DIET FE 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!
20
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.
