Professor Elizabeth TeVault is a Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies professor at American University. TeVault teaches Women’s Voices Through Time, a course that focuses on narratives from women about women. Besides teaching her first course at AU this semester, TeVault works in the Writing Center and as a program assistant for WGSS, a position she’s held for over a year. Her Campus American sat down with her to find out more about her passions and the work she’s doing.
Her Campus American: How did you decide Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies was your specialization?
Elizabeth TeVault: During my first two years of undergrad at a community college, I was trying to decide on something to go with [my major] literature. I took four WGSS classes and was completely obsessed. [WGSS] helps you see how the world is structured.
HCAU: Why do you think some people hold stereotypes about majoring or minoring in Women’s Studies?
ET: Like all the studies about humanities, it’s hard to draw a direct line and say ‘I need to have this to get this career’. WGSS students study the major to learn how the world works, just like students who study history and literature. WGSS helps you understand the world better and how we, society, got to where we are are.
HCAU: What are some good career fields for WGSS majors?
ET: Journalism, academia, politics and law, to name a few. The field of study gives you a well-rounded degree that helps to understand injustices in the world. Many WGSS majors on this campus are interested in policy and human rights.
HCAU: Tell me more about the details of your course, which is called Women’s Voices Through Time.
ET: We’re reading primary texts, like memoirs, biographies and essays. The class is about what women are saying about their own lives and the institutions that contain them. I think there’s a lot of literature out there that focuses on men writing about women- that’s not accurate.We’re also reading theory to look at social institutions. For example, we’ll touch on [the implications behind] women who resisted wearing corsets in the 19th century.
HCAU: What will students get out of taking your class?
ET: There’s so much we don’t hear about women, even now. Stories written by men are still considered universal while stories written by women are considered particular or “chick lit”. I want them to know that a woman’s voice on an issue, like the human condition, can be just as important as a man’s voice.
HCAU: What women are inspiring you right now?
ET: Roxanne Gay. I just read her book, Bad Feminist. I loved what she had to say about being a “good enough” feminist and how it’s so scary to talk about your beliefs because you feel like you’re going to say something wrong. Gay talks about the idea of the political feminist. As soon as she says something you don’t like she’s…horrible. You can’t say this is the way to be a feminist. The author talks about everyone doing the best they can.
HCAU: 2014 was a pinnacle year in the news for talking about women who are striving for equal rights and making sure minority groups were heard. Why do you think feminism had such a big year?
ET: I think that the mentions in the news are cyclical, but I love that it comes around. The word is important. I think that celebrities and other big people in the news talking about what feminism means to them matters. It’s different than saying you’re a humanist or you believe in human rights. The word feminist brings the history and acknowledges how far we’ve come and how far there is to go. It also helps 13-year-old girls who are trying to figure out who they are. It could take them to Wikipedia where they start looking up women’s history.
Image Credits: 1, Elizabeth TeVault