In the November issue of the British edition of Elle, they began a controversially-worded campaign to “rebrand feminism” by inviting several advertising agencies to “make-over” feminism’s image.
In response, many feminists around the globe slammed the campaign via editorials and social media. They rejected Elle’s use of the word “rebrand” and argued that as issues of gender equality remain goals, there is no need for any kind of image adjustment.
Underlying the criticism Elle copped was the idea that rebranding feminism means a jeopardizing of contemporary feminist goals, which is a reasonable concern. The eye should be on the prize—gender equality through equal pay, equal representation in power, and respect for the female body and voice.
However, while reading these responses to the Elle campaign, I saw some merit in the magazine’s idea. As a young woman at university with other young women and men, it’s not hard to notice the current perception of feminism is pretty negative.
The reality is that in 2013, a lot of young women aren’t down with feminism or willing to identify as feminists. There’s a lack of understanding, and it can be difficult to place feminism in a 2013 context.
Elle put this in numerical terms for Britain. Their research tells us that one in seven women identify as feminists, and six in seven don’t understand why feminism is relevant in 2013.
And why is this? Possibly, it’s because feminism got kind of scary.
Traditionally and strategically, major players in the feminist arena have been intensely vocal and intimidating with their ideas about the place of women. The intensity of these views pushed away and alienated a lot of females.
Possibly, it could be because feminism doesn’t have a representation that reflects all groups of women and isn’t fronted by representatives from a variety of ages, social groups, and races. Instead, the stigma that follows feminism says that its fight belongs to white, intellectual, middle-class women. This is a huge misconception, just as the stereotype of the man-hating, boyfriend-less, gay, angry women isn’t reflective of all feminists either.
The fact is that you don’t need to be an any of these things to understand that a nine-year-old girl shouldn’t find herself married to a 55-year-old man.
You don’t have to be able to cite the differences between first, second, and third wave feminism to know it’s bullshit that, as of 2013, in Ontario women earn 28 per cent less then men do on average, according to the Toronto Star.
You don’t have to be able to debate yourself out of an argument about the ownership of your body when some asshole feels you up on public transport.
In Canada, the reality is that a woman is assaulted every 17 minutes and one in four women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Abuse isn’t limited to some far away country under a despotic regime, it happens right here. At some point, you’re probably going to hear about something like this happening to you, your friend, your mom, your sister, or your daughter.
That’s the way things are, and statistics like this are why feminism continues today.
I’m not crazy about the term ‘rebranding’ but the fact is that if a slight change in the perception of feminism would introduce more women to the cause, it’s a good thing. It doesn’t change the message of gender equality and it doesn’t change the content of feminist arguments.
Like all successful campaigns for serious social and political change, the perceptions of the cause need to remain relevant to a new audience. Otherwise, feminism’s voice will fade as time goes on, and feminism can’t exist without feminists.
But I have faith, the same leaders who critiqued Elle aren’t distancing themselves from the cause. Instead, they remain as feminism’s most influential voices and can be seen as something in which to aspire to, but we need a solid backing of young women to make our voices really be heard.
