standard is what makes her feel better about herself when she gets lip fillers: she looks desirable and is in accordance with the patriarchy’s beauty standards.
The same could be said about female pop stars who want to show nudity. In Billie Eilish’s Vogue interview, in which she replaced her usually oversized shirt with revealing lingerie, she claimed, “My thing is that I can do whatever I want… It’s all about what makes you feel good. If you want to get surgery, go get surgery. If you want to wear a dress that somebody thinks that you look too big wearing, f**k it— – if you feel like you look good, you look good.” I do partially agree with what she has to say. After all, it’s my body, my choice. Who cares what others think? But with the idea I previously posed, I believe it is important for women to reevaluate whether they want to do something because they’re operating under the male gaze and it’s what the beauty standards taught them, or if it is truly something they’re doing for themselves.
The pop music industry says that the self-sexualization of women is okay, that it’s okay if she is doing it herself and wantswanted to, that that’s what makes a girl independent a,nd liberated. But if the biggest mission of feminism is to break down the patriarchy, I would like to ask: Did she really want this? Or did she want this because this is what the media taught her to want? Did she want this, or is she continuing to reinforce harmful stereotypes that continue to reduce women as objects of beauty and sex, a historically demeaning reputation for women but not men?
I believe the true liberation and empowerment of women comes not from claiming empowerment when that method of “empowerment” is still playing by the rules of patriarchal beauty standards. When that method is continuing to reinforce harmful stereotypes that continue to reduce women as objects of beauty and sex, a historically demeaning reputation for women but not men. Instead, the method should come from trying to escape, bring down, and be truly free from such standards.
We are more than what we look like. When people say any girl can be sexy, I say girls don’t have to be.
