Déjà vu or a Different Voice? How the “Summer of the Girl” Re-Routes the “Year of the Woman”

Abstract

Popular culture products often reflect the zeitgeist of a society, and the summer of 2023 was declared the “Summer of the Girl.” The “Summer of the Girl” references the overwhelming presence of the Taylor Swift Eras tour, the Beyonce Renaissance tour, and the popularity of the Barbie film after two years of slow, post-Covid box office receipts. The economic success of two of the biggest names in the music industry and a film about a doll confronting the patriarchy created a direct line between women’s voices in music and on film and financial power in a capitalist society. The “Summer of the Girl” in 2023 led some critical-cultural theorists to view the fiscal rise of Swift, Beyonce, and Barbie as a pop culture retaliation in the United States after a disastrous year in 2022 in which the overturn of Roe v. Wade and attached legislation in some states reflected a decidedly misogynistic culture. The events of 2022 seemed impossible to consider in 2017 during the “Year of the Woman,” in which women marched in January wearing “pussy hats” to protest the election of Donald Trump, took their daughters to see Wonder Woman, and rose up to join #MeToo. This research contrasts the strategic lapses of the “Year of the Woman” with the promise of the “Summer of the Girl” and a suggested plan of action for navigating the socio-economic and political challenges in the years ahead.