With the recent celebration of International Women’s Day on Tuesday, March 8, I started to hear the use of the term “girl power” thrown around a lot more. Personally, I’ve never felt there should be any controversy surrounding these words, but as per usual, the millennial generation never disappoints, and once again forces us to challenge our opinions and ideas through social media. For me, the concept seemed simple -- girl power means supporting the success of women in all divisions whether that be class, race, or sexuality. As Zooey Deschanel succinctly puts it in an interview by Seventeen Magazine published on YouTube in 2014, “To me girl power means supporting other females, working hard at what you love to do in spite of what other people think about you or say about you, being yourself, and working toward a time where we don’t have to say the word girl power.”
Especially in a society where women are constantly pitted against each other, I find myself conditioned to respond to the success of even close friends with phrases, such as, “Ohmygod she’s literally perfect in every way imaginable. It’s not fair, can she please stop,” and, “Ugh she’s so good at [insert name of challenging activity here]! I’m complete trash compared to her.” Even when joking, it’s almost as if we train ourselves to see success as only available in a limited amount, and that the achievements of one woman somehow undermine our own success, so that we can’t all be amazing together. When in reality, we should be inspired and motivated by other women to accomplish the goals we’re striving towards and continue to encourage other women to make positive impacts on the world.
The only part of the quote above that didn’t completely settle comfortably with me was the last part, where Zooey mentions “working toward a time where we don’t have to say the word girl power.” It wasn’t exactly that I didn’t agree with the message, it was more of the fact that the comments in the section underneath the video sparked a discussion on feminism (I should’ve known not to even mess with the dreaded YouTube comment section -- a.k.a. the arena for battles spiraling into one-on-one death matches referencing both grammar Nazis and real Nazis).
For me, girl power easily goes hand in hand with feminism, but they are still two distinct concepts that both deserve attention. I think girl power should not be used as a substitute for the word feminism even though the concept may reveal to us the necessity of feminism. Feminism is a strong enough statement on its own, and at its core is not a very radical idea at all; it is just the intrinsic value of equality between men and women. In the end, Zooey’s words hold true because even in a time where the words girl power are not necessary, when men and women are treated equally, girl power will still exist because the empowerment of women and the support behind their success should always be welcomed.
