To examine feminist theory I would like to look at that
advertisement call ‘Equality’ presented by Nike at this year’s Grammy awards
and later at the NBA-all star game. In examining this ad I am less interest in
the text itself, although it is an interesting ad and I would encourage you to
follow the link above, but instead on the supposed representation of women’s
empowerment that comes specifically from the inclusion of Serena Williams in
the advertisement. Serena Williams has, for years now, been a celebrity
elevated to the highest level of social empowerment. She is considered to be a
roll model by many and the perfect image of an empowered woman by others. The
issue I see is that advertisements like Nike’s ‘Equality,’ or most other
advertisements, especially in sports, that present women through this narrative
of empowerment fail to address the real nature of power in our world today.
First, lets examine the way in which Serena Williams has
been presented as both feminine and masculine depending on the efficacy it
provides to the consumer or producer. Despite being portrayed as the image of
an empowered woman many critics, mostly scummy, racist misogynists if we are
being honest, have suggested that she is not ‘feminine’ enough to be presented
in this way. Of course there are multiple issue with this interpretation the
least of which is the racial implication that her muscular form (also a symptom
of being literally one of if not the best tennis player in the world) does not
qualify her for the more traditional image of what a woman should look like.
Naturally, this interpretation is also representative of an extremely sexist
and patriarchal construction of the female from which is fundamentally wrong
and dehumanizing. What is so unique about this scenario is that the act of
empowerment comes precisely from the anti-normative construction of her body as
an image of power. The problem is that in the attempt to subvert normative
constructions of body image in order to empower less traditional concepts of
body image, while connecting those less traditional images to empowerment. The
question is why did it fail, the answer is that gaze has never been undermined.
As much as it appears to be empowering for Serena Williams to be presented in
these ads it is not only tokenizing but actually fails the goal of subverting
traditional power structures. If the normative structure is a very limited
image of women and power then it would be subversion to in some way dismantle
that connection. Ultimately, I think that the link of not being able to
dismantle the male gaze creates a problematic narrative for what women’s
empowerment looks like. If we suggest that women can present themselves, or
more accurately be presented (an issue in itself), as empowered regardless of
the gaze enforced through norms then we are essentially suggesting that being oppressed
is a choice that can be moved away from on a whim. This sounds like
emancipation-philosophy entrapment and nothing more.
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