blogpost4

Kristen Coyne

February 20, 2015

I’m Not a Feminist, But…

            In the chapter I’m Not a Feminist, But... from the book Where the Girls Are by Susan J Douglas, she talks about the generation of the 90’s and how feminism was portrayed in that time period. Before the 90’s many women were proud to represent feminism. Women had accomplished so much toward gaining equality over the decades prior to the 90’s, and in the 90’s women are almost embarrassed to be feminist. “Quoting a Time/CNN poll, the article reported that 77 percent of women thought the women's movement had made life better, 94 percent said it had helped women become more independent, and 82 percent said it was still improving the lives of women. So why did only 33 percent of women identity themselves as feminists?” (Douglas 274) This survey shows how much of a positive effect the feminist movement had on later generations. It changed the way women were portrayed in many different ways and although equality wasn’t yet achieved, it was a lot better than before. However, when women are asked if they would identify themselves as feminist in the 1990’s, the percentage drastically decreases with only 33 percent identifying themselves as feminist.  The reason women deny that they are feminist when they are asked is because of the way the media portrays it. The media makes feminists be seen as women who are hairy, man haters and are masculine. Women do not want to say they are feminists because they don’t want to be labeled under these false stereotypes. The media paints a negative effect for feminists and portrays them to be something they are not, and that is why women are ashamed to be apart of it.