Exploring young women’s attitudes towards the feminist movement and popular music artists’ claims to feminism

Abstract

The last decade has seen a marked increase in public visibility of feminism. Numerous factors have contributed to this; not least the growing number of celebrities aligning themselves with the feminist movement. This has led to a shift in the way feminism is perceived in the public eye, having gone from being a taboo subject that celebrities routinely avoid and distance themselves from, to becoming increasingly trendy and popular. This article focuses on a cohort of celebrities who have been particularly vocal about their views on feminism in recent years - female pop artists with a large fanbase of young women. This study explores young women’s attitudes towards the feminist movement and these popstars’ endorsements of feminism. It examines what effect, if any, they have had on young women’s views about feminism. This research was carried out among female and non-binary students of NUI Galway using an online survey. Considering the difficulties the feminist movement has experienced in its attempts to reach young women in the past, this study makes a contribution to existing research on young women’s engagement with feminism and elucidates the role of celebrities and pop artists.