Recently there has been a rise in specialized clothing brands directed at a younger generation of “fight the power” types. These brands are rife with messages of feminism, intersectionality, and standing up for what we believe in – all good things, right? Although it might be an unpopular opinion, this merchandise isn’t always positive.
As someone who herself sports empowerment stickers (see my bumper sticker that says “Feminism: the radical notion that women are people” or my water bottle that reads “Well behaved women rarely make history”), I definitely see the positive side of these items. They are a wonderful way of showing people what you stand for, without continuously yelling your opinions at people. Supporting these brands can remind people of your struggle, your beliefs, or even allow people to recognize you as a safe space for them to go to. However, there are also many issues with these brands and with parading around wearing these powerful (and sometimes political) messages.
First, I feel the need to point out the glaring problem with this almost new-wave feminism. By making all of this merchandise, we are practicing the materialization of an important social movement. In some cases, it can be justified – the money we spend on the merchandise goes to funding programs to help the cause. However, we can’t ignore the fact that we don’t always know where the money is going. Additionally, there are definitely those deviants out there who are seizing the opportunity to take advantage of this movement and make it a trend simply to try to make money off of it. Let’s be real, even though they’re really fun, we don’t need t-shirts and sweatshirts and bumper stickers to have a valid movement.
I’m not going to pretend that wearing our ideas on our chests is a negative, as it certainly doesn’t have to be. It’s kind of like free advertising for what we stand for on a daily basis. I myself have a “feminism” t-shirt and am guilty of scouring the web for other fun items to add to my closet. But the deeper and deeper I’ve gone, the more I realized something was missing. There is an abundance of websites dedicated to feminist glamour, but only a select few advocate for intersectionality. What I mean is, the feminist movement is not just about women. It’s about those who haven’t always had the same right to their voice. It’s about people of color, trans people, intersex people, people of all orientations, sexualities, and romantic interest. It’s about disabled people, young people, old people, and poor people. It’s about equal opportunity for everyone regardless of what you see on the outside, who you love or who you don’t love. It’s not about a political party or a political agenda. So why are we so fixated solely on women empowerment?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for women empowerment. Ask anyone, that’s what they’ll say about me. But I just don’t think it’s okay to focus only, or even mainly, on affluent, straight, white women. Yes, that is what I am. I’m blessed to be born this way, but I also recognize that just because I don’t have to worry about some things, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t fight for others. So when we make feminist clothing with ovaries on it, I get that it’s a positive message, but there is still so much that is left out. Of course it is practically impossible to make merchandise supporting every combination of human, but we can try. We should at least try, especially if we are so set on advertising the movement as including every definition of what it means to be human.
The most prevalent issue with these garments and advertisements is one I wish I didn’t have to bring up, one I wish had disappeared long ago. Unfortunately, we still live in an intolerant and violent country. My main worry is that these things might make people a target. For example, on one website I saw a cropped t-shirt which read, “Females fight back.” The intent of this, I believe, is to say that females stand up for what they believe in and they will not be knocked down. My fear is that if I stepped outside one night wearing that shirt, some bigot would see it and take it as a challenge to attack me. The same goes for pretty much any other propaganda clothing. Clothing promoting equality of sexuality could lead to a hate-crime and clothing promoting black lives matter might lead a white supremacist to pounce.
If I were to say that in order to prevent attacks one shouldn’t wear this feminist and intersectional clothing, it would be the same as me telling you rape prevention tips. We shouldn’t be teaching people to watch their drinks and make sure they dress appropriately. Instead, we should be teaching people to not rape. We shouldn’t have to say that standing up for your beliefs is not okay because it’ll put you in danger. So I’m somewhat at a loss here. I don’t want people to be targeted based on what they wear, but I also definitely don’t want you to stand down. I want you to be empowered, embrace who you are, whatever or whoever that might be. I want you to stand up for that in however you please. But, unfortunately, I also want you to be wary that there are people out there who will prey on you because of that.