This morning as I was scrolling through my Facebook home page (lookin' at what people I don't have contact with beyond FB were up to and checkin' out my birfday wishes) I was struck by a post from one of the girls I went to university with (the first time around.)
She posted this: Jean Kilbourne's lecture on women in advertising. And not women who write copy, but how women are portrayed. And what she said struck a chord. I mean, I know what kind of photoshopping goes into making these women more "palatable". I've known for a long time that those images were harmful to the self-image that a woman has. I was more shocked by the subversive copy that went along with it. And how Kilbourne broke it all down. The way that men (and even young boys) were presented in these very masculine poses while the women were always demure. That there was a message that women should be seen, and never heard. And while I'm always rather pissed at advertisers and their portrayal of women, I was even more angry when Kilbourne started pointing things out that I had never considered.
It also got me thinking of how I choose my books, and what kind of female protagonists I'm drawn to. I definitely like the kick-ass-no-nonsense-got-plenty-of-flaws kind of girl. And even those women always have a couple of guys hovering around her. Now, I love me some urban fantasy, as most of you know. And on any day of the week I'll take Elena Michaels (of the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong) over Bella Swan (of Twilight fame). Elena kicks ass, doesn't take kindly to being manipulated and even though she's got an athletic body she still kind of wishes it had more curves. Armstrong created a very believable female protagonist - and not just one, by the way. Armstrong has created a number of great women who all have one thing in common - they know their own minds and will fight for what they believe in. Also? Men tend to take a backseat to these girls.
And then there's Bella Swan. I get the fact that she's a mopey teenager in love. I do. But, come on. Stephenie Meyer has essentially created a female character that has set the equality revolution back by about 70 years. Bella is seemingly unable to make it through life without a male counterpart by her side. She falls into such a deep despair at the departure of her boyfriend that she becomes a living ghost. But then... Jacob comes along and he lures her out of her funk. Why couldn't it have been one of her female friends? And for a girl that is apparently awkward and has somewhat of a low self-esteem, the fact that there are a number of males falling at her feet should have perked her up a little bit. Don't even get me started on the teenage marriage part.
I know there has been a lot of backlash where Twilight is concerned - and, honestly? Rightly so. We should be providing the younger generations of women with strong role models who are able to go it alone and don't need a male to define them. We should be empowering our younger sisters to love themselves no matter what they look like - because, truly, if you aren't beautiful on the inside, how will it ever show on the outside? We should all be reclaiming our bodies from the despicable way that men use them in advertising. We should be rejoicing in the fact that we are givers of life. We are intelligent. We are funny. We are compassionate. We are generous. We are all beautiful. We are women. And we need to remember that it's okay to love ourselves exactly the way we are.
Also?
It's because we're awesome.
