It’s all about empowerment in this week’s edition of Feminist Friday! Last week we were crushing on Kesha’s big comeback single and video ‘Praying’, and this week we’re featuring her second video from her upcoming album ‘Rainbow’, due to be released in the United States August 11th.
But first up, we’re heading across the pond to check out a video from popular girl group Little Mix, who have lent their song salute as an ode to the UK Women’s national soccer team, the Lionesses, as an anthem while they compete in the UEFA Women’s Euro (started July 16).
The video gives you all the feels but it also goes one step further to promoting women’s sports at a time when it is definitely needed. The UK just recently celebrated its annual Women’s Sport Week, which was designed to capitalize on the busy slate of women’s sporting competitions and encourage other women and girls to get off the sidelines and join the game.
It’s a shame that women’s sport even has to be given a dedicated “week”, as opposed to men’s sports which is just by default popular all-year round and certainly isn’t identified by gender. But the increased awareness of the gender pay gap, the lack of equal media coverage, and lack of initiatives to get fans excited for women’s sport in the same way as men’s needs to be addressed. It’s happening all over the world, especially here in the US so we an only hope the emphasis will lead to a major shift in the way professional female athletes are paid and portrayed. For now, we ‘Salute’ the role models who are making a difference:
From one inspiring video to another, our second featured video was made by Twitter, and is part of their #SheInspiresMe campaign, which was unveiled at this year’s Cannes International Festival of Creativity. The campaign is part of the social media platform’s commitment to promoting and supporting female voices.
The video features the poetry of Denice Frohman, who also narrates, while we see images of women such as actresses Alicia Silverstone and Mena Suvari, former Undersecretary of State Charlotte Beers, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, DJ Hesta Prynn and musical artist CharliXCX.
Twitter has a long way to go in terms of being the platform known for female empowerment, as it has come under fire over the last few years for not doing enough to curb aggressive harassment toward women, seen most notably in the way actress and comedian Leslie Jones was subjected to racist abuse from users, forcing her to leave the platform for a while. Other notable women who use their voice to talk about feminist topics, Lindy West and Jessica Valenti, have also publicly spoken about the horrific rape and death threats they have received (Jessica received one about her 5 year-old daughter) simply for speaking out loud which have made them leave the platform at certain times.
We certainly like this video Twitter made, but it is incumbent upon them to take notice of the glaring problem they have in terms of not adequately dealing with online abuse, and of course it’s not just women who suffer. Since they are adamant about supporting the voices of women, we hope they will also create new ways of making the platform a space where people can speak up without fearing for their lives or that of their families.
Finally, as promised, Kesha’s new music video where she loudly declares “I’m a mother-f***ing woman!”. It’s been a tough road for the singer songwriter over the past few years and to hear her come back with a roar, being fully vulnerable about her journey, is inspiring.
She wrote an op-ed for Rollingstone.com about the song and why it was a breakthrough for her to make this video (which she co-directed) and how it reminded her of why she is a feminist and why she makes music.
“I felt like I had earned the right call myself a motherf***ing woman. I have always been a feminist, but for much of my life I felt like a little girl trying to figure things out. In the past few years, I have felt like a woman more than ever. I just feel the strength and awesomeness and power of being female…I just really f***ing love being a woman and I wanted an anthem for anyone else who wants to yell about being self-sufficient and strong. (Yes, men, this song can be for you too.)…It was such a beautiful experience to write such a strong female empowerment song with two men, Drew Pearson and Stephen Wrabel, because it reinforces how supportive men can be of women AND feminism,” she wrote.
If you thought her breakout hit ‘Don’t Stop’ was her catchiest track, wait ’til you hear ‘Woman’:
