Gurls Talk is an organisation founded by model and activist Adwoah Aboah, which promotes open conversation among young women. She hosted a one day festival in London on Saturday in collaboration with Coach. There was a Law Magazine photo booth with photographers taking portraits of everyone, an embroidery station, panels on sexuality and mental health, and much more.
It felt really special to be in the company of like minded young women, talking about creativity and feminism in an open and welcoming environment.
A major highlight for me was watching Stylelikeu's open call. I have been obsessed with Stylelikeu for years now, and it was such a dream to watch them shoot their 'What's Underneath' series. They invite people to talk about their self-acceptance journeys while removing their clothing, thus proving that style is 'what's underneath'. Each video they produce is utterly inspiring and it was even more powerful seeing women tell their stories in person. I also got to meet the lovely women behind it, Elisa and Lily, which was really cool.
I was interviewed by Ramona Mag this week, and also wrote an article for them on fashion and feminism. Read an excerpt below.
"In my view, one reason some people firmly believe that fashion and feminism can’t sit comfortably together is because, throughout history, fashion has often been an enemy to women and worked against them. It has, at times, objectified them, and pigeonholed them. Women have developed looks that appeal to the standards set by men, and been judged purely on their physical qualities—qualities men have dictated were attractive at any given moment in time. Women have been criticised for wearing too much makeup, or not enough. Victim blaming is prominent in rape culture, suggesting that what a women wears dictates her accountability in sexual assault. Fashion is a factor of gender roles that remain present in today’s society. While a lot of these demons still exist, I believe the digital age in which we live has empowered women, particularly in relation to fashion and how they choose to present themselves. For the first time in history, individuals have enormous control over how they present themselves to the world. Social media is, among many other things, a vehicle for self expression. If Kim Kardashian wants to post a nude selfie because she’s proud of her post-pregnancy weight loss, she can. She is free to choose how she wants to be seen. A woman can feel empowered by creating a look of her own liking that she chooses to adopt. Sharing that look on social media can further empower her. The digital age has perhaps built a bridge between fashion and feminism."
I completed an internship at CNN (Turner Broadcasting), working partly in the
business side and partly in the newsroom. It was an incredible
experience. I met smart people, sat in on fascinating meetings that gave me a
real insight into the way the media business works, and was able to
actively contribute.
I’ve had
my blog for three years and have constantly asked myself questions about how to
build an audience, what content resonates with people and what strategies work
best for engagement. It was fascinating to find that
CNN/Turner Broadcasting, an organisation that reaches billions of people
each and every week, routinely ask themselves virtually the same
questions. Of course the scale is much grander and the stakes higher, as
they are a business and need to generate income, but much of the discussion was
around content and audience engagement. It was thrilling to gain insights
into how it all works.
I’m
pleased to say that the team put me to work while I was there.
One
highlight was researching and curating my millennial thoughts on CNN's new
internal startup, Great Big Story. It creates such good content, and tells
fascinating and powerful stories, so I highly recommend checking it out. Below
is one of my favourite videos they've created.
I spent a
day (and one very early morning) working in the newsroom. One of the
highlights was producing a piece on Brexit for the
breakfast news show. I was asked to track down two under-24 year
olds with opposing views – one who voted to leave the EU and one who voted to
remain for an on-air debate. I managed to find them, pre-interview them,
and then booked them to go on air the next morning. I volunteered to go
to the studio just off Oxford Street at 6:30am to watch from
the control room as the piece went out. It also meant I could make
sure that the two guys turned up and on time! It was
a very rewarding feeling, seeing something
you organised go out on live TV. It was a great
piece, see a screenshot below.
I went to
a conference by Westminster eForum, and heard insights on the future of
monetising digital content from people from CNN, Deloitte, News UK, Featured
Artists Coalition, The Lad Bible and more. During the panel discussion I
asked the marketing director of The Lad Bible, Mimi Turner, a question on
misogyny. You can see the transcript of below. I was engaged throughout the
whole conference, especially as digital content is something I invest a lot of
time in.
One of my more lightweight, but very enjoyable, tasks was to screen cartoons
for airlines for sensitive content (Turner Broadcasting owns Cartoon Network).
I am well versed in the Power Puff Girls relaunch and We Bare Bears, which has
honestly become one of my favourite shows.
It was a
wonderful experience for which I am enormously grateful.
Thanks to Greg, Natalie, Owen and the rest of the team for being so welcoming
and generous. Thanks, too, for asking for and listening to my views; for
giving me real insights into such an extraordinary business; and for the
opportunity to contribute.
We live in the digital age. The age where people have a unique ability to brand themselves and control their image in a way we've never had before. Something as trivial as the instagram bio can define what you want to be in this world, and even help you get there. This is particularly revolutionary for women in the spotlight. Recently, Kim Kardashian posted her nude selfie, which caused a sea headlines and responses immediately, some supportive, others harshly critical. Rowan Blanchard commented on this on her twitter, and said it best:
I think we should be grateful, particularly as women, that we have some power to control our image, and are given a platform to have a voice.
My school has started a feminist's society, and it's easily become the highlight of my week. Every Friday lunch, a student gives a talk on something relating to feminism. This has been on transgender people, whether men can be feminists and, what I'm going to discuss today, feminism in advertising, specifically food. Gender divides and food had never previously been something I'd thought about, but seeing the adverts side by side, you can see a huge contrast. WOMEN:
(via / via / via / via) Adverts aimed to attract women usually focus on things being 'light' or 'diet' or 'guilt-free'. We have a really odd relationship with food, categorizing things as 'good' or 'bad', as though it is that simple. Therefore when you eat something you're doing something wrong or right. So adverts aimed at women always seem to focus on food being 'diet' or 'light' in order to make you feel good about eating it. The other side of advertising is when women are sexualised in order to attract men. Objectifying women in the media isn't a foreign concept to us, but I'd never observed it in food before. MEN:
(via / via / via / via) Adverts aimed at men however, focus on having protein and being 'manly'. They sometimes even exclude women, which I don't really understand as you're eliminating half of your potential demographic. It could be because women are seen as somehow 'weaker' and can't handle a yorkie bar? A lot of adverts aimed at men also usually involve some sort of explosion and images of young strong men. The question I want to ask is whether you think this is a cause or consequence? Do these adverts cause an even bigger gender divide in our society, or are they the result of an existing one? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. -Lexi xo
Three words which I have not previously uttered on my blog, even so three words which are very important. I'm a feminist. Before you freak out and accuse me of being a man-hating lesbian, hear me out. I have never dedicated a post to feminism and this isn't because I don't see it as important, it's because I never previously saw it as necessary. For me, the main objective of feminism is to achieve equal rights between men and women. Therefore I never really saw why you wouldn't be a feminist. But I have recently asked many people I know (particularly at my school) and a surprising amount have told me that they would not consider themselves feminists. This was a huge shock to me. I think a huge portion assume the stereotypes are true. In fact one of the first people I asked whether they were a feminist said no, and when I told them I was they immediately accused me of being a lesbian who hated men. At first I couldn't tell if this was an immature 14 year old boy trying to get attention or a genuine assumption. Either way, I didn't like it.
You may have recently seen Emma Watson's incredible speech at the UN about the HeForShe campaign to promote equal rights. If you haven't, watch it. It basically sums up everything I want to express on this topic. I covered the story and wrote an article about it for CultNoise magazine which you can check out HERE. I also go into a but more depth about my school 'survey' so make sure you give it a read.
