Page 82 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, št. 3-4: K paradigmam raziskovanja vzgoje in izobraževanja, ur. Valerija Vendramin
P. 82
šolsko polje, letnik xxix, številka 3–4
(Ngozi Adichie, 2014) does not translate well into the T-shirts carrying
the same slogan, especially if we consider the fact that those T-shirts could
cost over 700 USD (And are made where? In sweatshops where other
women are being exploited?), although it has been announced that a per
centage of the profits from the sales of these T-shirts will go to a non-prof
it organisation (Hargrove, 2017). So—and this is perhaps the most impor
tant shift—feminism has officially become a thing. It is hot, it is sellable
(Zeisler, 2017).
Another term is applicable here: the so called “empowertising”
which lightly invokes feminism in acts of independent consuming; it “not
only builds on the idea that any choice is a feminist choice if a self-labe
led feminist deems it so, but takes it a little bit further to suggest that be
ing female is in itself something that deserves celebration” (Zeisler, 2017).
“Marketplace feminism has made equality look attractive, sexy, and
cool. It’s transformed everyday behaviours and activities into ‘bold fem
inist statements’” (Zeisler, 2017). As confirmed by Nicola Rivers, “Zeisler
rightly emphasizes the uncomfortable links between ‘marketplace-femi
nism’, capitalism, and the promotion of a neoliberal vision of the empow
ered individual, whereby any decision or choice can be presented as fem
inist, simply by virtue of the fact that a woman chose it” (Rivers, 2017: p.
59). It seems that everything a woman does is empowering —this kind
of diluted feminism is obviously more acceptable, more attractive than
its more concentrated version.9 A new term can be introduced here: in
stead of “consumer feminism” we are now dealing with “choice feminism”,
“but the two ultimately come down to the same thing: that is, if a woman
does something of her own free will—whether it’s pole-dancing or buying
shoes—then it’s a feminist act” (Freeman, 2016).
The assumption of empowerment, according to Marjorie Fergusson
(1990: p. 216), who deals with this and similar assumptions under the title
of feminist fallacies,10 is that a positive shift in the gender balance of pow
er would follow from changes in say media images (i.e., more independ
ent women visible in high positions) and “trickle down”11 as “more wom
en who ‘made it’,—that is, achieved higher-status visibility in the public
9 See Freeman, 2016, for a humorous touch on this. She also says: “But the biggest irony
about empowerment is not just how utterly meaningless—disempowered, I guess—it has
become as a term, but how those who claim to feel it and those to whom it is sold are the
ones who need it least.”
10 Her exploration of the theme is wider, in short, she describes this rhetoric “as fallacious on
all three counts: media content, industry-gender structure, and the public imaging and
record of powerful women in the public sphere” (Fergusson, 1990: p. 217).
11 The term—coined by Tressie McMillan Cottom (according to Zeisler, 2017)—can be
used in economic theory as well. Both, economic theory and feminism, in this way suggest
80
(Ngozi Adichie, 2014) does not translate well into the T-shirts carrying
the same slogan, especially if we consider the fact that those T-shirts could
cost over 700 USD (And are made where? In sweatshops where other
women are being exploited?), although it has been announced that a per
centage of the profits from the sales of these T-shirts will go to a non-prof
it organisation (Hargrove, 2017). So—and this is perhaps the most impor
tant shift—feminism has officially become a thing. It is hot, it is sellable
(Zeisler, 2017).
Another term is applicable here: the so called “empowertising”
which lightly invokes feminism in acts of independent consuming; it “not
only builds on the idea that any choice is a feminist choice if a self-labe
led feminist deems it so, but takes it a little bit further to suggest that be
ing female is in itself something that deserves celebration” (Zeisler, 2017).
“Marketplace feminism has made equality look attractive, sexy, and
cool. It’s transformed everyday behaviours and activities into ‘bold fem
inist statements’” (Zeisler, 2017). As confirmed by Nicola Rivers, “Zeisler
rightly emphasizes the uncomfortable links between ‘marketplace-femi
nism’, capitalism, and the promotion of a neoliberal vision of the empow
ered individual, whereby any decision or choice can be presented as fem
inist, simply by virtue of the fact that a woman chose it” (Rivers, 2017: p.
59). It seems that everything a woman does is empowering —this kind
of diluted feminism is obviously more acceptable, more attractive than
its more concentrated version.9 A new term can be introduced here: in
stead of “consumer feminism” we are now dealing with “choice feminism”,
“but the two ultimately come down to the same thing: that is, if a woman
does something of her own free will—whether it’s pole-dancing or buying
shoes—then it’s a feminist act” (Freeman, 2016).
The assumption of empowerment, according to Marjorie Fergusson
(1990: p. 216), who deals with this and similar assumptions under the title
of feminist fallacies,10 is that a positive shift in the gender balance of pow
er would follow from changes in say media images (i.e., more independ
ent women visible in high positions) and “trickle down”11 as “more wom
en who ‘made it’,—that is, achieved higher-status visibility in the public
9 See Freeman, 2016, for a humorous touch on this. She also says: “But the biggest irony
about empowerment is not just how utterly meaningless—disempowered, I guess—it has
become as a term, but how those who claim to feel it and those to whom it is sold are the
ones who need it least.”
10 Her exploration of the theme is wider, in short, she describes this rhetoric “as fallacious on
all three counts: media content, industry-gender structure, and the public imaging and
record of powerful women in the public sphere” (Fergusson, 1990: p. 217).
11 The term—coined by Tressie McMillan Cottom (according to Zeisler, 2017)—can be
used in economic theory as well. Both, economic theory and feminism, in this way suggest
80
