They’re not stupid girls - Page 2
From Griffith REVIEW Edition 13: The Next Big Thing
© Copyright Griffith University & the author.
Written by Vivienne Wynter
THESE FINDINGS WOULD NOT NECESSARILY TRANSLATE directly to Australia, with its highly masculinised culture, but some of the value shifts voiced by young people in Britain are evident in Australia.
For example, Sydney magazine editor Louise Stansfield is twenty-seven years old and an articulate spokeswoman for her generation. She edits Frankie, a successful magazine going into its second year that is targeted to women in their twenties. Frankie has a rebellious tone and offers an alternative to what Stansfield calls "formulaic, stereotypical publishing". Frankie is an interesting mix of fashion, art, popular culture and think pieces written by young freelancers. It might juxtapose a piece explaining in simple language the situation in the Middle East with an article on the best second-hand shops along the East Coast for buying funky sunglasses. The magazine's slogan is: "Change is one thing I don't mind." In short, Frankie mixes it up and celebrates the choices young women have today.
Stansfield, who took women's studies at university, attributes many of the freedoms she enjoys today to feminism, but doesn't call herself a feminist. She has a more thoughtful approach to gender issues than perhaps some of the older feminists give her generation credit for. "I wouldn't associate myself with Germaine Greer. She represents an unbalanced view of feminism. She comes across as anti-men. I wanted Frankie to be man-friendly."
(The editorial of one issue says the magazine was called Frankie as a gesture of welcome to male readers.)
"When Greer criticised Australian women for not protesting about that Holden ad, I felt really angry because she was patronising Australian women as a whole. Does she really think we are stupid enough to take that ad seriously? The ad didn't take power away from women; it took power away from Holden. The men in my life don't support those ads - they are smart and educated and believe in equality. They are not old school," Stansfield says.
Stansfield's views and values have gained serious traction with her target audience. Young women and men have written to the magazine and to forums like Triple J and web logs expressing their approval of the Frankie ethos. Fourteen-year-old Alexis emailed Triple J to say: "It's simple yet effective. No Paris Hilton, just real shit and I love how it's so eccentric ... no bullshit about boy/girl relationships and Jessica Simpson style makeup and wishy washy clothes." Josie wrote: "I'm a fifteen-year-old living in a world where people assume teenage girls are reading magazines about ‘how to kiss a boy with braces'. I hate those magazines with a passion and I pity my friends who read them. Frankie is new and I love it. It's mature, creative and above all it doesn't tell me where to place my tongue in his mouth."
"Who's to say I wouldn't be a feminist activist if I couldn't live my life the way I want?" says Stansfield. "But I don't really distinguish myself as a woman. I don't feel restricted in any way. I've never faced any walls in my career. My friends all have careers and we are not under the rule of a man in any way or getting their dinner when they get home. Is that because of feminism? Definitely. I think women my age are travelling well. They have got their heads on right."
IN MY EXPERIENCE OF TEACHING GEN Y WOMEN AND MEN for five years, they do largely "have their heads on right", but they also have some things to learn about the history of feminism. Before they diss feminists like Germaine Greer for being too hard-nosed, they could learn a bit about why the warrior women had to slice off one breast to use a bow and arrow to pierce some sense of justice into men's hearts. It hurts a bit to hear young women say how disfigured the warriors are from the battle for the freedoms that young women enjoy.
But the way Gen Y girls feel about feminism and whether we need to keep lobbying for structural gender equality may change when they have children. Rebecca Huntley quotes a study that found 93 per cent of young Australian women believe that if both partners are working full-time they should share the housework and child-rearing equally, but only 80 per cent of Gen Y men share that view.
For now though, as Naomi Klein, the author of No Logo (HarperCollins, 2000), points out - worldwide the emphasis on activism and politics and social change has shifted from issues of discrimination, sexuality and gender to corporate governance, poverty, foreign affairs and globalism. Feminists don't need to take this personally.
There has been a complex shift in values that has not been mapped in Australia. The authors of the Demos survey of young people mentioned above conclude that, for the women's movement, there is a fundamental problem. "The very identity of the movement is predicated on the need for a separate agenda for women," they write. "In the post-equality generation the convergence between men's attitudes and women's cannot be ignored. Young men and women increasingly have similar attitudes not only to work and politics but even to feminism itself. In terms of political tactics, women's issues should no longer be seen in isolation."
If you look at the Australian women in the vanguard - the under-thirties elite, university-educated and pushing the boundaries - and compare them to the same elite in the past four decades, it's clear that women have come a long way. Young women today have a more sophisticated analysis and framing of social issues, they are more confident, increasingly free, less vulnerable to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. They are not only ordering drinks at the public bars, they are winning pub trivia competitions. They are not deluded about the problems in society, including the continuing problems for women.
After five years of hanging out with young women in a university environment, I find my Gen X cynicism slipping off a bit. I look at young women and young men today as they listen respectfully to each other in tutorials, as they choose to write their assignments on issues of social injustice and write them with great compassion and empathy, and I feel refreshed. I reckon they are alright. ♦