Two women partying on the street

Niladri Singh

If we are in an era of post-feminism, why is something as commonplace as partying seen as rebellious, or out-of-character for women?

Why is it so important that women be boxed? If she parties she’s a “party girl”, if she shaves her head she is “the talk of America”, if she dates men she’s a “serial-dater”. Could you imagine a man being punished by the headlines for acting like this? Perhaps my imagination just doesn’t run that deep.

The world of fashion, film and music is all glitz and glamour until your personal life is put on blast before the entire world to comment on. More often than not, it is women on the receiving end of those comments. Yet, when #MeToo first came about and men were finally put on blast for their gross misconduct, a counter-movement arose.

Social Media Scapegoats

Since the public announcement of Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas’ divorce, pictures of Turner partying have started doing the rounds again. Sophie and Joe married when she was just 23. Now at 27, she has two children and a career that’s going from strength to strength. So what’s the big deal if she is “downing shots” at a bar?

“social media quickly caught onto the double standard”

According to TMZ, a source with “direct knowledge” said: “She [Turner] likes to party, he likes to stay home” and so Jonas had been left to take care of the children. This news sparked a frenzy of photos, videos and a litany of articles, all portraying Sophie as a party animal.

Practised as it is at sniffing out sexism, social media quickly caught onto the double standard, and recast Sophie’s partying in a positive light.

Women have seen this pattern play out over and over again. Newspapers, tabloids and advertisers are repeatedly been called out for their sexist representation of women, whether that be in films, politics or music.

We saw the same treatment when Princess Diana was ruthlessly scrutinised by the media, or when Amy Winehouse was made the poster child for “broken youth”. In more recent years, Britney Spears has been called “celebrity trash” and Miley Cyrus termed a “wild child”. Each time,  women have been on the receiving end of this ceaseless barrage. But that was then, and now we have a voice outside of tabloid media.

Unpacking the Stigma

“this is exactly the kind of rhetoric we expect from the tabloids”

It’s obvious: everyone should be allowed to party if they want to. But if we take a step back and think critically, we might still find some discrepancies. In theory, we should all be able to go clubbing, but what about older and middle-aged women? Or women with children? Is that too wild?

There are more important things one can focus on to bring about equal rights and opportunities, yes, but our collective temptation to discuss whether or not a well-established actress and mother is entitled to a night out is sexist in itself. But this is exactly the kind of rhetoric we expect from the tabloids. To quote Kanye, “It gets the people going”.

Men will be men. Men will party. Men will let off steam. That’s what they do. It is only natural for them, isn’t it? In the past, I’ve been asked: “Is that the feminism you stand for? The right to wear short skirts and stay out late?”. My answer is and always has been: “Yes”.

But these freedoms only scrape the surface. When accomplished Western women can be shamed for something as commonplace as partying, then expecting equal rights to work, education, or safety feels like a high demand. And when naysayers ask, “Why do we need feminism now?” We should ask in return, “Why not?”.

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Featured image courtesy of Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona via Unsplash. Image licence found here. No changes were made to this image.

Originally from India, Niladri holds an MA degree in Media, Journalism and Communications from Cardiff University. She is a writer and video editor at EmpoWord Journalism and talks about politics, films and culture.

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