So after writing my first piece a few weeks ago I’ve been thinking a lot about other women who inspire me and I imagine might inspire a lot of other women. Emmeline Pankhurst, Betty Boothroyd, and Rosa Parks all came to mind.
But as it is wedding season and I’ve been invited to attend quite a few this summer, one name keeps springing to mind. Andie McDowell. Now bear with me on this. I know she’s definitely not number 1 on the list of most people’s feminist heroines. But the more I am embarrassingly honest with myself she has definitely been a postive role model for me – at least this summer.
It is Andie McDowell (see Four Weddings and A Funeral) who allows me to enter a church alone thinking I am confident and maybe (?) sophisticated and mysterious. And not just a single woman without a date!
This made me think more seriously about the impact of female images on screen and in popular culture and what impact these have on us women. Even if it is subconsious. How much of how we feel about ourselves is shaped from what we perceive as ‘normal’ or aspirational from the media? After racking my brains trying to come up with some more examples of postivie independent female women from popular culture it was pretty difficult. I’d be interested to know what others think of what impact they think tv and magazine images of women may have on us as a whole and also what women in popular culture you find inspiring?
Representation in the media undoubtedly has an effect on the way we perceive ourselves and each other – and how we are perceived. There are still 2 male roles for every female role on TV (research by Equity, the actors union last year). And women who are employed in prominent roles are generally of interest because they are young and pretty whilst men can be to the forefront for a variety of atributes. Out of drama too – last years admission by Wimbledon and the BBC that when it came to women the top courts were, until the finals, largely devoted to ‘babes’ rather than the top ranking female players. This also sends the message to young women that if they want to achieve it is through their looks – not their talent or their hard work. And this self-defeating form of competition takes a terrible toll.
I want to add Nina Simone. As a female musician who has been insulted by male musicians and been called all the names under the sun by them, Nina Simone is truly an inspiration, she was a black woman in a time of hideous racism, who fought her way to the top. She wasn’t pretty either but she was stupidly talented and every step of the way defended the rights of black people. I read her autobiography awhile back and was deeply touched.
Go to http://www.sherellcunningham.com this lady is my inspiration, what she has achieved as a normal person is amazing, how she has fought against getting to the top, where men have always ruled. She should be recognised.