Feminism has become a trend among young female celebrities, including Emma Watson, Taylor Swift and everyone with whom Swift has ever taken an Instagram photo. High visibility and celebrity endorsement for a social movement always has an upside, but in this case it has a bit of a downside as well. At a certain point, feminism stops benefiting from the celebrity when the celebrity starts profiting from feminism.
With any movement, it’s important to spread the word. Honestly, celebrities that don’t use their platforms to discuss issues that are important to them are wasting valuable access to the public.
So the more female stars call attention to feminism, the easier it is to erase the irrationally negative stigma. However, sometimes it becomes clear why celebrities aren’t always the best choice.
Cara Delevingne, model and member of the Swift squad, has come under fire for plagiarizing and ignoring the feminist community.
Delevingne posted photos of herself wearing a sweatshirt with the words “The Future is Female.” Her girlfriend, St. Vincent musician Annie Clark, has also been seen wearing a similar sweatshirt, which was made by Rachel Berks, the owner of a small business in L.A., Otherwild. Otherwild is donating 25 percent of the proceeds from the shirts to Planned Parenthood.
Based on the popularity of the shirt on Delevingne’s Instagram, she decided to start her own charity campaign selling sweatshirts of the same design on her own. The proceeds from her shirt will go to the United Nations initiative, Girl Up.
The phrase itself originates from a T-shirt worn by Alix Dobkin in 1975 for the opening of the first ever women’s bookstore in New York City, according to the New York Times. Since the phrase isn’t original to Otherwild, using it wouldn’t be so bad if Delevingne hadn’t also copied the design. It’s literally exactly the same.
Both shirts are being sold for charity and both sport a feminist ideology so ideally everyone wants the same thing. The problem is Delevingne ripped off someone whose ideologies she claims to support. Taking the design and marketing it as her own charitable contribution makes it look like she made a bid for niche marketing of her own image.
Feminism is the “it” mantra of the teen idol set, and now Delevingne just seems to be pandering. She could have redirected her curious fans to the site where she got her shirt, giving credit to the designers and their own agenda.
It would have been a more altruistic move, and it would have kept the focus on the message and off Delevingne’s reputation as a style maker. It’s the redirection that makes this move seem disingenuous.
Celebrities spread information and inspire goodwill for movements, but now that gender equality has become the favorite catchphrase of so many in Hollywood, it’s hard not to feel like it hasn’t been a little bit hijacked.
I don’t mean to doubt that celebrities believe the ideas they endorse, but I worry that the focus has shifted.
Feminism isn’t important because Delevingne, Swift or Watson think it’s cool. It should be represented by its own considerable merit and not used to provide a third dimension to starlets.
Otherwise, a movement that stands for the gains and continued struggles of women, and society as a whole, is reduced to a brief trend. These women don’t own feminism and should take more care not to derail it.
jordrile@indiana.edu
@riledupIDS
