Love the word, hate the word, or wish people would stop using it already (spoiler alert: we won’t). More and more college women identify as feminists. Being a feminist at ND (and any other school generally) poses some challenges. With any luck, you identify with at least one of the following. So, without further adieu, here are 26 things feminists at Notre Dame can relate to!
1. The heteronormativity on campus is beyond frustrating
2. Don’t even get me started on dorm double standards (i.e, guys being able to get away with breaking parietals and drinking more than girls).
3. You just LOVE dorm parties with themes like CEOs and Office Hoes
You may or may not have taken a mental note to actually become the CEO of whoever came up with the title
4. Nothing could prepare you for the bizarre gender experiment that is Frosh-O
5. Tuesday is your God given day to let out some serious feminist steam by going to Talk It Out Tuesdays with Notre Dames
6. There’s a strong chance that female characters like Leslie Knope, Analisse Keating, and Olivia Pope are your patronus
7. You could go on and on about how awesome Emma Watson’s UN speech was. #HeforShe
8. You probably watched her speech more than once
9. When it comes to Beyoncé, your motto is always: Bow Down to the Queen Bey
10. You are also tired of explaining why Beyoncé is a feminist icon
11. Seriously, it’s kinda obvious
12. Sometimes you’re just itching to start a good Viewpoint war
13. You have strong opinions on Ring by Spring and marriage culture on campus
14. You have strong opinions on parietals and single sex dorms
15. You’re a feminist for God’s sake, you have strong opinions on everything
16. You’re surprised by the fact that a school that there are still people on campus who think feminists are “man haters”
17. You really wish people would stop slut shaming on campus
18. Or just in general, stop using the word slut.
19. The phrase “I’m not sexist but…” really makes you want to tear your hair out
20. You get more Facebook updates from sites like Everyday Feminism, Feministing, and Upworthy than you get from actual people
21. The words Fifty Shades of Grey are enough to get you on an all-out rant on the nature of abusive relationships and female exploitation
22. You wish you had a dollar for every time you had to hear how Notre Dame girls “aren’t pretty” compared to girls on other college campuses
23. You wish those people would just get a life already…
24. You’re generally frustrated by people who still can’t see how sexism is still happening today (yes, the wage gap and STEM gap exist, stop asking already).
25. You realize being a feminist at ND can be kind of hard
26. But you love Feminism and you love ND, and you realize that if no one’s talking about sexism, you might as well start the conversation yourself!
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While we at HCND consider ourselves feminists, we strive to represent every point of view on campus and understand that not every HCND contributor or Notre Dame student considers him or herself a feminist (however this kind of saddens us).
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