No topic is absent from social media, and feminism is one that receives a lot of attention, both positive and negative. The concept takes on so many different roles and is perceived in so many different ways on social media that it actually causes harm to the movement.
Of course, there are pros to the rise of feminism on social media. An article published by the Pulitzer Center titled, “Social Media: A Double-Edged Sword for the Feminist Movement,” states that “social media can be capable of advancing the feminist movement by bringing greater visibility to women’s rights issues… educating people on women’s history and current events, and inspiring people to become activists in the fight for greater equality.”
Social media is great for aspects of activism like that. Accounts like @impact and @march raise awareness on important topics on Instagram. These accounts are extremely educational and provide followers with material to learn and take action about certain topics.
Body positivity has been skyrocketing in the media lately with trending hashtags such as #allbodiesaregoodbodies and #losehatenotweight. Under these tags, women are revealing aspects of themselves that should be normalized in media, like stretch marks or cellulite.
However, these posts are not always widely accepted by the public. It is not hard to find a comment tormenting the poster for their body size or shape. Women on TikTok are especially harassed in their comment sections. A popular insult that men love to use is “fatherless behavior” or “fatherless activity,” implying that a girl who dresses or acts a certain way must not have a father.
Making comments like these belittle women, and frankly make no sense. Men are not the only perpetrators, though.
A recent TikTok trend invited housewives to share snippets of their lives. User @sippystackz posted a video of her daily routine, where she did her skincare routine, made her husband’s breakfast, did chores, went out with a friend, got her nails done and had dinner with her husband. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this lifestyle, but people in her comments seemed to disagree.
@sharankaur.xo left a comment reading, “please do an update in a couple of decades or even one when [you’re] replaced by a younger model,” implying that she is appealing to the patriarchy by acting as a trophy wife.
Sippy did not respond to every hateful comment, but she did to a few with great responses. After user @laurenrives commented, “women have historically worked hard to have education & careers but you do you girl,” Sippy replied, “they’ve also historically worked hard for women to have a choice, haven’t they?”
My personal favorite interaction was @debrosolin’s comment, “Good for you girlie but I would hate to have a life with no professional purpose,” to which Sippy commented back, “Crazy how you can label someone’s life from a 40 second video. My life has so much purpose and love.”
This is a prime example of the twisted idea of feminism that the internet has seemed to adopt. If this lifestyle works for her, then why is there so much judgment? If she is content with her life, then what is the problem? Why are women tearing down other women just because they have differing opinions?
Her comment about women working to have a choice is valid. Just because women have come so far in the education system and career world, it does not mean that every woman must adopt those principles — and it is their right to decide that.
Honestly, it would be quite hard to reverse the damage that has already been done by the internet and its distorted ideas. But if people just stopped being chronically online and adopting ideas from a five-minute video, feminism might have the chance to get back to its point — that all women are equal to men, and gender has nothing to do with one’s capabilities.
ajones11@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Anya Juárez Tenorio, Pexels
