This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SCU chapter.
- Equality is awesome (definition of feminism: the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities).
- “Feminist” is now a dirty word because of the various assumptions associated with the term (see below) and when I tell people that I am a feminist, I can tell that they immediately become a little afraid of me.
- Not all feminists fit the stereotype of being an angry Wiccan lesbian man-haters—in fact, feminists want men to be just as involved in the movement as women are… the goal is equality, not a complete role-reversal.
- Men can (and should!!) consider themselves feminists.
- Every societal norm has an underlying gender message, and this is O.K. For example, the polite act of a man holding a door open for a woman is based off of the assumption that a woman is not strong enough to open up a door on her own. While this would never be apparent until pointed out, acts of chivalry assume women are the weaker sex. This could be viewed as problematic, yet I am going to argue that: a) societal norms of politeness are not going anywhere anytime soon and b) a world in which men hold doors open for women (and vice versa) is much more preferable to a world in which everyone has doors slammed in their faces. This brings me to my next point.
- Everything we do is gendered. The same analysis I did above could be applied to literally everything (or almost everything) that we do in society. While it is important to recognize these phenomena, it is not realistic to try and change every single thing that potentially threatens women. This being said, it is crucial to be aware of these gendered messages, because some do require legitimate attention and change. An example that is close to my heart…
- When boys ask girls to use their meal points because they are out of points. This assumes that girls don’t eat and will therefore have extra meal points. This may be true, but it bothers me that this is such a common assumption. Let me eat my La Parilla in peace.
- Calling girls “sluts” needs to go. It’s gotta. Bye.
- The feminist movement is in a state of transition, and it’s up to us to determine it’s future. While past feminist concerns during movements in the1920’s and 1960’s were women’s suffrage and reproductive rights, today women enjoy equal rights, and technically have the same opportunities as men. Yet there is much more work to do regarding social norms in today’s popular culture, and other unresolved gender conflicts. It is unclear how to best address these, especially because of the taboo that the “feminist agenda,” or really anything else that involves the word “feminist” is extremely un-sexy.
- Gender doesn’t have to be a topic that is saved for the classroom, and it doesn’t always involve one party being wronged by the other. Believe it or not, gender discussions can be COOL and INTERESTING to have with your friends!!! (I’m serious.)
Basically, feminism is what you make it. There is no set of prescribed beliefs or actions for a feminist, and it is up to YOU to define what feminism means to you. It is also up to us as students to determine what we want the future of gender equality to look like and even more, what we want it to look like at Santa Clara. In order to do that, it is important to actually talk about gender, and involve everyone in the conversation. After all, Santa Clara is not just her campus; it is everyone’s campus.
See what I did there?