Girlgaze: photography, fourth wave feminism, and social media advocacy is an article by Ruxandra Looft, that studies how hard it is for women to have a professional career in photography, only one third of professionals in the industry are women, which begs the question ‘whose view of the world are we seeing?’ Amanda de Cadenet was told in order to be successful she must ‘remain in front of the camera.’ Ten years later, de Cadenet became an established photographer and has shot covers for Vogue.
Loot discusses how fourth wave feminism, social media and photography are intertwined. Fourth wave feminism uses social media to connect and reach populations across the globe. De Cadenet launched the #girlgaze project in spring 2016 in an effort to seek ‘other girls’ perspective on the world, including girls of different ethnic backgrounds and race, this project tries to empower women.
The #girlgaze project isn’t the first movement of this type, in 2014 TIME ran the project ‘#feminism’, they focused on political hashtags such as #yesallwomen. By having an online campaign like this, TIME engaged people that had been previously overlooked by ‘mainstream feminism’. By using a hashtag, it starts a conversation in countries that may have not questioned the status quo if it wasn’t trending on social media.
The #girlgaze project focuses on: sexuality, beauty, body positivity and mental health – all of which are topics that are prevalent in fourth wave feminism. De Cadenet’s views are in line with fourth wave feminism, she is known for bringing her political viewpoint on the project, such as backing Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
De Cadenet’s project still needs some work in order to empower even more women, due to socio-economic factors, the project influences the greatest amount of people in more affluent areas that have greater internet access. Not everyone can afford internet, not everyone has a smartphone or computer, some countries have censored twitter and instagram. There are many women in the world that have no access to #girl gaze, they can not view other women’s perspectives of the world, so they have to trust the male dominated industry.
Another issue with the venture is that there are only a few judges, which have been accused of using images which match their aesthetic on the featured posts. This means that the project has become rigged, people will alter their work in order to fit that aesthetic and get noticed, leaving the question whose gaze does #girlgaze represent? Is that online gallery really how girls view the world?
Leave a comment