Kylie Gillette
Professor Melissa Santos
ENGL 199-003: Women In Pop Culture
20 February, 2015
Anything Goes!
Susan J. Douglas introduces the idea of enlightened sexism in the introduction of her book, The Rise of Enlightened Sexism. She spends a long time talking about what enlightened sexism is, and how widely it is spread throughout mass media. One of the things she mentioned that really stuck out to me is that, this form of sexism particularly expresses itself with a feminist exterior, but actually intends to undo feminism. She also mentions that, with help of this feminist exterior, enlightened sexism allows women to believe that any choice they make is a feminist choice; no critical thinking required! As a result, women think that anything they do is a feminist statement simply because they are a woman doing it, whether it’s wearing makeup or revealing their bodies. Although I would never judge a woman for doing either of those things, it simply isn’t a feminist statement to adhere to the patriarchal standards of beauty and sex appeal. This pick-and-choose, anything goes feminism is actually dangerous to the feminist movement, because while women (who partake in this form of feminism) like to believe they are advocating for feminism, they have, instead, fallen victim to advocating for enlightened sexism’s feminism front.
I believe that this “anything goes!” feminism is a direct result of enlightened sexism’s grasp on the media. This brings me to one of the major points of this course: whether it is empowering for women to sexualize themselves, or if it’s the patriarchy’s hold on women’s representation. While many cases can be made about either side, I believe that enlightened sexism has a grasp on mainstream feminism, therefore making it seem as though being sexually appealing to men is a feminist statement. One of the major points of radical feminism is rejecting and questioning gender expectations. However, in today’s culture, that focus has been lost due to enlightened sexism's idea that women should embrace the patriarchal expectations of them because feminism apparently isn't necessary.
What I am trying to say is that, while women have the right to their own bodies, and can do whatever they want with them, they can’t claim that is a feminist statement. If enlightened sexism claims that it’s feminist to be sexually appealing to men, then there is no way that it can be true, simply because the nature of enlightened sexism is to destroy the ides of radical feminism.
Unrelated: we spent quite some time discussing business women in class this week and I thought I would share these comic strips I found to be really amusing.
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