4: Living Vicariously Through a 1970’s SJW
As ironic as it sounds, my first introduction to feminism was through a doll marketed to me using the most stereotypical girly colors and activities. American Girl Dolls come in pink boxes covered with hearts and stars and encourage playing dress up with all their clothes and accessories. These typically feminine things would not usually lead to learning about feminism and standing up for yourself, however Julie Albright the American Girl Doll was different.
Julie was the one American Girl Doll I always loved, but never got. (After three way too expensive American Girl Dolls plus their even more overpriced accessories, my parents were pretty tapped out.) Her historical era was the 70’s, a time of bell-bottom jeans and disco. The clothes Julie came with were sparkly, colorful, tie-dye, and “groovy.” She had the coolest bed with beads hanging all around it and a lava lamp accessory that I just HAD to have. Her very 70s-esque “egg chair” was the coolest thing I had ever seen at age 11, and made me want one of my own. While the 70’s were a time of fun fashion and experimental styles, they were also full of social and cultural change.
Sexism and preconceived assumptions about boys and girls plagued this decade, but were also challenged frequently. The Women’s Liberation Movement that sought out and fought for equal rights was a prominent group during this time, and often called the second wave of feminism. Julie dealt with this sexism in her historical story, because she was discouraged from playing basketball at her school and pushed towards activities that were more traditionally feminine at the time, like dancing and acting. She had to advocate for herself and force others around her to reject the sexist stereotypes in order for her to be allowed to play basketball. She used her voice, started petitions, and spoke with her coaches about why she should be allowed to play basketball as a girl.
Although I never had the Julie doll or read her book, I did have the Julie Nintendo DS game which I played religiously. The DS game called “Julie Finds a Way” allowed you to play as Julie and live out her story and fight for equal rights. In the game, you had to complete many tasks, the most important of which was confronting sexist members of the schoolboard in order to have equal rights and the ability to join the basketball team. As Julie, you have to navigate your way through her hometown to make people sign a petition, find a document of Title Nine, and show off your basketball skills to the coach. Although this experience is fictional, to my younger self it felt very real. I felt like I was fighting for MY equality and MY equal rights, even though I usually played this game in the car ride on the way to my co-ed soccer team practice.
This game sparked my interest in standing up for what you believe in, and more specifically, feminism. I am still very interested in feminism and very involved in the cause to this day. All throughout high school, I was an ambassador for the Miss CEO program, a Silicon Valley based program that educated and empowered young girls with the tools that would usually not be taught in school, like self advocacy, negotiation, and public speaking, in order to encourage and make them succeed in life. This pro-feminism organization became a big part of my life in high school, and I still work with them even while in college. Without the “Julie Finds a Way” Nintendo DS game, I would have never been introduced to feminism in such an engaging way at a young age.
