We are conditioned to be consumers since birth. I still think it's kind of incumbent on us as consumers to know the difference between something that's truly progressive and something that's just trying to get us to buy a product. Capitalism, ultimately, it's not about equality, it's not about social justice.
Andi ZeislerIt's very easy to co-opt subcultures, and I think that scene was very easily coopted, not just on a feminist level but on a capitalist level in general. It's hard to see now because, to me, now there are so many competing pluralistic subcultures.
Andi ZeislerPeople who are invested in feminist movements are going to be talking about it regardless. Because we have such powerful tools to disseminate information and share resources, especially via social media.
Andi ZeislerAdvertising is brilliant. It's an industry that spends billions and billions of dollars to get you to react the way it wants you to react.
Andi ZeislerThe nineties as a pop cultural sphere was a really fertile time for feminism that was grounded and located in popular culture. I'm talking about before the Spice Girls - Sassy Magazine, riot grrrl, the Beastie Boys, Nirvana. You had this alternative culture that was very much speaking up on behalf of women and in favor of women.
Andi ZeislerCapitalism is a system that's ultimately predicated on and depends on some form of inequality. Feminism has always intersected with capitalism in terms of women's labor and gendered divisions of labor.
Andi ZeislerWe are conditioned to be consumers since birth. I still think it's kind of incumbent on us as consumers to know the difference between something that's truly progressive and something that's just trying to get us to buy a product. Capitalism, ultimately, it's not about equality, it's not about social justice.
Andi Zeisler