Teaching the Conflicts: (Re)Engaging Students with Feminism in a Postfeminist World

Abstract

There is no question that the work of feminists has benefited the daily lives, health, and financial status of many American women. In fact, some women's lives have been so improved that today's younger generation of may not even know that we've come a long way, baby and, perhaps even more importantly, that we still have a long way to go. Even pop culture icons themselves, such as the musician Pink, recognize the current state of gender politics, lamenting the fact that young today are more concerned with what they need to do and buy to maintain their image than they are with the positions of power they could someday hold. Pink, an artist we will discuss at some length in this essay, is searching for Outcasts and girls with ambition, because despite the fact that there are Disasters all around and a World despaired, their only concern [is]: Will they fuck up my hair? Certainly, Pink is prone to hyperbole, but her questions resonate: do young still dream of being world leaders, or have their ambitions been curtailed in lieu of the smaller achievements they can make with their buying power? Peggy Phelan makes a similar point above, noting that almost-naked young white women are given great visibility in our culture, especially in advertisements, television, and film; yet it would be preposterous to suggest that their visibility instantly translates into power. Phelan continues to suggest that when or anyone else who is othered in Western culture (including and men of color, gays, lesbians and transsexuals; basically anyone who is not a white, heterosexual male) are given visibility, this visibility is often accompa-