The Young Feminist Diaries

My colleagues at FMF often tease me about coming out of the womb with a raised fist, ready to take on patriarchy from the beginning.

I first decided women's rights was my thing when I was 8 years old. As the editor-in-chief of my 5th grade class paper, I decided that all the sports reporters should be girls, to prove that we could do it. As a middle schooler, I would pass around petitions against teachers I thought were sexist (I'm sure this was just charming). When assigned to write a biographical paper in 8th grade, I had trouble deciding whether my subject should have been Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger (Sanger won out). In short, I was a bit of a rabble-rouser and a general pain-in-the-ass. I was also a young feminist--yes, one of those rare, unicorn-like creatures that so many people claim to not exist.

Today, I am still a young feminist (like Shelby Knox, my 24th birthday is looming next week, but I think I still count!). I continue to passionately advocate for feminist causes, albeit in a slightly more sophisticated way than I did as a kid. My definition of feminism has expanded; I now view sexism as one of many systemic oppressions that keep people down. I see issues of race, class, sexuality, and disability as a crucial part of feminism.

I have also moved on from just harassing the teaching staff at Eastchester Middle School. My feminism evolved and grew through my activism as a part of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance at Brandeis University and my women's and gender studies courses there. Today I'm a National Campus Organizer at FMF, where I work with students around the country, helping them expose fake clinics in their communities, protect abortion clinics by escorting and acting as legal observers, create comprehensive sexual assault policies for their schools, and so much more. As part of my job, I have traveled through the Northeast, South, and Midwest, from Wisconsin to Massachusetts to Alabama, and met so many remarkable young people the way. As part of an amazing online young feminist community, I am exposed to the intriguing and sometimes brilliant opinions of my peers, and I am challenged every day to reexamine own privilege and experiences.

So when I am faced, yet again, with the tired old line that "young women aren't feminists," it stings. That's a cliche that takes my experiences and passions, as well of those of my friends and colleagues and acquaintances, and immediately discards and discredits them. Maybe we don't fit the prevailing narrative propagated by the media, but that doesn't mean we aren't here. I am so tired of having this same conversation over and over again (I wrote another version of this post less than a year ago). Feminists have real problems to face, and instead we keep fighting each other, caught up in talk of waves and apathy and all that other stuff. It's exhausting and unnecessary.

I encourage you all to check out the full This Is What a Young Feminist Looks Like Carnival over at Fair and Feminist to read the insights of those aforementioned brilliant young feminists, who are probably much more eloquent and less ranty than me. And remember that the best way to move beyond this argument is to get involved with feminist activism in your community, and to continue working for a better world. We don't do this for the credit, or the praise of older feminists, or glamor and money (ha!). We are activists because there is something in us that recognizes that the world has a lot of problems, and we cannot sit there and do nothing. So keep fighting.

THIS is what a feminist looks like

Will Phillips, a 10-year-old from Arkansas, has pledged NOT to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance until there is truly liberty and justice for ALL.

Stand (or in this case, sit) strong, Will. You've certainly got the support of the Feminist Majority Foundation!

FeMANism

I suppose that being asked to write the token “I am man feminist!” post was inevitable. So here’s some stuff to think about from a white, middle-class feminist bro.

The first thing I want to get off my chest is that I hate the praise men get for being feminist: “I wish we had more guys like you.” While being feminist is pretty awesome, there is no reason that a guy should be praised solely for his gender. Feminism is bigger than a held belief. It is about scrutinizing privilege, questioning one’s role in the patriarchy, and working to defeat oppression in all spheres of life. The empty praise men get implies that they are fine where they are. No, they are never fine, none of us are. Beliefs in practice should be commended, beliefs should not.

So how does one constantly scrutinize privilege, etc? The way I do it is through reading. I am a theory-holic and I devour analyses of male privilege. That's not fun if you’re not into theory. So, here are two resources about male privilege. Both are oriented to the radical activist community, but the lessons gleaned from them can apply to all men:

1. Are You A Manarchist?: This is a list of questions helps one think about male privilege. The non-activist stuff starts at #17. The lesson to take away is that “ALL MEN need to work on issues of patriarchy, sexism and misogyny.”

2. Dan the Dude Blog: A Do’s and Don’ts for Dudely Organizers. It’s a bit like the source above, but it has cute stick figures. I love the section on Intellectual Elitism and Tokenizing. A must read.

Talking to people is another great way to practice your feminism. Any conversation can have feminist consequences. Explicitly having conversations to address problems in social relationships or in a group is a good way to learn about ways to become more feminist.

In short, critical reflection is good for you.

But, what does a feminist man look like?

AlterNet has a great article about the difficulties with feminist masculinity. Many feminist men know what they are not. The problem is that they have no concrete idea of what they are.

“This became painfully clear over the course of the weekend as speakers and students grappled to find what one presenter referred to as a "feminist masculinity." Is there such a thing? Does it look like President Barack Obama -- or does his insistence on talking about sports and drinking beers reveal that he's just one of the guys? Does it look like KRS-1, the veteran rapper who recently said that hip-hop needs more women -- or is his statement too little, too late? Stephen Colbert, in some ways, is the closest thing we've got. He consistently lampoons misogynist punditry and policy, yet his "feminist masculinity" is only visible vis-à-vis its blowhard foil”.

The article makes the point that men “are stuck in stage one of gender consciousness” and cannot do sustainable feminist work until they “can own the ways in which they have a self-interest in resisting systems of oppression.” Until men know what they want out of feminism, they cannot truly begin to fight.

I want to end this post by addressing this point. Feminist masculinity is restrictive and unnecessary. There is no universal feminist masculinity or femininity. For that matter, there is no universal feminism. The reality is that there are complex and diverse feminisms that lead people to different conclusions about systems of oppression. An eco-feminist and a liberal feminist will have very different views on what feminism looks like.

What each man must do is craft his own space in the feminist continuum. Striving for a new model of masculinity is as mistaken as trying to stick with the current one.

Photo courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/isherwoodchris/

This Is What A Feminist Looks Like!

When making his closing remarks at the International Freedom Award ceremony in Memphis on Wednesday, the Dalai Lama called on women to help create a more compassionate world. He then went on to declare himself a feminist saying, “I call myself a feminist. Isn’t that what you call someone who fights for women’s rights?” AWESOME!

After proclaiming himself a feminist, he spoke briefly about the merits of compassion, responsibility, and religious harmony. The Dalai Lama was honored at the ceremony for his commitment to defending the rights of the Tibetan people. This year is the 50th anniversary of his forced exile from Tibet. He now lives in Dharamsala, India, where he continues his amazing work.