EVA16485665
Visual culture
Question chose: How can visual culture be used to advance social or environmental change? Answer with reference to specific images, placed in cultural and historical context.
The word feminist, in today's day and age, is passed around in sentences that can be the complete opposite of one another. Today feminism in society can be seen as a dirty word, not because it is, but because many people are unaware and unsure of its meaning. For some obscure reason many people today believe that feminists are something of a cult movement that is making a negative change in today's society. In this essay, I will be discussing why this might be and how visual culture can be used to advance or possibly ruin social or …show more content…
This is a great example of shops bringing out clothing with slogans to promote equality of the sexes and shine a light on the situation that is female discrimination. Dior brought out a slogan t-shirt stating the words "We should all be feminists" which is a quote coming from the iconic feminist, Chimamanda Ngozi, a huge fashion statement that created a wave of retail brands to produce similar products. Popular brands such as ASOS, Urban Outfitters, and Topshop have brought out feminist induced products to help with the movement, all huge brands with young, influential target markets. The products read slogans such as 'YES IM A FEMINIST', 'GRL PWR', 'Feminist', and much more. All these slogans seem harmless, which in reality they are, but it's when the slogans become discriminative against men. The biggest example of this is the "The Future Is Female" top which originated in 1972, made for Labyris Books which was the first women's bookstore to open in New York City by Jane Lurie and Marizel Rios. After this, it then gained a viral attraction in 1975 when a photo was taken by Liza Cowan of the musician Alix Dobkin came to light. Since then shops such as Peacocks, Matalan, Missguided, ASOS, and several others …show more content…
I understand that someone may also wear a top with the word 'Feminist' on it to state that they are proud to call themselves that. But whether it is having a positive or negative impact on today's modern feminism is unsure. I personally understand the desire to wear something or own something with "feminist" printed on it because it does feel empowering and give you a sense of pride, but ultimately owning this can mean nothing if you can't back up your outward declaration of "feminist" with critically thought-out, intersectional politics and actions. It gives people a leeway to lazy politics, slacktivism. It allows people a pass to not actually act, but still portray an outward appearance of doing so. And I mean, it is debatably a feminist action to outwardly brand yourself as such, but I don't think it's enough. I struggle with it because I simultaneously think it's