What is a feminist? Politicians and news anchors spent a good chunk of the last election throwing around “Women’s Rights Issues,” but somehow the word ‘feminist’ still has a negative stigma. So what makes communications professor April Roth-Gulotta tell her students that she’s a feminist?
What is ‘feminism’ to you?
Really, feminism is about how I relate to myself. It has nothing to do with my relationship with men, and more about my relationship to the rest of the world. The goal of the movement encompasses the equal treatment of all genders, races, socio economic statuses, sexual preferences, etc. And I think that race, gender, economic status, and where we come from have a lot to do with whether or not we’re feminists.
How did you know that you were a feminist?
I grew up in Alabama, so I always thought that feminists were these boot-stomping man-haters who didn’t shave. But there were also girls who grew up and got married young and chose to get their “MRS” instead of their “BA” or “BS.” They stayed in their places and didn’t deviate from those traditional rules. I didn’t totally agree, so I started reading more literature and saw that feminism was a movement that paralleled my thoughts.
Where do you think those rules come from? What made you go against them?
I think the rules are self-imposed; we don’t have to follow them, we just do. For me, I slowly realized that I was drawn toward a less traditional path. I realized “There’s nothing wrong with waiting to get married. There’s nothing wrong with getting my degree and becoming a professor.”
Do you think people have a misconception about feminism?
Yes. It’s like asking people to describe ‘someone from the country.’ Most people will think of people eating roadkill, missing teeth, and driving a pickup. There are a few like that, but my family is from the country, and we don’t do those things. The same happens to feminism: we take a negative perception of a sub-category and apply it to the whole group. But we shouldn’t generalize bra-burners to all feminists.
Should feminism disown the extremists?
We shouldn’t take that away from them. Like any movement, you have people way on the other end of the spectrum. But people have a right to their feelings, and they have these feelings because of their experiences. I love the feminist movement because I love seeing people speak from the heart.
How do you think feminism relates to men?
Men actually love feminism! Would they want their moms, sisters, and daughters to lose rights? I always ask “Do you want your little sister to make 82% -eighty two percent- of the salary of the man with the same job in the office next to her?” Of course not! And feminism is also about men’s rights. After all, don’t they want theirs? If your wife gets maternity leave, shouldn’t you get paternity leave? I know men who have that and just love it, and they have a right to it.
What do you think the future of feminism looks like?
My daughter is three, and she has a shirt that says “This is what a feminist looks like.” We have to change the meaning of the word because it’s a good movement with a bad rap. We have to start saying we’re feminists–I like to say that I am because it defies the stereotype of misandrists. I like wearing mascara and that’s okay. My favorite color is pink and that’s okay. I can each be a feminine feminist. There’s a cultural misconception that we can’t, and that’s wrong. It’s up to us to change that.