Girls and activism in a neoliberal time: How teen girls from Toronto negotiate care, activism, and extraordinary girlhood

Abstract

Recently, a number of prominent teen girl activist leaders have been gaining the world’s attention, but how do girls not in the public eye and with less social power think about activism? Moreover, how do girls who may not exclusively define themselves as activists, negotiate their own desire to contribute to social change with challenges they identify as holding them back from doing so? Through qualitative research with eight teenage girls in Toronto, I explore the ways these teen girls define the “activist,” their role in activism, and the challenges holding them back from being more active. My methodology is congruent, reflecting my feminist and youth studies commitment to girls leading research, and my findings indicate that such an approach is crucial in order to truly understand how girls with less social power and public visibility experience the world and their roles within it. Doing so also challenge pre-conceived notions and standards of extraordinary girlhood. The findings coincide with what Catherine Rottenberg refers to as neoliberal feminism. The extraordinariness implicit in visible activism framed the girls from my study’s views on what it would take to be a true activist themselves, which was both intimidating and also at times is in contention with their monumental care and concern for loved ones.