Pinterest: Anti-Feminist or Just a Rockin' Good Time

Pinterest:

Anti-Feminist or Just a Rockin' Good Time

In the past few months I have come across several blog posts and newspaper articles all discussing the anti-feminist nature of Pinterest. Being an avid pinner and lover of the almighty pin board my mind was set totally against this outrageous accusation. So, I decided to do an experiment...super basic. I would go onto pinterest and count the number of pins that may cause a woman to feel less about herself, or ask her to fit into the status quo. The thing is, like any standard webpage, I only really look at the pins related to meal-making and crafts. All the others ones are discarded from memory...

Shockingly, after counting just one webpage's pins (the ending point being the 'fetching more pins' section), almost thirty percent were solely devoted to making a woman feel like she needs to follow a certain life path (marriage, babies, etc.) or that her body should be some preconceived idea of beauty (namely skinny).

    

The two images above are the extreme examples of body imaging on pinterest. The first image is like so many other ones on the board: show a girl who was fat, thus ugly, before and then show her diet and then look how she has transformed into a bombshell. The second image was a joke made by pinners with the caption reading: "this is how stuffed I feel right now." The demeaning image of this woman, made by fellow women, is appalling. Then there are of course the multitudes of messages/sayings meant to be inspirational for women, like the one below. 

While there are many lonely hearts out there, the highway of life image behind it makes it seem that finding one's partner and love is the ultimate destination. I have been lucky in this department, but there was a time when I was one of those women wondering when my prince charming would show up. It would have been nice to have had more words of inspiration from my fellow ladies discussing how my career choices will lead me to a happy, unexpected location...that the road of life will go on if your knight doesn't show up. These sayings/pins are limited in comparison to the one's about marriage and finding love.

Now it's time for me to discuss the flip side of this issue. Even though many of the pins about body type are aimed towards women, what about those pins connected to men? Like the below image that discusses dieting tips...

Now when someone sees a middle-aged guy who does a before and after one doesn't automatically think how anti-masculine. So, why can a tubby man going to thin mean nothing more than he enjoys exercising and wants to live a long and healthy life? In this way the anti-feminist propaganda against healthy eating and losing weight seems ridiculous. Or is it simply that the images accompanying the diet tips tend to make a woman think about her own body, even if it is healthy, as inferior. I'm not sure about this one...jury is still out.

Lastly, in major defense of pinterest, I want to say that a good deal of pins relate to helping the busy woman/man with easy cooking ideas, or to simply offer someone inspiration on holiday ideas and birthdays. One of the biggest rants against the board is that they promote traditional female activities. Please...some people just enjoy crafts and cooking. I'm not buying into this propaganda. The great thing about feminism is that it should be a movement which allows a woman to explore and participate in any activity they want without censure from their community. Pinterest is for the more 'traditional' female activities, but this is not to say men aren't also finding these pins helpful. Especially for men who, dare I say it, love to cook, love to plan, or oh my gosh like to be creative. For those anti-pinteresters: if you are not interested in these activities simply don't do them...not every pin is meant for everyone. 

And I also think the anti-feminist propaganda is missing out on the other part of pinterest...the humor. Vast amounts of pins deal mainly with putting a smile on your face. My favorite is the animal humor. So, in the tone of this adorable puppy...enjoy it if you want and if you don't just don't visit the website.