I’m not going to lie. I thoroughly enjoy Seventeen Magazine. While flipping through one the other day, I came across an article discussing feminism versus non-feminism. It featured several people in the media discussing how they claimed that they were or were not feminists. The article then went on to discuss how every person is different and how we each can make our own decision as to whether or not we are feminists, blah, blah, blah.
This irritated me.
Why should deciding whether you support your own sex or not even be a question? Normally, I have a pretty open mind that accepts people’s different life decisions, but a female choosing to not be a feminist is absolutely ridiculous. In my mind, choosing the non-feminist road means choosing to not support and respect yourself to your fullest. I think this is very sad.
And yet, the media supports this bizarre, non-feminist idea. Clothing that solely suggests the idea that women have little more to offer than being a girlfriend is all too common. Any store with a number or an “i” dotted with a flower or heart in the title is guaranteed to sell shirts with captions like:
“Single”
“Check me out”
“Party. Sleep. Repeat”
Come on, ladies! You have to have more to offer than this. But let’s step aside from my feminist rant for a minute. Some of these captions are just flat out stupid:
“What the pug?” — That’s not even funny.
“Spoiled” — Oh, great, thanks for sharing. Can I be your friend?
“Holla back gangsta” — What does this even mean?
“Princess” — I’m sorry, are you Kate Middleton? No? Then, why?
If you didn’t get the message already, I have had it with these stupid, frequently anti-feminist shirts. That is why the website A Mighty Girl is so refreshing.
The first thing I looked at when I initially viewed the website was the clothing section. I was delighted to find the following shirt captions:
“Math is for Girls”
“I’m not strong for a girl! I’m just strong.”
“Girls can”
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It is so nice that someone gets the idea that women can put more on their clothing than grammatically incorrect, nonsensical, and demeaning phrases.
Already thrilled about finally finding some reasonable articles of clothing, I found that the website had subcategories for different fictional characters and books. Dorothy,my all-time favorite fictional character, has her own section. The Marches, Alice, Hermione, Katniss, and Nancy Drew are just a few others that also have their own places on the website.
The site is also filled with books, toys, music, and movies — all with some sort of empowering female message.
In addition, A Mighty Girl has a book club program that will send out book lists and advice to help organize and run a book club. Looking through their collection of award-winning, lovely literature, one can trust that they will give strong recommendations.
It is a welcome change to find a collection of merchandise with an aim to not just simply tolerate women, but to support them. We consider our society so forward and advanced, but we cannot truly say that we are so progressive if we do not truly view the two genders equally. The world needs more Mighty Girls because I think it’s more than just a T-shirt. The things we put into our society are the things that come out of it, and if we continue to market shirts that talk about how “School is for boys,” then that way of thinking will not die. I think I can safely say that it is time for the Mighty Girls of the world to become the norm. I think it is time for there to no longer be a need to acknowledge something that should just be common sense.