“Are you a feminist?” Suddenly your heart is racing, your eyes are darting across the room, you don’t want to be recognised as one of those crazy, man-hating, ball chopping “extremist” woman that people associate with feminists. “No, well yes but not the kind that you think.” I asked a couple of students in the AUC whether they felt uncomfortable with the word feminist, Mmbeke Ekanem Class of 2017, dual degree Physics and Electrical engineering major at Morehouse College proudly denied any discomfort. “Having to deal with inequality based on the fact of your gender is quite ludacris, women have to prove themselves twice as hard.” It was refreshing to hear that the aims of feminism are becoming more understood across young people. On the other hand I had Chelsi Bannister class of 2016, A Biology major who doesn’t feel uncomfortable with the term but chooses not to identify with being a feminist. As women of this incredible institute, we are in tune with what it means to be a feminist, we understand and experience the oppression that women still face in different ways and we appear ready to tackle these issues and break down these barriers. We are Spelmanites. We are Game-changers. Maybe we are feminists but in many ways we are also womanists.
Womanists acknowledge and uplift women’s attributes to societies, particularly pertaining to the attributes of black women. This movement allowed women of African decent to seek refuge in, as some feminist framework can feel limited to white women. As women from all over the States and different quarters of the world, we immerse ourselves in this rich and natural environment, we cut our hair or we transition, we exercise our minds, we actively contribute, we support our sisters and we fall in love with ourselves by recognising our amazing potential in the world. So maybe we choose not to identify as “feminists” but by being active in this institute and within ourselves we may not recognise the image we uphold in support of the Womanist movement.