This weekend’s Saturday Night Live video sketch featured host Ariana Grande and cast members Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Leslie Jones, Vanessa Bayer, Cecily Strong, and Sasheer Zamata frolicking at Coney Island to the “This Is Not a Feminist Song” song. At times the song might seem feminist, but they wouldn’t want to offend anyone, and feminism is “pretty nuanced stuff,” so it’s not a feminist song, okay? Unless you think it is, I guess.
Personally, I think this sketch accurately captures the fear of failing other women and letting your own biases get in the way that can accompany making feminist media. Intersectional feminism ain’t easy, and although fear of failure shouldn’t prevent us from trying to be the best allies and the most inclusive feminists we can be, I know that for myself it sometimes does. In the interests of lane-staying, or out of fear of misrepresenting feminism and other women, I sometimes unintentionally double-down on exclusion. For me, I see this video as a reminder that it’s stupid to not aim for more inclusion just because I’m afraid I might fail.
I also thought “This Is Not a Feminist Song” was a pretty funny take on the pressure placed on feminist media by men to defend itself outright, as well as the dueling expectation that any female-lead project should be explicitly feminist. It’s fitting that two of the cast members in “This Is Not a Feminist Song” also star in the new Ghostbusters—that’s not a movie that to my knowledge any of the stars or creators have described as feminist; but, because the cast is primarily female, it’s expected to be nonetheless.
I obviously think it’s a good thing that audiences expect female-driven movies to be feminist, but female creators can’t make anyone happy. If we’re blatantly feminist, men demand endless justifications from us; if we’re not explicit about our gender politics, we’re critiqued for our silence. Again, I don’t think it’s wrong to expect that movies and other media created by a primarily female team will be feminist, but it’s worth considering why men aren’t held to an analogous standard.
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