In this past year or so, anyone who consumes even a little bit of media has likely come across at least one social media post or magazine article about a female-centric event in pop culture. From everyone dressing in pink for the Barbie Movie to Taylor Swift’s and Beyonce’s extravagant tours, this year has featured many powerful women in pop culture. Most recently, in the Grammy’s, 7 out of the 8 nominees for “Album of the Year” were women, and Taylor Swift broke a world record by winning the award for the fourth time. Mainstream music has more feminist songs than ever, and TV shows and movies are trying to create powerful feminine characters. With the shifts in media and pop culture in the past 30 years in mind, this doesn’t seem too surprising.
Background - Feminism and Media
Ever since the 1990s, the beginning of the third wave of feminism, the media has begun to embrace femininity and all things traditionally classified as feminine. Before this movement, feminists rejected all things “feminine” and aimed to be perceived in a more masculine manner by men in order to be respected. These women rejected everything they regarded as representing femininity because the male-dominant culture made them believe that feminine things made them dumb or shallow. After the 90s, however, women began to embrace the things that made them feminine, and movies like Legally Blonde or 10 Things I Hate About You started to have strong female characters who possessed feminine qualities. As the idea of girls wearing high heels and pink clothes while being smart took over pop culture, more and more movies, songs, TV shows, etc. made to appeal to women featured themes of female empowerment and embracing femininity. This carried on this way until the late 2010s when pop culture dramatically shifted with the rise of social media.
Social Media and Female Empowerment
With social media entering people’s lives, it became easier for women to communicate with each other and take action against gender inequality and sexism in general. With movements like “Me Too” emerging, social media undeniably provided a new space for activism, but it also created an opportunity for pop culture to strike conversation. As soon as a new song, movie, etc. came out, people on social media formed opinions on it and shared these opinions with the world, which made it easier for media outlets to get more engagement. It has been found that 3 out of 10 people watch things because of something they’ve read on social media. Relating this information with feminism, it can be said that because social media shaped a large part of the entertainment industry, it became easier for movies like Barbie to get the attention they did. Everyone agreeing to dress pink to go see a movie could have only happened via a large platform where everyone was connected. The conversations in social media made what was already big even bigger which caused the female empowerment movement to skyrocket.
Current Day Female Empowerment - The 2023 Pop Culture Scene
In the age of awareness and social justice fights, it can be argued that the movement for female empowerment manifested itself most in media publications in the entertainment industry. The causes of this are tied to the early feminist movements and women’s presence in social media, and the outcomes are grand. In just the year 2023, some cases of women dominating the entertainment industry and pop culture are as follows: Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour striking extreme discussion on many social media platforms, the Barbie Movie’s unifying effect on women - getting many women in movie theaters with their friends or mothers dressed in pink - as mentioned before, and many more. As a trend, it can be observed that all of these have sparked extreme social media attention and most likely wouldn’t have reached their level of success in a world without it.
To conclude, 2023 being a year of female domination in the entertainment industry has been a long time coming because of the late feminist movements and the unlimited level of communication thanks to social media. The entertainment industry, more than most, is becoming feminine and embracing female empowerment and likely will carry on this way for some time to follow.
Works Cited
Grein, Paul. “12 Signs That Women Ruled the World of Entertainment in 2023.” Billboard, Billboard, 28 Dec. 2023
“9 Ways Women Dominated the 2024 Grammys.” GRAMMY.Com,
“Four Waves of Feminism.” Pacific University, 30 June 2022
Imam, Anusha. “2023: The Year of Women Empowerment In Entertainment.” Ivey Business School, Ivey Business School, 16 Jan. 2024
Posted on May 4, 2023 By Kim. “The Social Media Revolution Is Reshaping Feminism -
National Organization for Women.” National Organization for Women -, 3 May 2023
Solis, Brian. “Music, Film, TV: How Social Media Changed the Entertainment Experience.” Social Media Today, 17 May 2012