We all have the wrong idea about who our feminist icons should be
Why look to celebrities when we have ourselves?
‘Feminist icons’ seem to be plastered all over social media: Beyonce, Lena Dunham, Amy Poehler, Shailene Woodley, Miley Cyrus, Emma Watson—the list goes on.
The people we tend to idolize as the ultimate feminists are often female, white (with the exception of Beyonce), straight, and wealthy. While these women may take action for the sake of feminism in their own amazing ways, narrowing down our icons to just a select demographic can be very problematic. We can admire these women to no end, but the reality is that we will simply never be these women. Most people will never become rich or famous, and there are so many more races, genders, and sexualities than just a straight white woman.
If we can’t be those celebrity feminist icons, who should we turn to in hopes of finding the ultimate feminist?
Ourselves. We should look to one another, and use our differences to empower us.
Feminism often deals with issues that affect the common person (i.e. equal pay, health care, job opportunities, domestic violence). This is not to say celebrities cannot be affected by these issues, but these issues hold much higher significance to the average person, who is most likely not rolling in more money than they can comprehend. While it is great that we have these people speaking out for the sake of equality, the reality is that we need to do it for ourselves. We need to be the change we wish to see in the world.
Celebrities often have many more advantages and privileges than the average person, so striving to be like that type of icon can be extremely problematic. It results in the idea that we will never be them, so the average person’s type of feminism will never be as successful.
This idea is simply is not true—all throughout history, we see groups of average people coming together to demand change. Quite frankly, this is how shit gets done. We need to come together, lift each other up, and empower each other. We should be our own feminist icons. We are the ultimate feminists.