Raising a Feminist Daughter in the Instagram Age

How do the parents of daughters raise them to be girls of substance? Raise them to be young women who will make some effort, big or small, to improve the lives of other women and girls? To make a meaningful contribution to the world in general?

In particular, how is this done in the age of Instagram and other electronic media?

If you have a child over the age of - what, 12? 10? 8? - chances are s/he has some or many social media accounts. Log into your child's account on any given day and you may encounter an image like this:

(Image source: Sabina Mussaeva,

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/423690277426210377/)

 

In the U.S., 2016 was the year of two female candidates for President, one of them a serious contender. Last November, droves of American women voted for Hillary Clinton, and then visited the grave of Susan B. Anthony to post "I voted" stickers on the headstone.

In this same period, log into your daughter's Instagram account on another given day, and you might see an image like this:

(Image source: https://favim.com/image/2658410/)

Or this:

(Image source: https://www.pinterest.com/Theylovecyn/b-a-d-d-i-e-s/)

 

(Caveat: While none of the images in this blog post were specifically taken from Instagram -- I use Facebook, not Instagram -- I've seen images very much like these come across my daughter's Instagram scroll.)

In November 2017, New Jerseyans may elect a female Governor, Kim Guadagno, the current Lieutenant Governor to Chris Christie. (Or not, given Gov. Christie's recent shut-down-the-beaches-except-for-my-family-and-me fiasco.) Is the possibility of a female Governor exciting? Sure, to me. To my teenage daughter, probably not (although she'll humor me by pretending to be interested) compared to this:

(Image source: http://weheartit.com/cassie_tay/collections/40132630-friends-selfies)

Or this:

(Image source: http://www.tomorrowoman.com/leisure/18-girls-selfies/17/)

Why is there so much vapid, overly sexualized, dumbed-down imagery of women so easily available to anyone and everyone, including our daughters? Why do women participate in it? With all due respect to Miley Cyrus, what is the deal with sticking one's tongue out for a selfie? I still don't understand what message, if any, that's supposed to communicate. 'I have a tongue!' Well... yes.

And most importantly, what lasting effect will this have on young women, now that readily-available images like those shown above have become part of the cultural norm?

To return to the original question, what's the secret to ensuring that you're raising feminist daughters in the social media age? Taking them into the voting booth on election day while they're teenagers, and - once they turn 18 - making sure they're registered to vote (and go vote)? Discussing the importance of the approaching 100-year anniversary of the 19th Amendment (women's voting rights)? Having them read The Second Sex? Let me know if you figure it out.