"We Were Feminists Once"

(From RIOT GRRRL to COVERGIRL, the BUYING and SELLING of a POLITICAL MOVEMENT)
-by andi zeisler
2016
What happened to feminism?
I mean since the 70s - what the hell happened? How did something that reflects the values of most people become a dirty word? And is the current resurgence just a market-friendly, superficial verisimilitude of a resurgence?
Before zeisler answers that question, let's make this personal. How did my lover, a mature womyn who cares about poverty and racism, decide that feminism wasn't for her? How did my housemate, a lifelong progressive, decide that feminism's victory was completed decades ago?
Reality check - estimates say that a womyn is raped every two minutes. Personal observation - that feels like under-reported bullshit, as half the wimyn i've known intimately were raped. How many of the hundred most influential people are wimyn? Time Magazine's list has gobs of 'em...but it confuses fame with influence (rupaul, colin kaepernick, and emma watson may be molding a few minds, but let's not kid ourselves about their actual influence). The annual "100 Most Influential Business Leaders" list perhaps gets closer, and currently shows fifteen humyns with no Y chromosome. Of the 194 world heads of state, we're at a record-high twenty-two non-penised entries (yes, you're probably stunned the number is that high).
And zeisler's take on this? Flat-out brilliant. She wields laser-like incisiveness that cuts through the hoopla of a media-driven celebrity culture. She deconstructs the current wave of hip feminism - while some genuinely pro-womyn initiatives have sprung up, she reminds us that celebrating the notion of feminism in a market-friendly way is a far cry from insisting on real equality. Ever since nixon quashed the Comprehensive Child Care Bill in 1971, no legislation has come anywhere near making life fair for low-income or single parents (read: mothers). In terms of abortion and bodily autonomy, we've been moving backwards. So is our culture celebrating feminism, or just co-opting it? Dove soap may show more natural female bodies...but they're still hawking wrinkle cream, and the notion that only young wimyn have value! The companies that make feminist underpants, feminist T-shirts, or feminist energy drinks pose zero threat to the status quo. There is dangerous hypocrisy in the fashion/beauty industry using feminism to sell products (including ones that damage wimyn - HOW can high heels still exist??), when they're only exploiting a culture in which wimyn spend an hour more than men each day "beautifying" themselves, and thousands of dollars more each year. Marketplace feminism would have you believe that choice is the same as equality...as long as your choices fall in line with what's culturally available.
So yes, a "Riot Don't Diet" T-shirt is awesome...but feminism's challenging complexity requires deeper dedication than a slogan, fashion, or concert prop. Celebrity/market nods can be a positive thing, says zeisler, but they can also foster a complacency most pernicious.
Don't take my word for it. Zeisler is a treasure.

P.S. Need a feminist laugh?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyeTJVU4wVo