Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, oh my. How have these social media sites now become a major source of news and an outlet for political opinions for almost every generation these days? In lieu of this, I am sure a lot of people have read or at least heard about the article that was trending on Facebook about feminist pop culture icons Lena Dunham and Blake Lively calling out ‘Girl’s Life’ magazine for sexist covers that establish and reinforce dichotomous and oppressive gender ideals. Websites like Mashable, Huffington Post, marie claire, etc. share the public voices of these stars regarding this issue represented in articles that clearly headline exactly who is calling out these magazines. For example this can be seen within the Huffington Post headline expressing that “Amy Schumer and Blake Lively Are Calling Out These Sexist Magazine Covers” as if gender specific magazines have not always been sexist. They have consistently promoted the dichotomy of feminine, Euro American woman, emphasizing that beauty is the most valued quality in women versus the very masculinized, Euro American man where society is instead emphasizing intelligence, sports, and money as the ideal standards of what it means to be a “real” man. Not to mention, it’s not like these icons have brought about the other issues regarding and related to different forms of sexism, one being that girls on the cover of these magazines are always white, implying that in order to get the perfect hair, body, or clothing, one must conform to a white, American standard of beauty.

Celebrities have a certain authority over the general public to take claim of these issues and magazines using titles such as “Blake Lively and Amy Schumer Call Out ‘Girl’s Life’ Magazine” truly establish a sense that an issue is not fully important until called out by someone of importance and power. These issues make me question if celebrities and the media reflect or create popular culture and why do things become important and legitimized only once celebrities talk about them? When Beyonce comes out as a feminist, why is it all of a sudden ‘cool’ when it was once seen as taboo only radicalized? I am fully aware that making yourself known to the public eye about an important issue is influential however the major issue I find in this is that, hello… your local feminist or anyone who pays attention to gendered details can see that magazines have had this dichotomous, sexist relationship since probably the dawn of gender specific magazines such as Cosmo or Seventeen.

But let me say that Lena Dunham has consistently been an advocate for debunking the ‘ideal’ body image as unfair and unattainable as well as frequently calling out magazines for their use and abuse of photoshop and portraying people unrealistically. Dunham is an intelligent and influential feminist of our time and I do appreciate that she uses her popularity and fame to bring important issues to the public eye because many people do admire her, women and men alike, and she can bring to light more controversial issues that slide beneath the surface. I mean, look what Beyonce has done for the feminist movement, I am sure there was a significant amount of women identifying with feminism just because Beyonce did. It is an ideal time for the feminist movement right now and these celebrities take this into full advantage. My only complaint is that it is unfair and almost discouraging when issues are finally made important only once celebrities call out the issue. It’s a bummer that before these celebrities came out and brought up these issues that your local activists and even educated individuals cannot invoke a movement or bring up these issues without seeming radical or politically incorrect; they have always been systemic issues related to gender and sexuality and the “ideal woman/man.” My point is that I appreciate these women using their power to stand up and fight against sexism but these things have continually been an issue and talked about for way longer than Blake and Amy have been around to say it. I wish we would begin looking towards local movements and other role models for sources of information before they are popularized through media and celebrities, which can oftentimes be very biased and are probably not an end-all-solution to different forms of oppression. Next time you see your local activists or public educators, try to value their opinion as if Queen B is singing it to you herself.