Grrls and the Web

In our text, the book references a theory by a man named Michel de Certeau. Basically it says that marginalized societal groups resist the oppression and suffocation of the dominant social group(s) by using products of the consumer culture they find themselves in for their own purposes.

It is an unfortunate but true fact that women are often marginalized in our society (yes, even in this "age of equality"). So, check one for de Certau's theory--we have a marginalized group. Are they resisting? I believe the feminist movement is more than enough to answer that question. Check two. Now, what goods are they using for their own purposes?

First off, grrls across the Western world are using the internet, a product of Western society and arguably quite male-dominated, to vocalize their opinions, to promote their goals, and further their agenda. I visited three of such sites myself--planetgrrl.com, disgruntledhousewife.com, and bitchmagazine.com. Such "grrl" sites (as they are called) are the result of what out text calls Third Wave Feminism, which mostly is comprised of young women who want to make feminism their own and take it out of the hands of the academic elite. The world wide web for them is a tool--a way to band young women together to resist and overcome the sexism that still faces them.

Parody and sarcasm are large factors in how grrls on-line deal with the constructs society would like them to fit into--essentially, they use these two elements to deal with a product (a constructed identity) that society gives them (and it is in fact a very commerically manipulated and reinforced identity). The home page of Disgruntled Housewife is very much a parody. The page contains a set of hyperlinked images--like high heels, a toy breed dog and a can of sausage links--that are associated with the stereotypical post-World War II housewife. The very look of the images is reminiscent of that time. It parodies the very social constructs that the creators of the site are resisting (hence the name of the site). On the front page of Planet Grrl, there is a black-and-white photo of a group of poster-child '50s housewives. No doubt that this is photo is meant to be a parody as well.Parody is a way in which these women break down the cosntructs set up for them by the surrounding culture.

A lot of sarcasm can also be found within the articles on these pages. Sarcasm is often used when referencing the culture, things they view as sexist, and men's behavior. Articles that deal with things such as Barbie Dolls, being a woman and striving for a career, or feeding husbands are drenched with sarcasm. Bitch Magazine's articles make use of sarcasm as well. In all these cases, sarcasm is used as a way to break down social constructs, whether it's by pointing out the absurdity of something or affirming the intelligence (or other valued quality) of women (often by taking a jab at the opposite sex).

It is in this manner that much of the content (I'm talking mostly about the textual content, but the visual content as well) is written. There are featured advice columns and articles that are written very much from a female perspective dealing with issues the women find themselves faced with. Instead of throwing out femininity, these grrl authors strive to redefine femininity by attempting to construct what femininty is outside of a male perspective-dominated construct. This femininity is not constructed as weak, nor does it create a dependency in women; but these grrls construct an indentity in which women are strong and independent and can function without defining their lives by men or masculinity.

The identity then put forth by these grrls is one where women are strong, independent, intelligent and aware. There is nothing wrong with being "girly." In fact it is embraced, but being a girl is not seen as a sign of weakness as it is often portrayed in the dominant culture. The grrl is also an angry and frustrated individual who is tired of being marginalized by Western society. So she can laugh at some of the derrogatory words and commercially-driven images thrown at her, because it's not the images but the ideas those images represent that she is resisting against and is desperately trying to destroy.

On a non-assignment note, it's interesting to think about how successful these grrls are in reclaiming femininity. I would argue that on one hand, they are destroying (for themselves at least) the idea that femininity is weak. However, the question remains--are actually totally reclaiming or defining femininity outside of the male-dominated cultural perspective. My answer is no. In many ways many aspects of femininty are still defined in comparison to or as an antithesis to masculinity. For even in the act of rebelling, they are still working within a particular social context. So the next question then is can femininty ever be defined outside of masculinity? More importantly, should it? (And vice versa.) If we continue to stress the differences, do we ever heal the wounds, or do we simply continue to divide the sexes even more?

This is the conumdrum that any resisting marginalized group must face.