While Bishop,
Sexton, and Plath were writing during a time when print material were one of
the only ways to reach a large audience, women poets in our modern society
don’t necessarily need print media or a publication to have their poetry read.
The rise of the Internet and social media outlets like Tumblr, Twitter, and
Instagram have given users the opportunity to have their writing read (whether
it’s a post, a tweet, or a blog entry). Poetry is a form of activism, and the
work of poets like Bishop, Sexton, and Plath show that poetry has been and
continues to be used as a platform to communicate a feminist message. The poems
these women were writing express a sense of self that is working to break free
from the dominant patriarchal ideology of society and are so important when
considering they were written in a time period when women had very strict
expectations to be submissive wives and mothers. While women still face
outdated gender expectations today, our society is working toward progress with
equality for both sexes, and social media gives women a voice when they have
been traditionally denied one.
Social media gives anyone an audience and can be used in positive (ex. activism) and negative (ex. cyberbullying) ways, but it certainly allows people who have traditionally been marginalized (like women and people of color) a way to express themselves outside of the constraints of society. Women have been historically oppressed through patriarchy and have been taught to be quiet and submissive. As is evident through the published poetry discussed here, Bishop, Sexton, and Plath were not quiet women who silently accepted the oppression placed on them because of their sex. Their poetry portrays women who are working to live outside of the misogyny they were surrounded by, and this is reflected in the poetry from Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram, as well. The social media writers are establishing themselves as feminists through their bios, the hashtags they use, and the words they are using as weapons to fight misogyny and patriarchal oppression. While the mode of “publication” is different between the in-print women poets and the poets on social media, the message is similar; poetry can be used to fight the oppression facing women, encourage gender equality, and allow women to express their true selves freely.
A prime example of Internet users gaining
an audience through a social media outlet is Ruby Rose’s YouTube video, Break Free. Rose, who is an Australian
model and actress, is gender non-conforming. This
video, which discourages gender expectations and stereotypes, is “a short film
about gender roles, Trans, and what it is like to have an identity that
deviates from the status quo” (Ruby Rose). The video depicts a woman at the
beginning who is in a dress and heels with makeup and long hair. Over the
course of the film, the woman is transformed from a “feminine” person into a “masculine”
person with short hair, a suit, and tattoos, working to break down the
stereotypes that society has about how men and women should look and act. Just
as the feminist poems here are showing that there isn’t one right way to
perform one’s gender or womanhood, Rose’s video uses a social media outlet to
express a similar message and dismantle unnecessary expectations.
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