By Raven Smith
Images from WeHeartIt.com
We Heart It is a social media site based on ‘hearting’ images, similar to Tumblr. That’s where the similarities end. We Heart It has no social interactions beyond following other people. Each user has a page called their ‘collection’ where they can sort the images they’ve hearted onto different canvases. The website’s simplicity makes it easy to pick up and use, whether on your phone or laptop. It has more than 25 million users, and an estimated 70 percent is female.
Perhaps because of their large user base, We Heart It decided to devote itself to a larger purpose. As of last week, a new button was posted in the top bar saying, “Want to help us out?” As a long time user of We Heart It, I decided to click on this enticing pink button. I expected questions about site improvement and ways to improve user experience. Instead, I found the survey drilling me about my experience as a woman in a male-dominated world.
“Have you ever experienced sexist attitudes towards women?” asked one question. “Have you ever felt prejudice in your workplace because of your gender?” Coming from a website that allows me to click little pink hearts on images of kittens and flowers, it was an unexpected questionnaire. In my past four years as a user, I’d never before seen anything like this on the website, but I answered the questions dutifully.
I answered what any girl or woman would: “Yes, there were times I’ve felt prejudice because of my gender.” I doubt any woman could claim differently.
Feminism seems to be a hot topic in the news lately, from celebrity opinions to political activism to gender roles in TV shows (“Game of Thrones” anyone?). It’s an issue that’s been dominating headlines and people’s minds, but the last place I expected to see dealing with the subject of women’s rights would be a pink frilly website like We Heart It.
Yet, there it was. After the Survey asked to me describe and type out instances of sexism I’d faced, I felt a bit bewildered. Then I finished and that was the end of it. I went back to my daily routine of filling up my collection.
A few days later, a new button appeared. This one was big and boldly pink and said, “GIRL POWER.” Underneath it in smaller text: “Collections that kick sexism to the curb.” Now they were promoting collections of hearts that users had made that promoted strong women and female rights.
The “Girl Power” button leads to a collection of hearts promoting strong women.
I’m all for female rights. I consider myself a strong independent female. I don’t rely on men for validation and I work hard, being a female in a male-dominated major (Interactive Design and Game Development, for those wondering). But as I filled out the last question on that unexpected survey, it got me thinking. The question was asking me how I saw female rights, and the feminism movement, and I answered honestly.
There are men who believe themselves superior, who are sexist toward women. There are also women who believe all men are this way, and lash out toward the ‘evil’ male patriarchy, but that’s not strictly true. Yes, women’s right could use a little more work, but we have female senators, and powerful women who may run for office in the future. The world is changing, and hate toward any gender, male or female, isn’t productive. Being a strong independent woman doesn’t require you to hate men.
