What sort of "strong independent woman" is emotionally devastated by rude comments and images in magazines?

[Cassa]

I have yet to hear what *I* would identify as a "feminist" talk about herself as a "strong and independent woman". That is for those princesses who like to stomp their feet and aver they are so, but then not really live up to it.

I do understand, though, that you often use "feminist" to describe any female you dislike. It's cheating and you know it.

[colossalDesperado303]

If you have to tell people that you are strong and independent, then you probably aren't. Those things are self-evident.

>Why are "strong independent women" always complaining about social pressure, the media, and so on, always seeing themselves as victims?

Because they don't understand what "strong and independent" means. They think it means being educated and having a job. It's so much more than that - it speaks to a woman's character and inner fortitude. Those things can be present whether she's got a Master's and a high-paying career or not. And chances are, if she always feels victimized, she isn't strong.

[Toughswing118]

For the simple fact that "strong and independent" women are strong and independent because they fight every day to resist the media's irrelevant temptations to cave in to the utterly repulsive societal boundaries.

[Emma]

Any woman who likes to keep proclaiming that she's 'strong' and 'independent'
likely is pretentious or is attemping to divert attention from her insecurities.
Any woman who likes to keep proclaiming that she's 'well-educated' seems
worried that other people cannot recognise it from how she expresses herself.

Am I 'emotionally devastated' by noticing the demeaning, factually inaccurate
stereotypes of women in the media? No, but I am aware that these stereotypes
cannot be shrugged off so easily by some women, who belong to disempowered
minorities, than by other women, who have enjoyed power and privileges coming
by birth or by marriage. I have noticed, for example, that most writers, whether
male or female, feminist or non-feminist, in Gender Studies seem to stereotype
East Asian women as very passive, submissive, and incapable of independent
thought or action. How would you feel if you were an East Asian woman who
was persistently denied promotion at work because her bosses believed that
the dominant stereotypes of her must be true?

You seem to like to use 'feminist' as a term of abuse toward women whom
you dislike or with whom you seriously disagree. You might like to know
that even women who describes themselves as 'feminist' have differences
about what that means or should mean.

"Feminism's generation wars" by Katha Pollitt:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/...sm-gender1

[Smilingbasket999]

Good point! I'm a strong, independent woman (most of the time, lol) and I could care less about comments and images in magazines. I do have a concern, though, for women (especially teens and tweens) who are not yet strong and independent who may be negatively influenced by such media.

If I had the chance to teach one class to all of the 12-25 year old women in the country, I would teach them about the time it takes to prep a model for a shoot, and then the airbrushing and photoshopping that is applied to the finished photos. Most girls that age think that those models look like that in real life. It would be nice for them to see their "before" shots and to see the unretouched photos. Even the models themselves don't look like they do in the glossy finished product. (Sorry, got off on a tangent...)