ColumnThe New York Times recently published an article about how female empowerment is basically meaningless. Why? Because companies have figured out how to monetize it and turn it into a “feeling” women can buy.

Jia Tolentino penned the piece that’s quickly gaining momentum on social media because she gets it — and that it is the reality that big brands have latched onto modern feminism and women’s desire to claim their individuality.

The article points out that empowerment, at its heart, is truly amazing. It was used to describe how the oppressed could overtake their oppressors, “In 1968, the Brazilian academic Paulo Freire coined the word conscientization, empowerment’s precursor, as the process by which an oppressed person perceives the structural conditions of his oppression and is subsequently able to take action against his oppressors,” Tolentino writes. “Eight years later, the educator Barbara Bryant Solomon, writing about American black communities, gave this notion a new name, empowerment.”

And in 1981 the term evolved again. “Julian Rappaport, a psychologist, broadened the concept into a political theory of power that viewed personal competency as fundamentally limitless; it placed faith in the individual and laid at her feet a corresponding amount of responsibility too.”

So, what does empowerment mean now? Tolentino bitingly describes it as a theory that is “applied to the needy while describing a process more realistically applicable to the rich.”

And she’s right — empowerment is now a product that’s sold to the less-than-wealthy female masses. That’s why companies sell pink-washed products and think that using hashtags like #StrongIsTheNewSkinny is totally okay.

Tolentino writes about more than a few brands that have effortlessly co-opted this once “empowering” word:

Aerie: the American Eagle lingerie brand sold a lot of product because of its #AerieReal campaign. This campaign was known for its lack of Photoshop and use of slightly larger models.

Dove: The personal care brand is incredibly well-known for its #RealBeauty campaign featuring women of all shapes and sizes.

TEDWomen: this sub-sect of TED is all about the power of women.

Forbes Women’s Summit: its hashtag is #RedefinePower.

Now, no one is saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing that women are generally using the phrase empowerment more. But when any word is monetized its authenticity begins to diminish.

Getting women who may never have thought about what empowers them before to do so isn’t bad — even if those thoughts are sparked from watching a Dove ad. The real problem is that corporations that aren’t exactly ethical and don’t consider women when sourcing or producing their products are making these ads to spark a need for worthless stuff. (And let’s not forget all the men at the top of many of these companies, too.)

Luckily, there are plenty women from all walks of life who embody what female empowerment really means. And if authentic messages keep getting play, perhaps they can up-end all this corporate feel-good crap and create a new definition of women’s empowerment that can help a new generation.

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Some corporate version of female empowerment via Shutterstock

The post Everything Has Cash Value, Even Female Empowerment: #NowWhat appeared first on EcoSalon.

Is wearing makeup a valid method for empowering women, or do our actions contradict our words?

I recently got sucked in by a humorous video of three men trying to follow a DIY beauty guru’s tips for a smoky eye tutorial.

What did I get sucked into? The wide wide world of beauty blogs. Shudder.

This video is not representative of the things that I normally watch, but there was something about it that was intriguing. Men wearing makeup–a skill that some women find essential to their everyday existence. The results were, err… well, you can imagine. Fortunately, none of the men poked an eye out.

After watching the video I clicked through to the beauty guru’s site. Her name is Michelle Phan and she has 4.6 million YouTube subscribers; mostly women who want to better their eyeliner application techniques, I would wager to guess. I was disturbed, and yet I couldn’t stop looking.

“I’m passionate about being a makeup artist and teaching others how to look and feel fabulous in their own skin. I believe that lives can be transformed with a single tube of lipstick, and that women have stronger careers, futures and better self-esteem when they feel confident and beautiful,” it said on Phan’s About page.

Wait. Let’s re-read that.

“Look and feel fabulous in their own skin.” She mentions empowering women while at the same time conceding that we need makeup in order to feel comfortable as ourselves.

Watch any of the millions of online beauty tutorials and you’ll quickly see that it has nothing to do empowering women; it has to do with creating a skin that everyone else will think is sexy and beautiful. Forget what you have, with one single pen or tube you can change it all! And when women are spending over $15,000 on makeup in their lifetime, that’s more than a few pens and tubes to reach full empowerment.

There is much discussion when it comes deciding whether makeup is really a method for empowering women. One study showed that makeup makes a woman more likable by her co-workers, while also making them think of her as more trustworthy and competent. In these terms, the act of wearing makeup is a superficial, societal expectation kind of thing that’s not about empowering women. But then there are others that point out that wearing makeup could even be equated to a feminist act, citing historical instances of makeup wearing and the development of the industry:

Much to the chagrin of traditionalists, women began to promote their independence through rouges and lipsticks, bucking the homemaker stereotype in favor of dancing, city life and fashion. Though they continued to live the chaste life expected of them, women began to define their individuality through made-up facades that seemed to reflect a newfound sexual yearning.

This discussion is dangerous and forces us to toe a very fine line. On one hand, doing things that make us feel good as women boosts our self esteem. On the other hand, when people expect us to wear makeup and we’re looked upon as “less” of a woman when we don’t, wearing makeup is less inspired by personal reasons and more social expectation.

But I know a lot of wonderful, independent, powerful women who like to wear makeup. And then I know a lot of the same kind of women who don’t wear any at all. It’s hard to say which group is more focused on empowering women; impossible even.

Ultimately, what scares me is all of these online beauty tutorials that saying that women simply can’t live without petrochemical-infused makeup. In fact we can have a whole other conversation about how not empowering it is to be slathering our faces with products that are known to lead to breast cancer and a whole handful of other things. When most of these companies say “Look good, feel your best”, it’s not about empowering women, but just a marketing line to sell more products.

Women should never feel that going without makeup isn’t an option. Sure, there will be days that you want eyeliner, and days that you don’t. But empowering women shouldn’t be about applying a hoard of products that do our bodies no good, and our self esteem less so.

Work to be appreciated and respected for who you are, not what mascara you have on. Rule a board meeting because you are powerful and confident, not because you wore red lipstick. The personality and charisma should come first, wearing makeup should only accentuate, not replace, the real you.

Because after all, shouldn’t we be having a discussion about the true methods for empowering women? Work, education, and access to birth control? Companies push makeup for girls and yet when a girl gets raped at the age of 14, the judge says it was because she seemed “older than her chronological age;” we live in a twisted day and age.

The reality is that there are a lot of problems in the world today, particularly when it comes to gender issues, and empowering women can’t be accomplished with a stick of eyeliner alone.

Does wearing makeup make you feel empowered? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in a comment.

Related on EcoSalon:

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Image: Greta Cerisini

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Two wheeled and ready for speed.

This week we celebrated both National Bike To Work Day, and the week before, National Bike Month (as we’ve done for years). We admit it – when it comes to the human-powered, pedal-driven single-track marvel known as the bicycle, we’re biased. But it’s not just about machine-worship. As these 6 stories from our archives demonstrate, bicycles can make our world a better place…

The goal for Asha 2012 is to provide bicycles to girls who have endured and transcended similar situations of slavery and abuse, in turn empowering them to take part in their communities, attend school and grow as strong women.

“We’ve found that girls tend to appreciate the bikes more and demonstrate greater maturity [owning the bicycles]. Women and girls deal endure and transcend tremendous abuse and unequal rights, especially in the developing world. We believe focusing on girls has the greatest overall impact on the community. We want to do everything we can to foster leadership and healing among heroic girls who’ve risen above challenging circumstances beyond their control,” says 88bikes co-founder Dan Austin.

88Bikes’ Asha 2012 Program: Empowering Girls With Bicycles

So why aren’t more of us riding? In many places, cycling for women is affected by a serious gender gap. But women have been riding through the ages, changing gender stereotypes along the way.

As Susan B. Anthony once said, “I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.”

From the first woman to bicycle around the world, to using the bicycle to promote cultural change, biking has been an empowering tool for women throughout the ages. In honor of female cyclists, here’s a visual look at women on two wheels from the last century.

Cycle Chic: Female Cyclists Through The Ages

One way you’ve broken barriers is by mountain biking across dangerous regions of Afghanistan. Can you talk a bit about the cultural implications of an act like that?

Well, Afghanistan is one of the few places in the world where women are not allowed to ride bikes. Around the world the bike is used as an effective vehicle for social justice and it was frustrating to realize that it just wasn’t something we could utilize in rural communities for school transportation, or for midwives and teachers. After working in Afghanistan for a couple of years I realized that I was constantly challenging gender barriers as part of my daily routine. When I’m in Kabul I like to walk as much as I can and interact with the Afghans I met in a more natural way. I ride a motorcycle which I bought in Kabul to avoid the traffic snarls that congest the city at rush hour, thanks to the lawlessness that permeates the country it means that you can ride on the sidewalk, or weave backwards through oncoming traffic, it’s all about the shortcuts. Being a foreign woman means that I find myself in a unique position as a hybrid gender. Men that still treat Afghan women as second class citizens will treat me as an equal and let me challenge gender barriers like riding my mountain bike because they are curious or intrigued but not threatened. It’s a little thing, but I also wanted to show another side of Afghanistan, the beauty, the adventure, and the possibility that what was once a tourist destination, could perhaps be again in the future if peace was ever achieved.

We Heart Our Readers: Shannon Galpin, Mountain2Mountain

The new Google feature delivers information about bike trails that have no motor vehicles, and the streets and routes recommended for cyclists, avoiding motor vehicle traffic, and steep hills. So far, the green and bike loving blogosphere has reacted with mixed reviews, deeming Google Maps for Bikes a good start, but not quite there yet.

We hope that Google’s Bike Maps feature will encourage car commuters to go green and get fit. Biking where you might have driven before can prevent tons of carbon emissions each year, while burning hundreds of calories an hour.

Ecomeme: Cyclists Get Google Maps Love

…bikes tend to appendage themselves to the foyer – hopefully,one with exposed brick. If you fit the demographics jimmied above, your bike has prolly become as elemental to your décor as that aviator chair from Restoration Hardware. Speaking of prolly, the hub of bicycle porn Prolly Is Not Probably takes an optimistic view of the bicycle cum purse rack: “[there’s] nothing like pristine track bikes in pristine apartments.”

Correction: that is, if – and only if – your track bike is sexy. That goes for your dirt bike, too. Here are 20 hot wheels that could be for display only.

Fashionable Bikes You Can Also Use For Home Decor

In early October, 10 miles of roads in East Hollywood, Downtown L.A., East L.A. and in between were closed down for regular traffic. Instead of cars and SUVs, cyclists, skateboarders and pedestrians took over the streets for a day of clean, fossil fuel-free fun. An estimated 130,000 people hit the streets for this third edition of CicLAvia, which has become a day of celebration for Angelenos from all walks of life. Even the city’s Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, put on his helmet and pedaled along, calling the event a good break for a city that’s “addicted to the single-passenger automobile.” All along the now-expanded course was music, food and games, like dodge ball and street chess. That certainly sounds like more fun than being stuck in traffic behind an angry SUV driver, don’t you think?

CicLAvia Gives Bikes & People The Right Of Way For A Day

Images: ClickFlashPhotos/Nicki Varkevisser, 88bikes, Mountain2Mountain, Toronto History, Knife & Saw, CicLAvia and Pixel Addict.

The post From The Vault: Getting The World To Change Gear appeared first on EcoSalon.

Breaking barriers at home and abroad.

As the founder of Mountain2Mountain, Shannon Galpin empowers women in conflict zones by providing them with a voice and access to education and vocational training. Galpin works primarily in Afghanistan and famously cycles across dangerous zones like the Panjshir Valley – where Afghan women can be punished and even killed for riding a bike – to bring attention to women’s issues. Talk about cojones. We have incredible respect for Galpin’s work. As it turns out, she’s a fan of us too.

Name: Shannon Galpin

Website: http://www.mountain2mountain.org

What do you love about EcoSalon?

I adore the complete range of lifestyle articles, from alternative design and architecture, to green living and relationships, often covered from a truly unique and irreverent perspective! My favorite column is Foodie Underground – one week I’m dreaming of a fish taco-fueled Baja escape, the next rediscovering my Parisian addiction to the vast array of brightly colored macarons, to looking at oysters as not just a food but as an important part of a sustainable relationship with our food sources and waterfront economies. I love to see food discussed not as vegan or paleo, or as it relates to diet or body image, but instead reading about the pure joy of food, where it comes from, and how our communities are related to the food sources themselves. But I am also a huge sucker for the Sex by Numbers series, especially the Republican Caucus edition!

Tell us about Mountain2Mountain.

Mountain2Mountain was founded nearly five years ago with the desire to create voice and value for women and children in conflict zones. Essentially, I knew I didn’t want to just build schools or clinics as a reaction. We want to create catalysts within conflict zones that can create a ripple through their communities which creates a more sustainable and community-driven approach for change. We can do that by improving access for education, by activism for women’s rights, through vocational training, and through media training. One of our newest programs we are launching this year is called Combat Apathy, and its based on the idea that voice matters. So we work with citizen journalism and leadership with young adults in conflict zones and evolve into youth driven social impact programs that we support to tackle the issues of women’s rights, sex trafficking, LGBT rights, and war and conflict. If individuals are given the opportunity to use their voice, people will listen and you can instill a sense of value and confidence that we can cultivate into social action and community action. We have been working in Afghanistan for four years but are expanding into Cambodia, Mexico and other conflict regions this year as well.

Why women’s rights, and why Afghanistan?

I staunchly believe that we need to think of women’s rights as human rights. Women’s involvement in their community, their government, and global affairs are integral to the future of our global community. Gender equity is not just morally right, it is pivotal to global sustainable development. It is number 3 on the UN’s Millennium Development Goals – not just because its morally right but because empowering women will contribute to achieving all the other goals, reducing poverty, improving maternal health, improving universal education, combating HIV/AIDS, and even environmental sustainability. Afghanistan is consistently ranked the worst place in the world to be a woman so to me it seemed like the best place to start! It’s also a country that is the source of so much apathy in the US – overloaded with negative media and our ongoing military involvement – it seemed to me that if we could challenge stereotypes of Afghans in the U.S. and of Americans in Afghanistan baby steps could emerge.

One way you’ve broken barriers is by mountain biking across dangerous regions of Afghanistan. Can you talk a bit about the cultural implications of an act like that?

Well, Afghanistan is one of the few places in the world where women are not allowed to ride bikes. Around the world the bike is used as an effective vehicle for social justice and it was frustrating to realize that it just wasn’t something we could utilize in rural communities for school transportation, or for midwives and teachers. After working in Afghanistan for a couple of years I realized that I was constantly challenging gender barriers as part of my daily routine. When I’m in Kabul I like to walk as much as I can and interact with the Afghans I met in a more natural way. I ride a motorcycle which I bought in Kabul to avoid the traffic snarls that congest the city at rush hour, thanks to the lawlessness that permeates the country it means that you can ride on the sidewalk, or weave backwards through oncoming traffic, it’s all about the shortcuts. Being a foreign woman means that I find myself in a unique position as a hybrid gender. Men that still treat Afghan women as second class citizens will treat me as an equal and let me challenge gender barriers like riding my mountain bike because they are curious or intrigued but not threatened. It’s a little thing, but I also wanted to show another side of Afghanistan, the beauty, the adventure, and the possibility that what was once a tourist destination, could perhaps be again in the future if peace was ever achieved.

You’re obviously dealing with very heavy issues. What keeps you motivated and inspired?

My daughter, Devon, is a huge source of daily inspiration – nothing like the complete open honesty that a seven year old has to help you see the world in a fresh way. She’s also a big reason that I’m taking on the issues I am. Firstly feeling the responsibility to do my part to make the world a little better for her and her generation. Secondly to set an example to her that you MUST be involved in the world. The responsibility is not with governments or global organizations – it’s with individuals, citizen diplomats. Lastly, it’s important to remember that we are part of the global community. I want her to realize she is a global citizen, not just an American. She has to know that young girls in Afghanistan, or Cambodia, or even closer in Mexico are no different than her – and thus deserves the same access and rights.

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