Feminism and Celebrity Influencers
Feminism has been a social issue for years to this date. The fact that women still get 78 cents to a man dollar seems more than unfair. In more recent days we are seeing celebrities open up about how they feel about this issue. Both men and woman celebrities have been openly for the idea of gender equality. Ashton Kutcher, Miley Cyrus, John Legend, and Beyonce are a few names we all know in the media who are open about gender equality. Sadly, even though these big names are supporting the cause there was a time where not only did celebrities not want to touch on the case of gender equality but they would flat out state that they were not a feminist.
http://www.mtv.com/news/1822259/celebritiy-feminists-pharrell/
Taylor Swift is a known pop star reaching to our younger demographic. She is an idol to many young woman everywhere. Her lyrics are constantly about speaking your mind and she is known to help out her fans with all their everyday problems via her social media platforms. In 2012 when asked if she is a feminist Taylor Swift replies "I don't really think about this as guys versus girls. I never have. I was raised by parents who brought me up to think if you work as hard as guys, you can go far in life." To many this was a huge slap in the face to the power of women. But you have to admit the lyrics to her music are all about boys who broke her heart, so what more did you expect?
http://www.thefrisky.com/2012-10-22/taylor-swift-doesnt-consider-herself-a-feminist/
Once Emma Watson became the UN speaker for #HeForShe more celebrities decided to jump on the feminism train, including Taylor Swift. The Huffington Post quoted Taylor basically saying she has been a feminist all this time stating "As a teenager, I didn't understand that saying you're a feminism is just saying that you hope women and have will have equal rights and equal opportunities. What is seemed to me, the way it was phrased in culture, society, was that you hate men. And now, I think a lot of girls have had a feminist awakening because they understand what the word means." The one comment I have to make about this is that don't speak up about an issue then if you don't understand it's true definition because it will later come back to you. But sadly Taylor brought a true statement. When a common person is asked about a feminist, they have a stereotype played int heir head that it is some man hating person who believes woman should be superior which is farthest from the truth. The idea of feminism is in truth equality of gender.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/24/taylor-swift-feminist-_n_5704691.html
Yet there are also celebrities that call themselves feminist that many look at hurting the cause. Beyonce is known to be a huge influencer to the media. She is probably one of the most talked about celebrity feminists and shows her feminism during her performances. During the 2014 VMA's Beyonce's performance had a huge background of the word "FEMINIST" lighten up.
While some praised her with this stunt many looked at her and questioned her motives as a feminist. Her recent album's major hit was Drunk in Love with featured her husband, Jay-Z. In this song The Guardian mentioned the "lyrics referring to domestic violence and abusive men have passed largely unchallenged in discussions of Beyonce's hit song. That is disturbing." The lyrics had to do with Tina Turner(whose bro name is Anna Mae) and Ike's abusive relationship which later turned into a film called "Whats Love Got To Do With It." There is a specific scene in the film where the couple was at a diner and he ordered her cake and later demanded for her to eat the cake and became violent about it. In the Drunk In Love lyrics stating "I'm Ike, Turner, turn up/ Baby no I don't play/ Now eat the cake, Anna Mae, I said eat the cake, Anna Mae."
As for Katy Perry, while accepting the Woman of the Year award she quotes "I am not a feminist, but I do believe in the strength of women."Much like Swift's 2012 reaction, in 2014 Katy Perry spoke to TIME magian and changed her thoughts on feminism. "A Feminist? Um, yeah, actually I used to not really understand what that word meant, and now that I do, it just means that I love myself as a female and I also love men."
It is evident that the definition of feminism is becoming more understood as an equality rather than a superiority. Now that we have Emma Watson demanding our culture to understand the true meaning behind the "f word", celebrities are slowly starting to voice their opinions publicly in favor of the #heforshe movement.
It's sad but true that celebrity influences will help the younger demographic feel the need to look into this matter and later will have more insight on social matters like this. But, in truth the fact that celebrities are starting to become spokesmen for organizations such as gender equality will help our society be aware of social issues more.
