FEMINISM: IDEOLOGY OR COMMODITY?

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Feminism [noun]; 

"The belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power, and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this state."

Cambridge English Dictionary.

I guess thats a pretty straightforward definition of what feminism is despite the common misconception that feminists are a whiney bunch that like to just moan about men. The word same is pretty key in this definition because put quite simply feminism is about equality; allowing women and men to the same rights and more key allowing both genders to to live the same life. Imagine if women weren't able to work and weren't able to vote? Sounds pretty bizarre doesn't it, but thanks to feminist movements this has been achieved. Of course theres not full equality just yet (pay divisions etc), but the constant support of this movement hopes to achieve this. With female empowerment being pretty prominent in popular culture within the 21st century and celebrities such as Beyonce being quite open about being part of the feminist movement this ideology has become more acceptable which is providing hope for full equality at one point. Instead of being feared, feminism is being celebrated.

To some extent it worries me though how much feminism is being commercialised because of this celebration. I've seen for example girls wearing t-shirts that say 'feminism' on them but have no idea what the ideology is about. Sure its great getting the message out there but I guess it's not so great making £7.99 out of young girls that have no idea about the history of the movement or whats going on on a broader scale. I think I got ticked off more than anything when I heard a young girls reaction to a jumper in H&M that stated feminism was a radical movement for equality. This girl turned around to her friend and said something a long the lines of "I don't care about feminism" when her friend jokingly started waving it around in her face whilst laughing. I guess to some extent I got slightly angry, not at the girl, but at the fact that young girls aren't being educated about the struggles women have had to go through in the past to get to where they are.

I guess the whole point of this post is that it's shocked me how there are girls that are roughly ten years younger than me and still don't seem to have any idea about feminist ideology. What does this mean about feminism? After everything that both women and men have had to go through in the past to achieve equality there is still a clear problem in communicating it all to younger generations. Personal experience wise my interest in feminism stemmed from doing an A Level in Communication and Culture, an A Level that the AQA felt wasn't worthy enough to learn. If I hadn't chosen that A Level I wouldn't have gotten into feminist studies and gone onto further study in university. So with this A Level being abolished it quite frankly worries me where else younger people are able to develop an interest in such ideologies.  Nothing against the likes of Taylor Swift (I adore her) but what does it mean for feminism if the modern girl believes feminism is all about writing lash back songs about boys that cheat on them. I adore the girl but is that what the notion of equality is becoming? Worrying.

Oh and for any younger girls reading this, trust me there is nothing to be ashamed about when claiming your a feminist.