Independent Women

Magazines are all around us. It is hard to say that they can’t possibly affect us. But how?

They’re located in almost every grocery store line. They have entire shelves as bookstores, grocery stores, gas stations, and drug stores. Magazines are literally everywhere. A lot of times we flip through them at a doctor’s office or while we wait for someone to get ready. Because they surround us, it feels almost impossible to say that they don’t affect us at all.

In Media, Gender, and Identity, Gauntlett discusses the effects that women’s magazines have on females who read them. When he looked at these magazines, he found that in general, most women’s lifestyle magazines discuss sex, relationships, fashion, beauty, celebrities, and men (184 – 185). When looking closer, Gauntlett argues that women tend to look at men in the same way that men do women; however, they are not as harshly viewed like men’s magazines. He claims that because “men (as a group) have been doing this kind of thing for decades,” complaining or claiming it as objectification will not be seen in the same light as the feminist movement did. Also, women’s magazines tend to discuss sex very openly. While some view this as entirely inappropriate, some view this as a progression for women. Gauntlett states that “feminists never really suggested that having sex with lots of men was a goal in itself, but the rejection of passive femininity and the freedom to openly desire others, is feminist progress” (207).

I believe that Gauntlett is getting at a really important distinction. While women do not need to flaunt their sexuality or become promiscuous, the mere fact that they have the option to decide their own sex life is, for me, progress. I think that because women now have the same options as men once had sole claim over, there has been progress for the equality of genders. Even further, the opportunity for a woman to decide how she will use this option shows that she has some level of power because she can decide for herself. The idea that women can make decisions for themselves, run their own lives, live independently did not always exist and I believe its emergence greatly impacted American society.

In 2001, Destiny’s Child released a song that I think clearly and obviously shows this progress. Titled “Independent Women,” this song was released in conjunction with the movie Charlie’s Angels. The song talks about how a woman can pay for her own things, make her own decisions, and call a man when she wants to see him instead of waiting around for him to call her. They acknowledge that it’s hard, but it can be done. Later, they went on to dominate the mid 2000s with other such songs about being confident women who can control their own lives without the aid of any man.