I'VE finally worked out why young women have turned away from feminism - at a time when they probably need it more than ever. Once such a fine thing, it is now almost a cultural relic because of its unappealing black and white views and poor public representation.
The crystallising moment came while watching the ABC's Q & A, my favourite television show since Enough Rope. Why? Because I like to see the guests reveal, and importantly, undo themselves through their interactions with one another and the audience.
Of particular interest was John Marsden, who writes wonderful books for young adults and social commentator Melinda Tankard-Reist on what she calls the ''sexualisation of girls''.
Tankard-Reist was speaking about how young women are suffering because of the sexualised media images that surround them. True, girls are under a lot of pressure to look a certain way, which for most is unachievable, and many are developing eating disorders as a result. But Tankard-Reist pushed it to the extreme, saying that girls from the age of eight all want to dress like sex workers and use manipulative behaviour to get what they want. She continued with a raft of similar sensationalist claims and ended by blaming advertisers and government.
Marsden disagreed with everything she said on the subject and pointed out that although young people's personal ethics may differ from hers they do have them. And when she insisted that the feisty female character in his Tomorrow series of books would be under the same pressure to conform as these girls, he stated clearly that she would not. (Imagine telling a writer what his character thinks - he created her.)
Tankard-Reist doesn't seem to understand that we make our culture - we buy it and sustain it. It is the product of human consciousness. Values are constantly renegotiated in society, and if our current taste for raunch is to change before we become completely desensitised to it, the change has to come from within.
Any parent can tell you that from age five kids work out that peers are the ones to impress and measure yourself against. This peaks during adolescence when popular culture becomes the way they express and construct themselves. From one generation to the next, new ideas and ways of living develop and give rise to a generation gap. This has been ever thus and it is no cause for moral outrage - it just has to be managed.
For starters, if some young girls are dressing and behaving the way Tankard-Reist describes, what are their parents doing about it? They don't have to buy this type of clothing. Parents decide what sort of clothes an eight-year-old has in her wardrobe. The same goes for computer games and other media. Without being a dinosaur you have to watch what they consume and talk about it with them. Deep down most kids like boundaries - it gives them something to rebel against.
When girls become teenagers it is more difficult but by then you have to respect their choices. For instance, if I say to my 16-year-old daughter, ''If you wear that to the party you're going to attract a lot of attention'', it is not helpful because that's exactly what she wants to do, and that's fine. She is sensible and fashion is important to her - only among her peers will she learn the way the world works.
As for girls behaving like porn stars because it's what they see modelled in the media - I don't think so. Most young women (and young men) have enough media literacy to see the contradictions in this limited portrayal of female sexuality.
However, less resilient girls do not and this is a problem. It may be part of the reason that there is such growth in the sex industry and why more young women than ever before are entering it.
Who else is out there making a feminist comment these days? Bettina Arndt perhaps, long ago cast aside by most women as an apologist for men behaving badly. Yet she still gets a chance to air her views. Regularly.
My response to some of the issues relating to young women associated with our culture was to write a play set somewhere like the streets of St Kilda, or in the red light area of any big city. An exploration that I hope will raise a few questions. Since an article about the play was published in The Age last week I have received a steady flow of hate email from male and female sex workers (who have not seen the play) telling me they like their job and do not want films, plays or books about ''their world'' written by people who know nothing of it. (I disagree and believe a writer can tackle any subject he or she chooses, and having researched the area extensively I found plenty to interest me.)
In my story the characters do not like their work and as it is a play it explores an imagined world. However, the vociferous response by sex workers in defence of a job that they see as empowering, lucrative and flexible makes me think the time is ripe for some of these issues to be debated publicly.
If any answers are to be found, young women must speak for themselves and ultimately create their own framework for female empowerment. It doesn't have to be called feminism - there's too much unappealing baggage associated with the term. Bring on fresh ideas and voices and if this new paradigm is to succeed, it may be worth getting a few good men on side this time around.
Christine Croyden is a playwright and young adult author. Her play, The Cat's Paw, is on at the Carlton Courthouse, Vic.
This first appeared online on The National Times