I get Yahoo! to send me alerts twice a day on stories that include the word feminist. Sometimes it's a terrible story that threw in feminist or feminism, but I still click to see what's up. This morning I got to my email and saw an excerpt about Teri Hatcher writing an advice book.

The actress, who has had her share of ups and downs both personally and professionally, has become something of a feminist icon for women fast approaching the big 4-0.

I wonder why the media has deemed her a feminist icon. Could it be that in our society actresses over 30 appear to be too old? Because they fall off the radar until they are old enough to play a starlet's mom? And here we have a 40-year-old woman being sexy? OMG call the NY Times, someone over 30 is having sex! Oh, wait, the NY Times has been called. Silly me.

Heck even the woman who did play a huge part in the feminist movement, Lynda Carter, wants an actress in her 20s to play Wonder Woman in the Joss Wedon movie. Ageism is just everywhere in Hollywood.

But does the fact that Teri broke thru the crow's feet ceiling mean that she is a feminist icon?

No.

That alone does not deem her a feminist icon in my book.

I tried to find any feminist dirt on Teri via Google and other than doing the Vagina Monologues, I can't find anything that would point to me that she's a feminist icon.

But could it be that simple to be a feminist icon? To simply break thru one barrier?

I think it's different to deam a character like Xena and Buffy as feminist icons than an actual person. Geena Davis is a feminist icon in Hollywood. Sadly I hear that her new show about her being President will focus more on her being a mom and oh, yeah, she's the President of the United States of America.

So our icons aren't perfect. Heck, even Gloria got married. *tongueincheek*

Maybe I'm too young for this one. I'm a mere 30 and loving it. I'm not fretting like Sally about turning 40 someday. And admittedly I haven't come up against much ageism in my life. Sure I get a few pats on the head for being young, but I can usually prove my worth by just opening my mouth and letting the words fall out.

I don't have a point to make today. I'm just thinking out loud. Because I really don' have an answer to the question posed in the title line.

Labels: TV/Radio