Feminist what?!

I'm currently writing an assignment on the blatant antifeminist messages that young female protagonists are sending to their young female readers in contemporary young adult chick lit. fiction and its got my brain all ferhoodled.

According to my research/analysis the main characters in Chick Lit nowadays are turning their backs on the feminist movement, whether they realise they are doing it or not. I'm analysing "Vegan, Virgin, Valentine", "Does My Head Look Big In This" and "The Truth About Forever" for my paper and what astounds me is, that to the casual observer these books appear to be normal stories that teenagers read. However, apply some feminist theory to their respective narratives and you've got yourself a feminist's worst nightmare. All of these books are written by females and all the main characters are females, so my question is: do these authors think about these kinds of things when they are writing their novels, or are the literary feminist critics of today out of control?!

I'm in the process of writing my own novel at the moment and I can confidently say that I haven't once sat down and thought about whether the situation my female protagonist is in, is a blatant violation of the unwritten feminist law.

for my assignment, my arguement is that these young female characters are forgoing their own careers, goals and desires for the sake of romance. And it's actually true. The first time I read each novel through, I was captivated with each story because I thought they were great novels for a teenager to read. Then I started doing my research and read each book through again and tried applying my research as I read and I was appalled. These girls in these books really are giving up their own lives for their boyfriends. Its subtle but its happening. So should our teenagers be reading stories about romance and getting that guy, or should they be reading stories about academic success and career orientated narratives? Unfortunately I can't answer that...

Susan Faludi says that the feminist movement has come around and kicked women in the ass. A study found that depression and mid-life crisis' are far more common in single career women, than in married family women. Speaking as a woman, I can't imagine ever not having children. I'm actually craving to start a family. I'd give up any chance of a career for my 'husband and children' if it meant I could raise a happy successful family. But every woman is different. And anyway, who are we to decide what kinds of stories kids should be reading? How do we know that if we write these pro-feminist narratives, that someone else out there isnt going to come up with a crazy theory about how we're corrupting the minds of our teenage girls.

I feel like i'm actually studying sociology and not literature. Its incredibly challenging but I have to say, the challenge is always welcome. Except when I have assignments due and i'm freaking out about the due dates :P tehehe.