More Than Screaming Girls: The Shift to Modern Feminism

Whether you lived it or not, you can imagine the iconic images and videos of screaming, crying and, dare I say, hysterical young women herded behind velvet ropes as the Fab Four walked out of a venue to their tour bus. These moments frozen in time depict a level of fandom not previously known. At least not in that hysterical cohort: women of childbearing age.

What was marked as historic and mocked as idolization, mindless obsession and shallow or unhinged behavior — Beatlemania — had cultural and societal implications that are still being reckoned with today. It’s arguable that the first modern boy band sparked such feral admiration that it birthed a wave of feminism from the womb of fairly newly ovulating girls. With power in numbers, these pimpled and previously proper young ladies could put the fear of God into the conservative and couth of the time. 

The press of the early 1960s had a lot to say about swaths of women enjoying something. After all, women of the time were meant to be demure, innocent and restrained. Broadcasters covering such news would use terms like “emotional” and “loss of control” and, as you might be predicting, “hysteria." So, what was so threatening about a bunch of girls liking a band? To answer that question, we take a shift from the cultural to the biological. 

The phenomenon of “group joy” has been studied by psychologists. What happens when a large group of people is getting adrenaline and dopamine hits at a fire-hose pace? Neurologically speaking, that chemical influx produces flow, altered states of consciousness and most importantly, power.

So, what started outside of Shea Stadium in Mary Janes and mini skirts was harnessed. And then it was taken to Fifth Avenue. The 1970s Strike for Women’s Equality brought 50,000 women to the streets to demand gender equality. Protest signs replaced love letters to George Harrison and marching replaced fainting. 

Sixty years later, we haven’t gone back to sleep. And we’ll gather when we need to. In fact, many women might tell you they’re dusting off their Mary Janes now.