"Madison SOS (Speak Out, Sister!): Reclaiming Feminism for Social Change"
Natalia Thompson
Too often, we-as teen girls and young women-live lives disconnected from reality.
Many of us grow up in a Pretty in Pink world, nourished by ballerina tutus, magic wands, Barbie outfits. We may hear 'you can be anyone you want to be,' but that memo gets buried by the flood of messages reminding us who we must be. We are little girls, not meant to play with action figures, not meant to learn to throw a football before we learn to run.
We grow us in a bubble, really. We become complacent, for that is how we learn to be. Yes, we are fed small doses of girl power (but only in bite-sized pieces). It's not enough, anyways, to compensate for the everyday messages of girls can't do math and blonds are more fun.
Perhaps we join Girl Scouts, or Girl Neighborhood Power, or find somewhere we feel safe and comfortable to speak out-but we still read YM or Seventeen. We are still described as an apathetic generation because: What reason have we to speak up? To DO something? True, women are still shut out of countless board rooms and political offices. True, on television we see men on late-night comedy shows and early-morning talk shows, showing us that men have the comedic talent and brains; women's appearances on MTV and Girls Gone Wild remind us that we don't need brains when you have "these." Yes, this is our world, but what are we supposed to do about it?
That view used to frustrate me so much. I couldn't understand how millions of girls could grow up knowing that the US was standing by while thousands of women were being raped in Darfur, or being stoned to death in Kabul. That the corporations that sold us our food and clothing tortured the little girls enslaved in their factories. That our political leaders didn't seem to care that women were shut out of decision-making here, there, and everywhere. That voters didn't mind policies that kept raped women from accessing abortions, black girls from accessing the same quality of education as white girls, or single moms from accessing the support they deserved.
I couldn't understand how millions of girls knew of these realities, yet still wrapped themselves into fairytale worlds of boys, makeup, cliques, and clothes. Yes, that's what YM, and Seventeen, and ELLE, and TeenPeople told girls mattered. But, I reasoned, they were the ones who chose to read those magazines. They chose to remain complacent.
Am I exaggerating? In some ways, yes. Not every teen reads Seventeen (although over two million girls do). And certainly not every girl is complacent-fortunately, millions of girls are protesting against the Iraq War, signing petitions to save endangered species, campaigning for feminist politicians before they're even old enough to vote, and launching girl-cotts against offensive corporate giants like Abercrombie and Fitch. Girls are writing for magazines like New Moon and Teen Voices and participating (or founding!) programs like Ophelia's Voice, PEARLs for Teen Girls, and Sista II Sista. They watch women like Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Geena Davis reach towards the Presidency (while Michelle Bachelet, Portia Simpson-Miller, and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf show the world that women CAN be Presidents).
But things are still not cool. As Jessica Valenti writes in Full Frontal Feminism, the book she wrote to show young women that feminist really ain't dead: "Seriously, are things really cool when so many of us are upchucking our meals and getting raped and beat up and being paid less money than men? And being denied birth control, and being told not to have sex but be sexy, and a hundred other things that make us feel shitty?" Even for the most privileged girls around, Jessica among them, things aren't that great. In 2000, for example, a study by the Body Image Project found that regardless of class standing, the percentage of girls who say they are "happy with the way I am" drops from 60% to 29% between elementary and high school.
How did this happen? For starters, magazines (ahem, Seventeen and its counterparts) that tell you that no matter what you do, you just ain't pretty enough (a Girls Inc. survey of 21 popular teen magazine covers found that 78% contained messages about physical appearance and beauty). Media outlets that label women who speak out as 'bitches,' and women who act a tad too sexy (or, god forbid, like they actually enjoy sex) as 'sluts.' Clothing designers who have the brilliant ideas to create tees proclaiming, "math makes me dizzy" (because they know these shirts sell).
Why did this happen? The fact that our culture has a history of misogyny is just the tip of the iceberg. It's sad and surprising, though, that decades after feminism revolutionized the lives of girls and women, Time asks, "Is feminism dead?" (And answers in the affirmative.) The thing is, the f-word (feminism, that is) continues to be, in so many ways, the answer to so many of the problems girls face today: the eating disorders, the cutting, the political apathy, and so much more.
I'll be the first to admit that feminism has earned bad rep (thanks, in many ways, to an unforgiving mainstream media). To many girls, feminism is something man-hating, hairy lesbians did in the Seventies. Regardless, this stuff is more about common sense, anyways.
As Canadian teen Joanne Cave wrote when she founded Ophelia's Voice, an education and discussion group for teen girls in her community, "I wanted to give the docile, eager-to-please Ophelia from [Shakespeare's] Hamlet a voice of her own-to stop oppression, share her opinion, and speak out." That's what girls really need: a chance to get together and realize that they share the same struggles, frustrations, and dreams.
Inspired by Joanne (and so many other girls and women who are doing best to buck the patriarchal status quo), I decided to start my own youth-led group in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. Madison is known for being a hotbed of progressive liberalism, yet its teen girls certainly aren't immune to the struggles with body image, nor from a disinterest in the rest of the world (read: politics), among other issues. I saw a community that wasn't doing the best job of listening to girls' voices. Decision-makers didn't exactly seem to be asking themselves, "Hmmm, I wonder what's best for girls?"
Last April, at age 15, I founded Madison SOS (Speak Out, Sister!) as a discussion, education, and empowerment group for local high school girls. In May, we began receiving applications from a diverse group of girls from across the city. We'll learn about and discuss issues like body image, feminism, identity politics, women in pop culture and the media, and global human rights. We'll learn from local activists how to create change to address the community issues that most matter to us. We'll learn how to stand up and speak out for what we believe in.
Like any other form of youth-led social change, Madison SOS has had its share of challenges. No earth-shaking force has come to our aid. No rich widow has donated a million dollars to Madison SOS.
Not that I expected any of that-I just didn't realize things would be this difficult. Fortunately, I've heard from many wonderful girls and women who are ecstatic that a program like Madison SOS exists. Reporters are starting to listen. Businesses have begun sending checks. The support feels good.
Most of all, it feels good to discover how awesomely uncomplicated it is to stand up for what we believe in. In fact, it often seems much easier than languishing in passivity.