the day gossip girl made the wrong point about feminism

I'm shocked about it, really.

If you haven't seen this week's episode, probably don't read this, but I'll try to avoid any major plot points anyway.

Blair is trying to get into some kind of position of power. This is nothing new. The particular position of power in question this week is the "face" of Girls Inc., a position held by Nate's cousin or aunt or secret mormon wife or something at the moment. She's getting old (like, maybe 30 ish but who can even tell on this show?) so she approaches Blair and is like "I want you to be the face of my company because you dated someone with my last name and you go to an Ivy League school and you're Blair." And Blair is like, "Super." And the woman is like "But wait. There's more. We're concerned about your personal relationships. You need to be an empowered woman."

So Blair explains emphatically that she and Chuck are nothing and that there is nothing to worry about and she is SO empowered.

Then some other things happen and it becomes clear to the Girls Inc. woman that Chuck and Blair are, in fact, not nothing. So she goes up to Blair and is like "We don't want you anymore!" and Blair is like "That's not fair! An empowered woman should be able to do whatever she damn pleases!" and the bitchy woman says "That's life."

So Blair got it right, except then she goes up to Chuck and says "Bitch woman is right. I need to be empowered before I can be with you. I want to be the secretary of state, not first lady. Clearly I can accomplish nothing if you're in the picture. See ya later."

Which is just wrong. Come on, Blair! Seriously?

She's buying into this whole bullshit notion that one must be hostile to men to be competent. It's this rampant either/or-ism that is so popular among older feminists and so frequently called out as nonsense by the younger of us. One must be feminine or a feminist, apparently. No middle ground.

Nonsense.

It reminds me, actually, of this article that I was reading yesterday. A professor of civil liberties and feminist history was mad that a student was dressing in a way that displayed her "assets." She immediately made the assumption that the girl in question didn't think she had anything else to offer. Can we all acknowledge for a second what a ridiculous leap that is?

One can be with Chuck Bass and be an "empowered woman." One can dress scantily and also be intelligent and capable.

Any "feminist" who says otherwise is completely missing the point.

As is Gossip Girl.

Love always,

Clara