“Fourth Wave in the House”
I cringe when I hear the term “girl power.” It reminds me of the Spice Girls, and the glittery inane cultural of the late 90’s, and terrible song lyrics that don’t even make sense. (Also, was there really a Baby Spice? Did that really happen?) So when I went to see a play put on by middle schoolers called Keep Your Eyes Open, which liberally references “girl power,” it took some getting used to.
But the play, which was created by its cast and Katie Cappiello and Meg McInerney of The Arts Effect All-Girl Ensemble, was fresh, real and sophisticated. It centers around Winnifred, a preteen who starts a web TV series that covers everything from politics, to fashion, to misogynistic song lyrics. Gesturing to a photo of Nicholas Kristof on her wall, she says, “Why is Nicholas Kristof, my dream boyfriend, the only journalist out there reporting on women?”
The girls also call out, by name, the individuals and institutions that contribute to making them, and all of us, feel bad about ourselves. The list includes USWeekly and InTouch, Juicy, American Apparel and Victoria’s Secret, Disney, Nickelodeon, CW11, Calvin Klein, Stacy Ann Ferguson (aka Fergie of Black Eyed Peas) and DeAndre Cortez Way (aka Soulja Boy).
If I were a little more hard core, I would find out the names of all of the people who work for these corporations and publish their contact information on this blog, so anyone reading it could suggest to them that they stop contributing to the negative body image and low self esteem issues these girls struggle to overcome. I would imagine that some of the people working for these companies have daughters dealing with similar issues to the girls in the play.
For now I’ll just encourage you to check out the website, GirlPowerDaily.com and mention it to the preteens in your life.
