Pop culture and feminism

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There is no one definite set of beliefs or structure that makes up feminist ideals, it is a collection ideas set to the tone of a common goal, the empowerment and improvement of the quality of life for women. The media shows those feminists who fit popular stereotypes, the most common being the young lesbian feminist. The essays in the course reader and Feminist Frontiers book accomplishes this fantastically, their presentation is personal and non-threatening. Academia has often turned its head at feminism; even at Syracuse University programs that specialize in women’s studies are not held to the same regard as other traditional areas of study.

The basic concept for feminism stems from the desire to remedy the ills of society’s social constructions about women and their role in the general public. For the stigma that is unrightfully attached to feminist works to completely disappear, an effort must be made on the part of society to listen and engage in discourse about the control of power in society. People have to be willing to deconstruct their current ideologies; openness towards alternative opinions would greatly increase the spread of feminist ideals. It has formed an image of feminism as something abrasive, being out of the “normal” SCWAMP ideology of normality and fighting the stereotypes associated with being an “other”

To understand feminism and it theories, people have to be able to relate to the personally to the ideas presented. ” Media attention depicts issues related to feminism such as sexuality in a manner that it makes the average person apprehensive to accept the presence lifestyles that differ so drastically from their own, for fear of sending their lives into a similar turmoil. Today’s feminism is richly influenced by contemporary culture and the social norms of the past, things that are not static and with the aid of feminist ideologies can be improved. Its foundation comes from personal experiences, ideologies, and discourse a far cry from the textbook basis of history or science. It allows and encourages readers to place them in the position and situations the authors describe. Connie Squire explains in her essay ‘Empowering Women? The Oprah Winfrey Show’ that “Openly lesbian or gay guests appear rarely, the show carefully establishes the heterosexuality of well-known guests, and when it addresses homosexuality directly it tends either to problematize it or to mainstream it as a human issue, distanced from sex and politics.

Common topics in this essay:
, Winfrey Openly, Syracuse University, Lesbian Existence, Feminist Frontiers, Connie Squire, Adrienne Richs, social constructions, feminist ideals, womens studies,

Approximate Word count = 675
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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