Feminism

Feminism and the Media

Feminists and the media have had a symbiotic though rarely friendly relationship. Representing the status quo controlled by men, mainstream media historically attempt to discredit feminism by demonizing or trivializing the issues, the movements, and the women leading them. Going back 200 years, mainstream media depictions of feminists and feminisms mostly are so negative that women hesitate to call themselves feminists. For example, news accounts of mid-20th century “women's libbers” (women's liberation advocates) led to the stereotype of the strident man-hater. Even so, media portrayals of feminists and feminisms helped circulate new ideas leading to change.

Indeed, the success of feminist movements has depended on a media-savvy leadership with a knack for publicity. Feminists in the 1960s and 1970s staged the marches, sit-ins, demonstrations, and “happenings” that became the image of feminism in the popular imagination, thanks to newspapers, magazines, movies, and television. A couple generations earlier, suffragists, in organizing their marches and demonstrations, also understood the value of spectacle in garnering the attention of newspapers and so newspaper readers. Many historically notable feminists were journalists. Mary Ann Shadd Cary founded the Canadian Provincial Freeman newspaper in 1853 to become the first black woman publisher in North America. A century later, Gloria Steinem was a freelance writer before she became a feminist and in 1972 cofounded Ms. magazine.

Outside media owned by women, however, women have been denied media positions of status and power. In response, feminists have targeted the media for reform. U.S. feminist organizers in the 1960s and 1970s refused news outlets access to feminist events unless women reporters were sent to cover the stories. Feminists also campaigned to end gender-segregated help-wanted advertising. Florynce Kennedy established the Media Workshop in 1966 to counter racism in the media. In 1970, a coalition of feminist groups, including Media Women and the [Page 91]National Organization for Women, staged a sit-in at the Ladies' Home Journal (LHJ) to protest sexist management and content. The sit-in led to naming editor Lenore Hershey as LHJ's publisher. Hershey was the magazine's first woman publisher since its founder, Louisa Knapp Curtis, stepped down in 1890. Ironically, during World War II, LHJ adopted what has been called a feminist slogan, “Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman,” albeit a slogan yoked to, first, the war effort and, second, commodification and consumption.

Mainstream media do profit from feminism, including sensationalizing women's movements and capitalizing on feminist celebrities. Feminist books have become best sellers. The growth of women's studies, feminist scholarship, and feminist research methodologies on university campuses also legitimized feminist publishing and media. Moreover, as represented in the LHJ slogan, the media have a history of co-opting feminism for profit. The advertising and entertainment industries dilute feminist themes and issues to cash in on them with mass audiences. This includes persuading women that consuming household, fashion, and even cigarette brands is equivalent to declaring independence, a phenomenon that began with women's magazines in the 19th century.

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