Music: An Important Empowerment Message
A few months ago, I was struck by a video on Instagram in which a 13-year-old girl recounted how she had been discriminated by one of her classmates for being of Asian descent.
What came after that story was, for me, a recharge of hope: a group of young people, through their music, sent a powerful message not only to the classmate but to the whole world.
The Linda Lindas is a post-punk band made up by Bela Salazar (16 years old), Eloise Wong (13 years old), Lucia de la Garza (14 years old), and Mila de la Garza (10 years old), who at their young age surprise for their extraordinary musical abilities, but also for the message of female empowerment that they are transmitting to the new generations.
In the current context in which we live in, where we face additional obstacles due to the fact that we are women, The Linda Lindas emerge as a breath of fresh air for the global feminist movement, as they reaffirm that it is possible to combat stigmas and break those archaic gender stereotypes, from any trench.
They are not the only women who have used music as a channel for demonstration and protest against sexism and racism. Several artists, through music, have made visible problems such as forced marriage, femicides, and machismo.
Regarding the return of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Sonita Alizadeh comes to mind, a rapper and activist that became a powerful voice against forced marriages and child marriages. In her culture, it is common for young women and girls to be betrothed without their consent, even before they’re born.
When she was 10 years old, Sonita Alizadeh’s family considered selling her as a bride to another family. However, due to the abuses committed by the Taliban regime, they decided to flee to Iran, where she learned to read and write by herself.
In 2016, her family made a new attempt to sell her for 9,000 dollars as a bride. Sonita wrote “Brides for Sale,” a protest rap that reached thousands of women in Afghanistan, and the rest of the world, to stop the commercialization of women.
Sara Socas is another of the voices with a powerful message against femicides. In Mexico, the figure is alarming: they kill 10 women a day! In 2019, Sara Socas participated in a rhyming competition, making it clear that the new generations are very aware of the problems that limit the development of women and that we are no longer willing to be silent.
Like them, The Linda Lindas are making it clear that girls can make good music and have powerful messages to share with the world.
Through their songs, Bela, Elois, Lucia, and Mila give visibility to cultural and social problems that limit girls, young people, and women today.
The Linda Lindas are generating positive change. They are sowing in the seed of female empowerment among more girls and young people, they are opening the space for more voices to be heard, and they are making it clear that the feminine force is stronger than ever around the world.
