{"id":64838,"date":"2014-11-12T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T14:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=64838"},"modified":"2014-11-06T03:01:58","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T08:01:58","slug":"the-case-of-the-cursing-princess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2014\/11\/12\/the-case-of-the-cursing-princess\/","title":{"rendered":"The Case of the Cursing Princess"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week we saw\u00a0a range of responses break out in reaction to this video: \u201cF-Bombs for Feminism: Potty-Mouted Princesses Use Bad Word for Good Cause.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/109731596\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Some\u00a0commenters fell\u00a0immediately into the \u201ccursing = bad\u201d camp and are offended by the language, but for those not turned off,\u00a0the other initial reaction seems to be glee. \u00a0There\u2019s an \u201cI can\u2019t believe they\u2019re saying that!\u201d kind of catharsis that accompanies\u00a0watching little girls drop f-bombs all over the place and show some righteous rage over the injustices they are bound to face due to gender inequity. \u00a0What seems less present in the general reaction, and concerns me the most, is how these girls \u2014 and these causes\u00a0\u2014 are fundamentally being leveraged by a T-shirt company.<\/p>\n<p>For years I\u2019ve written about what I call \u201cfauxpowerment\u201d \u2014 the \u201crah-rah, you go girl,\u201d feel-good phrases and gestures that\u00a0are meant\u00a0to pump girls up with confidence or a newly varnished sense of self-esteem (often enough through a makeover) but, in fact, undermine any real confidence building as these messages reinforce that\u00a0girls\u2019 looks are paramount or that a quick, pink band-aid slapped\u00a0over a deep\u00a0wound makes everything better. \u00a0For\u00a0those in the<a title=\"Brave Girls Want\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bravegirlswant.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Girls\u2019 Studies<\/a> community\u00a0or who work at\u00a0well-developed <a title=\"WriteGirl\" href=\"http:\/\/www.writegirl.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">programs<\/a> designed just for girls,\u00a0these attempts are not only insultingly facile, they are understood to be downright harmful and counterproductive. Worst of all is seeing corporations\u00a0leverage girls for commercial\u00a0purposes, a tradition, maddeningly, that seems ongoing. \u00a0That\u2019s the category in which I would put the \u201cPotty-Mouthed Princesses\u201d advertisement \u2014 what it fundamentally\u00a0is.<\/p>\n<p>FCKH8, the company behind the ad, initially responded positively to my queries about their intentions, what charities they are donating proceeds of each sale to, and if the girls in the video were tightly scripted or had any input into the video, but I have not heard back again. \u00a0I hope to update this post if I do. \u00a0On their home page they cite their mission as being a \u201cfor-profit T-shirt company with an activist heart and a passionate social change mission: arming thousands of people with pro-LGBT equality, anti-racism and anti-sexism T-shirts that act as \u2018mini-billboards\u2019 for change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Their T-shirt slogans are meant to be provocative, and in some cases, it seems, also plagiarized, as the\u00a0Feminist Majority Foundation has had an ongoing<a title=\"FMF\" href=\"http:\/\/msmagazine.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/24\/are-you-whatafeministlookslike-show-us\/\" target=\"_blank\"> \u201cThis is What A Feminist Looks Like\u201d<\/a>\u00a0campaign since 2003, with President Obama in the shirt on their 2009 cover. \u00a0More recently, FCKH8 came under fire for allegedly\u00a0exploiting the events in Ferguson to sell their <a title=\"COLORLINES\" href=\"http:\/\/colorlines.com\/archives\/2014\/09\/this_is_the_t-shirt_company_making_money_off_of_ferguson.html\" target=\"_blank\">antiracism gear.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A quick look on the FCKH8 website reveals they barely\u00a0sell T-shirts in children\u2019s sizes. \u00a0So, why use child-models in what is essentially an ad? The answer seems painfully obvious. \u00a0Anxiety about girls is pervasive in American society,\u00a0if manifested through\u00a0various channels. \u00a0The value of seeing girls, in princess costumes no less, letting loose about the gendered inequities they face, never mind parade across the screen asking which one of them will inevitably be raped in her lifetime, is designed to shock. \u00a0FCKH8 is tapping into a cultural zeitgeist by putting girls in princess costumes and then breaking with stereotype\u00a0by having them swear up a storm and shout out their fury, complete with very adult-like, fed-up gestures and the waved middle finger.<\/p>\n<p>The reaction FCKH8 has carefully cultivated is the drama that results from presenting such high contrasts \u2014 furious princesses calling out the system in\u00a0which they are entrapped, flipping off the patriarchy, and angrily speaking out. \u00a0The power of seeing this\u00a0dramatized speaks to how coded and closed these systems are \u2014 \u201clittle girls\u201d\u00a0under most\u00a0circumstances would hardly be allowed to swear with such abandon, if they even wanted to.<\/p>\n<p>Is there something cathartic about hearing these injustices called out and denounced with anger? There is. \u00a0For those furious about gender inequality it can be\u00a0gratifying hearing these issues called out \u2014 when the adult women in the ad step forward.\u00a0This isn\u2019t how\u00a0most girls under 10 would speak and the girls used, albeit likely\u00a0paid models or actresses taking on a role, are props. \u00a0While many commenters reported that\u00a0their (usually teenage) daughters expressed delight at seeing girls let loose with things they cannot say \u2014\u00a0again a moment that reveals how girls are\u00a0stifled \u2014 there is hardly any empowerment when the girls didn\u2019t write these scripts themselves and are, fundamentally, co-opted into a purportedly\u00a0radical company\u2019s for-profit campaign through their \u201cwalking billboards\u201d which work to questionable effect.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2018ve always loved Peggy Orenstein\u2019s coined phrase <a title=\"Empowertainment\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/09\/26\/magazine\/26fob-wwln-t.html\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cempowertainment\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a moment when companies use a generic sense of \u201csisterhood\u201d or a cheery pro-girl message to essentially sell products. The criticism of this practice is (necessarily) ongoing and FCKH8, a company that I\u2019m certain will defend its practices as radical and empowering, is doing exactly this. \u00a0In Andi Zeisler\u2019s\u00a0excellent <a title=\"Fempowerment\" href=\"http:\/\/www.salon.com\/2014\/07\/21\/worst_sales_pitch_ever_the_ad_industrys_shameless_history_of_using_feminism_to_sell_products\/\" target=\"_blank\">round-up<\/a> of the history of \u201cfemapowerment\u201d or, as she coins it, \u201cempowertising,\u201d\u00a0she calls out the companies that, beyond girls, are co-opting feminism \u2014 or their brand of it \u2014 to essentially sell products.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Ms. magazine\" href=\"http:\/\/msmagazine.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/24\/fckh8-exploits-little-girls-to-sell-t-shirts\/\" target=\"_blank\">Criticism<\/a> of the company\u00a0has been <a href=\"http:\/\/rebeccahains.com\/2014\/10\/22\/fckh8s-f-bomb-princess-video-isnt-offensive-its-exploitative\/\" target=\"_blank\">swift<\/a>,\u00a0and <a title=\"The Washington Post\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/parenting\/wp\/2014\/10\/23\/the-problem-with-fckh8-videos-has-nothing-to-do-with-swearing\/\" target=\"_blank\">wide<\/a>,\u00a0but the click-bait appeal of this video will probably outnumber its detractors. \u00a0A few years back the video \u201cRiley on Marketing\u201d went viral as the outraged Riley decried the limitations imposed upon her by gendered marketing. \u00a0There was nary an f-bomb in the mix. \u00a0This was a real girl, speaking out unscripted about the injustices she knows. \u00a0The authenticity in her voice and in\u00a0her message garnered\u00a0almost 5 million YouTube views and carries far more power\u00a0than FCKH8\u2032s\u00a0gimmicky, egregious act.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><object width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/-CU040Hqbas?hl=en_US&amp;version=3\"\/><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"\/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"\/><\/object><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Elline Lipkin<span style=\"color: #444444;\">\u00a0is a scholar, poet, and nonfiction writer. She is the author of two books: <\/span><\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Errant-Thread-Press-First-Poetry\/dp\/1888553197\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #444444;\">The Errant Thread<\/span><\/a><em><span style=\"color: #444444;\"> and <\/span><\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Girls-Studies-Seal-Elline-Lipkin\/dp\/1580052487\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #444444;\">Girls&#8217; Studies<\/span><\/a><em><span style=\"color: #444444;\">. This post originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2014\/10\/24\/the-case-of-the-cursing-princesses\/\" target=\"_blank\">Girl w\/ Pen<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week we saw\u00a0a range of responses break out in reaction to this video: \u201cF-Bombs for Feminism: Potty-Mouted Princesses Use Bad Word for Good Cause.\u201d Some\u00a0commenters fell\u00a0immediately into the \u201ccursing = bad\u201d camp and are offended by the language, but for those not turned off,\u00a0the other initial reaction seems to be glee. \u00a0There\u2019s an \u201cI [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":64841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[223,227,36,98,55,2099,2095],"class_list":["post-64838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-childrenyouth","tag-commodification","tag-economics","tag-capitalism","tag-gender","tag-gender-childrenyouth","tag-gender-feminismactivism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2014\/11\/23.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64838"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64840,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64838\/revisions\/64840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}