We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement

by Andi Zeisler Narrated by Joell Jacob

Overview

Today, feminism is no longer a dirty word, and women purporting to stand up for women's equality now include high-powered names like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Emma Watson. Hip underwear lines sell granny pants with "feminist" emblazoned on the back. In every bookstore, there are scores of seductive feminist how-to business guides telling women how to achieve "it all." Meanwhile, access to abortion clinics is growing ever more difficult for many women across the country, and Arizona has passed a law requiring doctors to tell women undergoing an abortive procedure about a junk science method of "reversing" abortion espoused by the Tea Party right. Feminism has gone mainstream, but true equality is never an easy sell.



Here Andi Zeisler exposes how feminism has transformed into something barely warranting the name, ignoring the many for the one, shamelessly colluding with market forces and popular culture. Witty and fearless, We Were Feminists Once is the story of how we could have let this happen, and where we go from here.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

02/29/2016
Zeisler, cofounder and creative director of Bitch Media, explores the history of feminism in the media over decades of resurgence and backlash, with a critical eye toward its commercialization and sanitization. She explores the ways advertisers have marketed products to women, from second-wave-era Virginia Slims cigarettes and Secret antiperspirant to contemporary “empowertising” that pays lip service to body positivity and posits that “any choice is a feminist choice.” Zeisler deems the 1970s “the golden era” of feminist television and celebrates the Norman Lear–produced programs that paved the way for Roseanne and Murphy Brown in the 1990s. She then eviscerates The Bachelor’s “interchangeable beauties... pledging instantaneous love for an equally vague mass of square jaws and biceps.” Zeisler also artfully blasts “postfeminists,” such as theorist Camille Paglia, who treat feminism like “an outdated personal accessory”; the current culture of elite women’s conferences poisoned by corporate sponsorship; and the 1990s devolution of Riot Grrrl’s punk spirit into the fangless Spice Girls ethos. Other topics include the dearth of opportunities for women in the film industry, the Bechdel test, and Spanx. Zeisler also takes on hollow celebrity feminist culture, in a chapter amusingly titled “Our Beyoncés, Ourselves.” Zeisler’s analysis of what she calls “marketplace feminism” is acute and endlessly relevant, highlighting the insidiousness of the coopting powers that be, and calling on feminists to direct their resources toward legitimate political action and reclaim feminism as an identity, not something commodifiable. (May)

From the Publisher

“Andi Zeisler, Bitch Media cofounder and feminist samurai, breaks the pop-culture time machine and makes you beg for more.” -Susie Bright, best-selling author and host of In Bed with Susie Bright



“As one of our most passionate and important feminist voices, Andi Zeisler takes on 'marketplace feminism,' a feel-good, newly cool and media-friendly phenomenon disengaged from the reality of our ongoing and deeply entrenched forms of gender inequality. Engaging, smart and provocative, We Were Feminists Once challenges us to take on the gap between glitzy media appropriations of feminism and the significant unfinished business of the women's movement.” -Susan J. Douglas, award-winning author of Where the Girls Are and Enlightened Sexism




“Zeisler's analysis of what she calls 'marketplace feminism' is acute and endlessly relevant, highlighting the insidiousness of the coopting powers that be, and calling on feminists to direct their resources toward legitimate political action and reclaim feminism as an identity, not something commodifiable.” -Publishers Weekly

“With delightfully dry wit, Zeisler carries the discussion of the portrayal of women in advertising, movies, television, and fashion both in the present day and recent history. …This thought-provoking yet sobering consideration of the current state of feminism emphasizes the need to continue to fight for full equality. Highly recommended for readers with an interest in women's studies, pop culture, and the media.” -Library Journal, Editors' Spring Pick 2016



“Spirited, witty, and ferociously incisive.” -Kirkus Reviews



“Extremely insightful…One cannot quarrel with [Zeisler's] conclusion that the actual term feminism, once freighted with images of bra-burning, hairy-legged harridans has now become so lightweight as to be meaningless.” -Jane Hailé, New York Journal of Books

Library Journal

03/01/2016
Zeisler (cofounder & creative director, Bitch Media) explores feminism's current surge in pop culture popularity while questioning whether the increased visibility truly advances women's rights. The author first focuses on "marketplace feminism," a form of feminism that has been repackaged and rebranded so as to be easy to digest and nonthreatening to the status quo. With delightfully dry wit, Zeisler carries the discussion of the portrayal of women in advertising, movies, television, and fashion both in the present day and recent history. Additionally, she looks at current events and issues, highlighting areas in which marketplace feminism has glossed over women's rights issues thereby neutering the resulting conversation. Other topics analyzed include girls' education, the gendering of toys, the role of body image, and feminism as a political movement as well as the concepts of choice and empowerment. Ziegler argues that this type of feminism is detrimental to the movement, since it doesn't force society to confront the underlying structural topics that cause gender inequality. VERDICT This thought-provoking yet sobering consideration of the current state of feminism emphasizes the need to continue to fight for full equality. Highly recommended for readers with an interest in women's studies, pop culture, and the media. [See "Editors' Spring Picks," LJ 2/15/16, p. 28.]—Rebekah Kati, Durham, NC

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170957132
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	05/03/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

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