Should We Be Worried About Feminism Becoming Too Trendy?

Thank Hillary Clinton or hashtags: Feminism is trending. Cue feminist-angled trend pieces in the media — some of them well-researched and fair, some of them opinions, some of them (seemingly) written for the purposes of search engine optimization.

This pervasive prominence of female-centric dialogue has to be a largely positive thing. Having conversations about the pre-subscribed roles and struggles women face in politics, the workplace and at home raise awareness of women’s issues and can translate into action, especially during an election year.

It’s also important to see feminist debates springing out of every Internet rabbit hole, and not just relegated to the pages of zines or women’s college classrooms. This omnipresence of voices campaigning for equality helps remind the general public that being a feminist can take many forms, and distances the movement from the ridiculous man-hating stereotype so commonly associated with the F-word.

But with trendiness also comes temporality, misappropriation and the fear that in the rush to be part of a hot-topic conversation, journalists, celebrities, politicians and people in general won’t dig deep enough.

Specifically, trendy feminism can mean white feminism, or a POV that eschews acknowledging what feminism means for a diverse range of women experiencing inequality in different forms. In an article Callie Beusman wrote for Jezebel, she refers to this thoughtlessness as considering “feminism as accessory,” noting that a casual appropriation of feminism “allows for…un-scrutinized hypocrisies to exist in pop culture.” She points to examples like the way Elle encourages young girls to embrace feminism, yet releases their “Women in TV” issue featuring covers with Mindy Kaling, Amy Poehler, Allison Williams and Zooey Deschanel — and puts Kaling, the only woman of color, in black and white.

This lack of awareness of intersectional feminism was exemplified by the short-lived Taylor Swift / Nicki Minaj feud, where Taylor Swift took Nicki Minaj’s criticism of the white-washed Video Music Award nominations as a personal attack and encouraged her to embrace sisterhood. Swift’s oversight is a perfect instance of the mistake many of us might make when hurrying to embrace feminism — realizing that our view of oppression and inequality is not always shared with our peers.

So, how do we stop feminism as accessory? How to we use feminism’s trendiness to our benefit without undermining the movement?

I think we examine all angles of every argument and pop-topic article with a critical eye to better understand the bigger picture. We ask questions to educate ourselves in order to grow stronger in this movement and carry on the conversation so that it’s not just a trend. We may not get it right the first time, but for every one of us messing up, there’s another ten thousand women adding to feminism’s staying power, refusing to let it it slip once the hype is over. Consider #MyFeminismIs — a clever use of a social media platform to help spread the message of intersectional feminism. This hashtag may lose its trending status, but the implications are sure to stick.

As feminists braving the new frontier of the Internet, we can keep riding the popular feminism wave — just as long as we encourage one another to be vigilant, inclusive and critical to ensure that feminism ultimately moves past being #trendy and becomes a timeless condition of equality.

Collage by Elizabeth Tamkin; Images via Vogue Runway, equalitynow.org, Infotainment News, US Department of State, and Wyatt Counts/Associated Press.

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