The Lolita Aesthetic and the development of modern day feminism

Today's Idea of Feminism

When one hears of feminism nowadays, they can often think of two things; one being movements which emphasize on feminine strengths by using men’s weaknesses (which is actuality is known as female chauvinism) and the other being very provocative clothing disguised as feminine confidence and being a “girls’ girl”, while that could not be further from the truth. In reality, feminism is simply the fact that all humans should have equal rights without regard to their gender– no more, no less. So how did something so simple and logical become twisted into the bold, egotistical and hypersexual media we see today? Well, the answer to this is simple; the feminism we see today is not new, it was slowly ingrained into our society, through the means of social media and pop culture.

Some examples to consider of this topic include the youtuber JazmineTan, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, and Sabrina Carpenter.  Whilst the topic of Sabrina Carpenter being  feminist is highly debated, her performance style has nevertheless led to massive impacts on today’s definition of feminism.

JazmineTan

Firstly, JazmineTan is mainly a beauty influencer who identifies as a ‘girl’s girl’ , also giving general advice on female empowerment– however this advice seems to put men down in the name of “feminism” and be harmful to the mental health of the 2 million young girls who watch her.

For example, she posted a video claiming that a minor she met looked like a ‘mom’, quoting “I legit thought she was like a mama muda who drops her kids to school every morning” then going on to say she approached the person, only to find out  they were just 21. Instead of correcting her actions she said it was embarrassing not for her but for the 21 year old because “girly girly girly pop, she’s still in school- she’s only 21. Why does she look like  another of 2 who responsibly files her goddamn taxes every year?”

She goes on to recommend retinol to 19 year olds, implying heavily that looking youthful determines most of a woman's worth. Moreover, she seems to objectify males in ways similar to misogynists do, quoting “Boys and men are icky,” “That’s why he’s my man: Young, Fine, Tall and Handsome," “I could never go for a ripped, hot 6 foot, 6 pack Italian man because the man who can afford my lifestyle usually has a dad bod,” over multiple videos.

Moreover her recent friendship with the controversial influencer Clara Dao raised some controversy due to the latter spreading dangerous diet advice to her clearly young audience and getting breast implants, after creating a page presented as feminism for those with a flat chest.

Overall, the girl’s girl aesthetic created by Jazmine’s page thinly veils the problematic beliefs she follows and that over 2 million people take on, ingraining the idea that women are in fact superior to men into society and claiming that it’s part of feminism.

Moving forward, let's take a look at the pop media icons who created the blueprint for the misconception of hypersexualism as feminism. Some good case studies here include Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Cardi B

1. Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift, statistically considered the most famous singer globally; shows a self-confirmed strong advocacy for feminism. This is seen throughout her songs such as “The Man” in which she quotes “I'm so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I'd get there quicker if I was a man” and the song “Mad Woman,” which shows toxic masculism throughout, with some notable lyrics being “And women like hunting witches, too- doing your dirtiest work for you” and “No one likes a mad woman.”

Even with her constantly showcased beliefs in femininity, her actions do not line up–dressing in provocative clothing, challenging the public who may disagree with this by calling them anti-feminist. One example of this is the dance to her song “Vigilante shit” on the Eras tour, with it consisting of just her twerking in a tight bodysuit. Another example of this was the advertisements used for her latest album– “The life of a showgirl.” These consisted of undeniably sexual images (which can be considered public nudity due to the fact you can see her genitalia). Both of these acts were presented as feminism, ignoring or attacking the ones who showed discomfort in this.

2. Sabrina Carpenter

Whilst Sabrina Carpenter has not identified directly as a feminist, her role in the community is often speculated and has played an undeniable role in the shaping of modern day feminism– for better or for worse. One major part of this is a photoshoot she has done recently which contains many blatant symbolisms from the book/movie "Lolita." Lolita is a story about a young girl who does normal things which are mistaken by a pedophile who later grooms her and kidnaps her, this is a highly simplified version and I strongly recommend you to watch a full form analysis on it but the main part we are going to look at here is the American interpretation.

You see, the public interpreted lolitaa as a sexy, provocative and infantilised girl, without regard to her age which was 12– well under any legal age. By referencing this in such a blatant and careless manner, it brings to light the brand of Sabrina carpenter, built around sexiness and hyper-infantilization.  This is speculated due to majority of her concerts where she makes it a point of her height, infantilising herself not just throughout multiple points of the show, such as jumping up for the mic but also in album promotions such as "Man's best friend,” where she is seen kneeling posed like a dog whilst a man is playing with her hair.

Now these majorly problematic actions would be fine, she is an adult and has made it very clear that children are not her target audience, she did not even explicitly say she is feminist therefore the blame should not go directly to her– but nevertheless the public clipped these actions out of context and took them as a definition of feminism and empowerment; attacking critiques by once again calling them anti-feminist and saying that carpenter's hypersexual performances are in reality a way of ‘exploring one's sensuality’– this term being so heavily associated with feminism genuinely creeps me out because, as a reminder the people most prone to this misinformation are kids

3. Cardi B

Whilst Sabrina Carpenter’s hypersexual image as not meant by the artist to be taken as feminism (officially) , this is not the case for Cardi B as she openly believes in the correlation between feminism and sexual liberalism, even reflecting the previously mentioned sexual infantilization known as the Lolita effect through provocative school uniform-based outfits. According to sites she ‘embodies a modern, inclusive feminism’ and I believe this is the main issue throughout feminist movements.

This is because the individual often uses extremely provocative dress styles and directly says that she can do it because that is what feminism is about. This is extremely harmful as feminism develops because it redefines the ideology as something that requires hypersexualization and infantilization; which again, is nowhere close to what feminism is– feminism is simply an ideology centered around equality– women being able to do the same things men do with the same social impact.

Changing the Meaning of Feminism

On a personal note, when looking at these case studies we are able to see similar trends; infantilization, oversexualisation, and ego all falsely presented as feminism. This reflects how feminism— the simple fact that women and men have equal rights– has gotten twisted over the years into something completely different, and honestly, societally degenerative. Influencers such as JazmineTan have made the belief widespread that women>men and that women need to look young to be valuable, meanwhile pop culture stars enforce hypersexual forms of infantilization into society and mask it as feminism, giving it a completely derailed meaning.

Now while I don’t hate any of the people mentioned here, for example some of Jazmine’s videos have pretty good advice, Taylor Swift has emotionally deep lyrics in many of her old songs and Sabrina Carpenter is actually pretty funny with her jokes – the individual just seem to spread harmful ideologies disguised as feminism, making it extremely problematic especially in the ideologies’ rapid development. Whilst they are good artists in certain aspects, it is also important to criticise these individuals as we move forward as an equal society.