The Failure of Corporate Feminism
Jul. 15th, 2019 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nebrisOct. 8th, 2016 at 3:16 PM
~45 years ago, Gloria Steinem, a feminist writer and former CIA employee, founded Ms Magazine. She said she wanted 'a magazine owned and operated by and for women', of which there was none at the time. And the publication pioneered many Women's Issues. But it also did something else, something rather more subtle; it shifted Feminism away from Radicalism and mainstreamed it into the American Corporate Culture.
In the process it turned Feminism from a vital social movement into a Marketing Niche. Once again, actually. Edward Bernays had done that with women publicly smoking cigarettes as an 'act of freedom' back in 1920. Virginia Slims reproduced that model quite successfully in the 1970's.
This Corporate Feminism told women [though mostly White Middle Class woman] that they 'could have it all' within the Capitalism paradigm if they just worked hard. Of course the actual Corporate World [White Males] fought that tooth and nail and many of those women who tried to 'have it all' dropped out exhausted. Some, like Hillary Clinton, became even worse than most of the bastards they were up against, Hillary still having to use one of those bastards as a wedge to push her way in.
And now, here she is, at the pinnacle of her 'have it all' career and she cannot even put away a goon like Donald Trump. It's not because she's a woman, though that is a factor. No, it is because she is so obviously a Corporatist and the Electorate hates that now, having been plundered and pillaged by Corporations for decades.
This is ultimate betrayal of Feminism in all its forms. When the perfect Corporate Feminist reached her moment of triumph, Corporatism has become so toxic she will be lucky to scrape out a victory against the most vile and hated presidential candidate since Huey Long.
And that is why so many of you women who have committed to this brand of Feminism – and have no doubt it IS a Brand – are losing your minds. It's not about Hillary. It's not even about Trump. It is that the failure of your Brand is now stark and undeniable, though of course you'll keep denying that to the very end.
...and of course, Hillary did lose.
~45 years ago, Gloria Steinem, a feminist writer and former CIA employee, founded Ms Magazine. She said she wanted 'a magazine owned and operated by and for women', of which there was none at the time. And the publication pioneered many Women's Issues. But it also did something else, something rather more subtle; it shifted Feminism away from Radicalism and mainstreamed it into the American Corporate Culture.
In the process it turned Feminism from a vital social movement into a Marketing Niche. Once again, actually. Edward Bernays had done that with women publicly smoking cigarettes as an 'act of freedom' back in 1920. Virginia Slims reproduced that model quite successfully in the 1970's.
This Corporate Feminism told women [though mostly White Middle Class woman] that they 'could have it all' within the Capitalism paradigm if they just worked hard. Of course the actual Corporate World [White Males] fought that tooth and nail and many of those women who tried to 'have it all' dropped out exhausted. Some, like Hillary Clinton, became even worse than most of the bastards they were up against, Hillary still having to use one of those bastards as a wedge to push her way in.
And now, here she is, at the pinnacle of her 'have it all' career and she cannot even put away a goon like Donald Trump. It's not because she's a woman, though that is a factor. No, it is because she is so obviously a Corporatist and the Electorate hates that now, having been plundered and pillaged by Corporations for decades.
This is ultimate betrayal of Feminism in all its forms. When the perfect Corporate Feminist reached her moment of triumph, Corporatism has become so toxic she will be lucky to scrape out a victory against the most vile and hated presidential candidate since Huey Long.
And that is why so many of you women who have committed to this brand of Feminism – and have no doubt it IS a Brand – are losing your minds. It's not about Hillary. It's not even about Trump. It is that the failure of your Brand is now stark and undeniable, though of course you'll keep denying that to the very end.
...and of course, Hillary did lose.
