Oftentimes when I have told people I wanted to go into politics, I was told I was "just too emotional" to handle such an "important job". It seems basically impractical for someone like myself to be allowed to lead our world in a positive direction. "If you were President," people explain to me as if they know what's going on in my mind. "You would probably just make a low requiring One Direction to reunite."
Meanwhile, I can't think of a single time when a man in my major has been told that he'd just "make a law requiring that his favorite athlete was unable to be traded off of his favorite team" or anything else quite so outlandish.
For some reason, being both a political bad-ass and enjoying pop culture, music, and life cannot be things I do simultaneously. Yet, here I am doing it. As a woman, I am expected to choose a box to fit in to and never deviate.
If you haven't caught on yet, I travel for bands and oftentimes find myself in interesting situations. I balance this with being a full time student studying Political Science, Economics, and Journalism. My studies are also extended into various internships. Work load wise, balancing these two things can be tough, but I have a vision for how I want my life to work out and it involves both sides of myself.
I won't divulge you the details quite yet. Doing so will be taken as if I am attempting to prove myself, but the reality is-- I have nothing to prove. I'm simply living and balancing this strange life of mine the best I can. It would be great, though, if some people stopped passing judgment.
"I'm not going to the show," I told Corbyn Besson from Why Don't We.
"Yes, you are." He insisted back.
"I have finals. So, I guess I just won't go to my finals." I decided.
"Please, go to your finals."
In the end, I did both. After camping out on the streets of Manhattan, I woke up in a tent and proudly marched my butt to the subway to get to my two finals. Fellow fans wished me luck as I walked by. I aced both of them.
You see, just because I'm living my life while I'm young and following pop culture, doesn't mean I can't also care about my academics. Furthermore, I don't have to give up half of my identity to make room for another.
Most importantly, being a girl who likes pop music doesn't make me stereotype. I love whipping out in-depth economic theories to flex on people in line for concerts. No one ever expects me to just drop so much political theory on them, but I do. When I say I want to be President, people often scoff because the girl before them is wearing band merch and hasn't stopped babbling on about some boy band.
But that's not the only thing I'm capable of. For generations we've been insistent on shutting women into only one box. For a long time the options were "the wife" or "the vixen". As time's gone on, we've opened up new boxes for women like "the flapper" or "the working woman". We created boxes for younger girls as well like "the pop princess".
More boxes should allow for us to fit a larger variety of women into a societal mold. This almost looked like equality for a bit. It allows women to exist in a larger form. The problem, though, is they're only allowed to fit in one of those boxes. That's how society manages to control us, they fit us in a singular box and put up as many obstacles as possible to stop us from occupying more.
Not only that, but our boxes for women are almost always made to serve others. If we're allowed to develop our own personalities and ambitions outside of their boxes, we won't be able to be controlled.
"But at least they gave us more boxes."
Yeah, but they take you and shut you into it. I'm now allowed to be both a pop princess and a political elite. No one will take me seriously as a politician. No one will vote for a girl with an Ed Sheeran tattoo. No one wants a girl who took a ten hour bus ride to a single concert making their laws for them. No one. No one. No one.
Except, who cares that I enjoy pop culture? It's not about me liking pop culture and it never was. It's that I dare to break a stereotype. It's that I dare to occupy two boxes.
The sort of patronizing remarks made to me aren't just from one side or another. At a concert, a hopeless fangirl will laugh at me and try to convince me that 'a girl like me in politics would be a problem'. I usually don't let this get me down, though. I know that's what all women have been conditioned to think, even the fangirl riding the front row. What bothers me more is when women in high places, who have clearly had to defy a few boxes in their day, decide its their place to "offer me a bit of advice". They coo over my accomplishments, but tell me I won't get much further unless I give up on this crazy dream of concerts and travel and devote all my time to the political fight.
I'll let you in on a little secret-- that's how you drive yourself insane. Politics drives everyone absolutely nuts. If you give up the side of yourself that grounds you then I promise you won't last. So many women (and way more men) have insisted that this pop culture distraction of mine is hindering me, but I argue it keeps me alive.
As I watch your eyes turn jaded, I'll watch mine stay young. I can love two things. I can love musicians and the latest celebrity gossip. I can love that feeling after speaking on a controversial piece of legislation. There is nothing wrong with that.
So when I'm told I won't get much further this way-- I do. And I will continue to.
Women can't be brainy and beautiful... until they can.
I can't be a pop princess and a political elite... until I can.
Until next time,
Alex