April 29, 2010

10 Commandments of Pop Culture Feminism

Filed under: Media — Tags: , , — Melanie @ 2:37 pm

Rachel O:

1. Thou shalt not see a sexist, misogynistic ad, say “that sucks” and leave it at that.

2. Thou shalt view all media through a critical lens.

3. Thou shalt watch every movie while wondering if it will pass the Bechdel Test.

4. Thou shalt critique media when it portrays women as one-dimensional, second-class citizens.

5. Thou shalt vote with thy wallet (also known as the “I will not pay $12 to see ‘I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell’ commandment.”)

6. Thou shalt consume shitty forms of media (i.e. tabloids, reality TV) to be aware of what the “mainstream media” is saying about (and to) women and girls.

7. Thou shalt write letters, make phone calls, and send emails to let Dodge know you won’t buy their cars or to tell GoDaddy.com that you’ll look elsewhere for a domain (or ? or ?).

8. Thou shalt utilize social media to get the message out.

9. Thou shalt not feel bad for still being influenced by the barrage of unattainable images.

10. Thou shalt criticize the culture, not the women (employ the pro-woman line).

I’ll add an 11th: Thou shalt recognize intersectionality in every component of media representation, sniffing out and calling them out on colorism, homophobia, heterosexism, classism, racism, ageism, ableism etc.

What would you like to add? Lets make it a full-fledged manifest(a).

Cross-posted at Jezebel.com 5/13/10.


11 Comments »

  1. Oh, how #6 makes me cringe….

    Comment by Lani — April 29, 2010 @ 3:37 pm

  2. Well, it doesn’t mean you have to buy it or consume endless hours to get the gist of what’s happening, right? I did it for 12 years without a television.

    Comment by Melanie — April 29, 2010 @ 5:10 pm

  3. Exactly. I get my news of what Tabloids are saying from Jezebel’s Midweek Madness 🙂

    Comment by Rachel — April 29, 2010 @ 5:25 pm

  4. Or, by simply checking out at the grocery store (sadly, Whole Foods included). But, yes, Lani it is a frightening foray into a twisted planet.

    Comment by Melanie — April 29, 2010 @ 5:42 pm

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  6. Love this! LOL!

    Comment by Feminist Review — May 14, 2010 @ 6:43 am

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  8. I didn’t know about the Bechdel Test, so thank you. Your commandments 9&10 are so important. Though I would suggest that it is not very productive to criticize the men either; it’s the cultural conditioning that’s at fault in men. Social issues can’t go out the window when the child is born; no, children must be raised to expect a better society, even if it means they’ll be different from other kids. Stop churning out chauvinist children!

    Comment by blakerivers — August 7, 2010 @ 4:56 am

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