Teens and Feminism: Background information when reading Glory O'Brien's History of the Future

Teens and Feminism

This article relates to Glory O'Brien's History of the Future

In an interview at Book Riot, A. S. King (Glory O'Brien's History of the Future, 2014) says:

I am still a believer in the original feminism. You know the one - the one that simply wanted equal social, political, and economic rights for women. I love men. I love other women. I love people. I don't think feminism means we have to hate anyone and I have yet to meet a feminist who thinks this. But the word got muddied along the way. People started taking sides. Here's a story: I once worked with a woman who claimed that a co-worker wasn't a "real" feminist because that co-worker wore lipstick. At the time, I didn't shave my legs, but this finger-pointing woman did, so in trying to make my point that feminists don't have a rulebook, I said, "But you shave your legs." She said, "You would too if you were Greek." My point in telling this story is: Look at the absurdity. I've never understood women pitted against other women when we all have a common cause. Free and equal. Free and equal. That's all I want to see.

In the same interview, King outlines four pieces of advice for teens: 1.) High school does not define you. (Neither does college.) 2.) What people do to you is not your fault. 3.) Conforming makes you weaker over time. 4.) Only you can make you happy. King's thoughts about feminism and her advice for teens overlap. She believes that all people are equal; that all deserve an equal chance at living up to their own unique potential; and that rules or codes that divide people into groups or categories, at the expense of their individuality, are suspect. About the future, King says she is a realist who also has hope, and it is clear that she sees that hope and potential in teenagers. And if someone were to ask her what today's teens think about feminism, I believe she would suggest finding some teens to speak for themselves.

Here are a few of their voices:

1. Jules Spector's blog is called Teen Feminist. She is a teen advisor for the United Nations Foundation organization Girl Up, which nurtures girls in the United States and supports girls in developing countries. Jules began her blog, she says, to make sure other teen feminists didn't feel alone:

   Feminism has taught me...to accept others' different opinions. Though I may think that their opinions are wrong or flawed, I have learned to try to see things from their perspective before I judge what they think…For instance, if someone says that feminists want women to be above men, try to understand what they're seeing. Part of the word "feminine" is within the word "feminism." If you understand where they're coming from, you can change their opinion in a way that won't offend them. Say something along the lines of "I am aware that feminism sounds like it's about putting women above men, but that's exactly the opposite of what it's about. Feminism is the collection of movements aimed at defining equality between both genders. Feminism is all about being equal."

2. FBomb.org is a blog created for and by teen and college-aged women and men who care about their rights. (F-bomb stands for "feminism.") A compilation of creative writing and essays by teens and young adults, FBomb is a safe community where they can explore and compare their experiences. Says one writer:

   Feminism is all about equal rights and surely everyone supports that, right? And yet some of my relatives are anti-feminists and many of my schoolmates don't know what it is. After I tweeted about feminism a friend asked me about it and first asked if it was about "hating men." I told her no and explained it to her. She then decided that she is a feminist, too. This is why it's so important for feminists to not only have discussions with each other, but to also appeal to people who don't already agree with us. I've found that our generation is very open-minded. I believe that if instead of insulting people who disagree with us or just avoiding them altogether, we explain our beliefs and this movement and welcome everybody with open arms, we can build a larger movement that ultimately ends discrimination.

3. Julia Schemmer, a senior in high school, who began an online magazine called She Speaks Media, dedicated to giving a voice to teens, writes in an essay at Huffington Post:

   Originally, I wasn't too keen on being labeled a "feminist." Immediately, my mind flashed to single, bitter and angry women burning bras and holding picket signs in protest of an issue. However, as I grew older, I realized that feminism is a valid and alive movement. Feminism is a movement that does not intend to degrade, but to empower. The mission of feminism is not to mistreat others, but to bring hope to the misrepresented and enact meaningful change.

4. Archana Apte, a junior at Walpole High School in Walpole, Massachusetts, (and daughter of BookBrowse editor Poornima Apte!), has her own blog, Pixellated Paracosm and writes for her school newspaper, The Rebellion. Here are some of her thoughts about feminism, in a blog post titled "Female Empowerment And the Masculine Ideal":

   The strange thing about feminism is that in order to raise women to the status of men, women often adopt traditionally masculine characteristics…But the most troubling thing about this "masculine ideal" is that if women achieve power via masculinity, then these women are in a sense giving more power to the patriarchy by conforming to that ideal. Wouldn't it be better, in an ideal world (so much idealism today!) for masculine and feminine traits to both be valuable for forging ahead?

Finally a list of 15 teen feminist books that are worthy of a read.

Filed under Society and Politics

This article relates to Glory O'Brien's History of the Future. It first ran in the November 5, 2014 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.