girls supporting girls
Over the last few years, a huge aspect of teenage empowerment across the country has been the idea of "girls supporting girls". From YouTubers with millions of followers to even a local nonprofit which named itself after the campaign, the influence of those three words has become evident in everyday teenage life. The ideas of slut-shaming, so-called 'quirkiness', and the backlash over Vsco girls have stemmed from retaliation from every corner of the Internet, proclaiming that people find every reason to hate on teenage girls. Of course, this is purely factual, because everything girls do from going to Starbucks or owning a water bottle has become a source of irritation for the world.
The idea that females are criticized for everything they do is evident in 'There is no unmarked woman" where Tannen highlights the fact that within every decision a woman makes, there are a million different ways to be perceived by the public. Every detail of her appearance has the potential to be scrutinized and contributes to her impression before she even is able to move her mouth. Even subconsciously as a woman herself, Tannen starts off the piece by analyzing every aspect of the women at the table she is sitting at. Creating a judgment of who a woman must be purely based on their appearance is undeniably something we all do today.
Reading this piece, I experienced utter jealousy for the men of the world. Imagine being able to float through life essentially free of harsh judgment, not feeling the eyes of the world on you every day. Though this is an exaggeration, sometimes it would be nice not to consider the world's opinions as I get ready every morning :)
The idea that females are criticized for everything they do is evident in 'There is no unmarked woman" where Tannen highlights the fact that within every decision a woman makes, there are a million different ways to be perceived by the public. Every detail of her appearance has the potential to be scrutinized and contributes to her impression before she even is able to move her mouth. Even subconsciously as a woman herself, Tannen starts off the piece by analyzing every aspect of the women at the table she is sitting at. Creating a judgment of who a woman must be purely based on their appearance is undeniably something we all do today.
Reading this piece, I experienced utter jealousy for the men of the world. Imagine being able to float through life essentially free of harsh judgment, not feeling the eyes of the world on you every day. Though this is an exaggeration, sometimes it would be nice not to consider the world's opinions as I get ready every morning :)
Yes Parvathi, don't care what the haters say: JUST BE YOURSELF. Haha, it's nice that there's a campaign where girls are supporting each other. Tannen's piece is still pretty relevant to this day. But I do think men also get judged (probably not as much as women but there are still some out there). In addition to genders, race and maybe age also face judgments. Really, what would be ideal is just everyone being okay with everyone. You know "treat people the way you want to be treated" and "respect others" are the ways to go.
ReplyDeleteI think your blog post really touched on a huge issue in the female community. It's bad enough that women are getting scrutinized by everyone around them, but to have fellow females who should understand how that feels, makes it seem so counterintuitive. Also its almost as if women can never relax and be sure that there is a place where they are marked. In my post, I talked about how being marked is permenant, and I think this issue that you brought up has a lot to do with that. I loved how you brought up how naturally the tendency to judge women is. Great job!
ReplyDeletebro this is fax on fax!!!!! girls need to support each other bc when we let ourselves get tied up in comparing ourselves and hating on each other we just further promote an internalized misogyny and make matters worse! there's only power in union :)
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