SINGAPORE — Barbie, selfies, Tiger Moms, genital mutilation, the hijab — Naomi Wolf had it all covered at her SWF Lecture on Saturday.

Moderator and ex-AWARE prez Dana Lam described the feminist author behind the `90s groundbreaking book The Beauty Myth as “controversial”, “contradictory” and “troublesome”. And that sounds just about right as she laid down the issues at a packed SOTA venue, highlighting the politics behind the Barbie Ideal, slamming Western feminism as stuck in “intellectual cul de sacs” and claiming that the future of feminism is in the developing world.

Dissecting the Barbie image as a catch-all symbol of the various female ideals through modern history, Wolf drew attention to the political and economic implications that underline these. How images of women were meant “to keep women worrying about something” at exact moments where there was potential for empowerment. It’s not just that the idealised woman of today is thin, but that she’s thin to keep her in check. It’s not just that supposed ideal women in the `50s was the domestic housewife, it’s that they were projected as such during the post-WWII economic boom. (During the Q&A, someone wondered if today’s Tiger Mom was like the 21st century equivalent of the `50s housewife with children as the project instead of the house. “A very sick model of parenting has emerged in society,” responded Wolf.)

After which, she comes after Western feminism itself, training her sights on, of all people, Simone de Beauvoir and what she refers to as the existentialist strain of feminism that consequently “fetishised the individual”, put personal choice above everything else and favoured secularism. One that consequently framed the issue as a “gender war”.

Western feminists live in a “bubble of narcissism “, she said, citing how she preferred a multiplicity of feminisms and dismissed “policing” within the ranks of feminists. (An interesting sidenote: Apparently, just after I snuck out for my next SWF event, the spotlight fell on AWARE, with an audience member bringing up the issue of (not-quite-)membership for men. Wonder what Wolf thought of this.)

Just as I wonder how her views are taken in the West and, while we’re at it, if The Beauty Myth (which I haven’t read) takes into consideration the nuances of the current beauty industries in India and East Asia.

If Western feminism is, according to her, stuck in a rut, the future lies in the developing world and the various feminisms. I do find her “big picture” look interesting, bringing up the issue of the hijab for instance, and how Western media has been using feminist tropes to whip up Islamophobia, while ignoring Muslim feminists who push for their cause within the framework of the Koran.

Pressed to give her feminist heroes from this part of the world, Wolf cited, among others, the folks to fight female genital mutilation in West Africa, and Princess Rym Ali, the sister-in-law of the King of Jordan, who opened a new journalism school.

And speaking of women staking their claim in the world of journalism, there’s broadcast journalist-turned-online journalist Maria Ressa.

The Filipino-American, who took part in Sunday’s panel On The Frontline with Indonesian journo Solahudin, had been the CNN bureau chief of Manila and Jakarta for some two decades. Nowadays she’s seen the light (flickering on her handphone and iPad) and runs the online news site, Rappler. It was quite obvious she strongly thinks social media and the burgeoning online journalism scene is the way to go. Heck, she was probably tweeting or Instagramming during the talk.

Pretty interesting anecdotes came from both panelists, mostly touching on their experiences covering the Suharto era and the recent Indonesian elections, but Ressa was really full-on regarding the possibilities of the profession online, as we shift from what she called the “world of authority” (and the gatekeepers of traditional media) to the “age of authenticity” with its multiplicity of voices nurtured and encouraged by social media. Who broke the news about the death of Osama bin Laden? A guy on Twitter. “You can tell the story. You can make the difference,” said Ressa.

Of course, with so much online noise, credible journalism has its work cut out for it—and to make itself be heard, journalists have got to be ready to offer what it’s in a great position to offer: Context.

She offered as a metaphor Pointilism. How each nugget of information or trivia, each tweet or Instagram post are basically all these little dots that make the bigger picture. Everyone can now have their say (and despite skeptical traditionalists propensity to dismiss citizen journalism, I’m with Ressa on this one and believe it’s a great thing). But a bird’s eye view is something that journalism — and investigative journalism, in particular — can offer.

SWF 2014 runs until Nov 9. For more details, visit https://www.singaporewritersfestival.com.