It’s been a heck of a few weeks for women, from Coco Gauff winning the U.S. Open, despite all the naysayers, to the media doing their darndest to build a narrative around Sophie Turner being a bad mother amidst her divorce from Joe Jonas. Let’s also not forget Jorge Vilda being fired and Luis Rubiales resigning, all thanks to footballer Jenni Hermoso.
Dare we say the tide is turning, and women are finally getting their due? Yeah, we won’t be going that far, especially when cadavers have more rights than a woman does over her own body.
However, there is something to be said about the outrage and outcry around the unsolicited kiss forced upon Jenni Hermoso after the Spanish team won the World Cup. A day that should have been filled with celebration was overshadowed by the actions of a misogynistic predator.
It took extreme bravery for Hermoso to release a statement the following day condemning Rubiales, a far more powerful man, backed by even more powerful men (and butt loads of money).
What is even more shocking is the support she received globally. Who would’ve thought? This leads us to representation in the media and the rejection of the narrative formed around sports, parenting, sexual assault, and our place in the professional world.
Changing Representation in the Media
Despite a long-standing history of gender-based misrepresentation or entirely inadequate visibility, women are finally being heard. Don’t get us wrong; we have a long way to go. Let’s stop gendering women’s sports to start. We don’t say men’s baseball, men’s hockey, or men’s volleyball. We also don’t ask men to twirl and talk about their outfit after they win a match.
We’ve all watched the media turn on the victim. Just look at Stormy Daniels or, in the beginning, the women named in the Danny Masterson case. Victim blaming is part of our society (and media). In fact, it seemed Danny Masterson would walk away from a conviction surrounding the violent rapes he committed early in his acting career. Spoiler alert: he’s going away for a long, long time. Another side note, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis need a publicist well versed in crisis communication.
It is fair to say women are fed up. We’ve been beaten up in the media, by the legal system, the male population, and healthcare providers.
So, when TMZ decided to build a narrative around Sophie Turner being a bad mother, we said nope, we’re not buying it, and we won’t tolerate it. Enough is enough; we’re already dealing with weaponized incompetence as we manage the majority of the household responsibilities and child-rearing while making 77 cents to every dollar a white man earns. We are fucking tired, and we’re MAD. We’re really, really ANGRY.
The Power of Female Rage
Female rage is powerful, and it is creating waves of change. The Barbie movie is an excellent example of this power. It is the highest-grossing movie of 2023, tackling issues like gender inequality, consumerism, and capitalism. Boy, has it pissed off the sexists—looking at you, Ben Shapiro. It seems to be annoying all the right people. Kudos, Greta, kudos.
We’ve watched our rights be stripped away from us little by little after that fateful night in 2016. We’ve lost autonomy over our bodies while conservatives work to strip away the rest of our rights, with the hope we’ll return to the 50s housewife when we catered to our misogynistic husbands and had no hopes or dreams of our own. Public figures and elected officials have gone so far as to condone violence against women.
Enter: Our RAGE.
According to Bankrate, over 80 percent of purchases and purchase influence are made by women. Women make 91 percent of new home purchases. Female borrowers have an average debt 9.6 percent higher than male students one year after graduation. 66 percent of consumer wealth will belong to women in the next decade. Read that again. We’re gonna control the money and money talks.
Harvard Business Review notes that the number of working women in the United States is about to surpass the number of working men. Three-quarters of the people who have lost jobs in the current recession are men.
The tide is turning. HBR says women will increasingly resist being stereotyped, segmented only by age or income, lumped together into an “all women” characterization, or, worse, undifferentiated from men. In other words, we are sick of being underserved. Despite our market power and social position, we are continuously undervalued in the marketplace and underestimated in the workplace.
The future is female.
…and the future is now.
We’re just getting started.
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