#2: Feminism
To get it out of the way, I do support Feminism. I’m not a naysayer but do any of us even know what it means anymore? Feminism, as far as I know, is a movement that was put forth to promote equality for women.
That’s me thinking, right there. Astonishing. Now with the help of Google lets see the standard definitions.
Google says Feminism is “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.” (Google Dictionary). Basically, my known understanding. Feminism’s origin was a way to help women get the right to vote or buy their own land and even wear pants! These ideas now seem dated. Women can wear what makes them comfortable, yet grievously dress codes still exist, but this shortcoming of our society still doesn’t stop the powerful women we see today. There are some who go to school wear those “revealing” articles of clothing to protest and in other cases, women of religious values go on wearing what they like. Women also have the ability to vote and we even had one run for President! Indeed she didn’t make it into the office, but she gave them a run for their money.
Now immediately after reading this, there’s a feeling of accomplishment and victory. Yes! Women have won their fights and… so… now what?
OKAY okay. I do know those weren’t and currently aren’t the only problems women have and still face. As the modern era takes fold sexual assault victims, the wage gap, and abortion are all being debated about women. BUT women aren’t the only ones who experience these things. Men and people, who identify as queer encounter sexual harassment. People, who are trans and with the sex of a female may require the choice of abortion. And what about trans-women? What about nonbinary folks or genderfluid humans who face all these atrocities? Doesn’t all this mean we need a new definition, to help forge a way for equality for all genders?
In the Merriam Webster dictionary, the first definition defines Feminism as “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes,” (Merriam Webster). However, in today’s modern society/ LGBT+ community have honed the term “sex” as your biology/genitalia and gender as a spectrum. People identify on the scale of gender, not necessarily by their genitalia.
THERE are people who feel comfy with what they were assigned at birth though!
I’ve gathered tons of ideas and questions. Heres a list that probably means nothing, but shows a barely standing structure of it all. I don’t expect this to make sense.
Redefining Feminism
This documentary is to
- Define what feminism is
- What it’s doing today and what can help improve it
- Ask people their definition
- what it means to other people
“Feminism is a spectrum that conforms to how people perceive it” -Rex Ross
*IS UP FOR ADAPTATIONS if you got any*
What to find out…
- Is male privilege a thing??? ~Equality in the workplace survey~
- how many men feel empowered at their job vs women
- how many feel as if their voice is quelled or isn’t listened to compared to their fellow employees
- how’s the power dynamic at home? Who wears the “pants” (straight relationships)
- Have you ever been discriminated against because of your gender
- is the wage gap a real thing? (Talk to an expert on that opinion)
- Where’s the line between harassment and free speech? Can a man catcall a woman because it’s his right?
- does our Constitution still play a role in these interactions? If no wouldn’t that be considered breaking the law?
- Female power figures + what they fought for (trans & cis women’s) rights ~Incorporate that into the documentary
- add in nonbinary & gender fluid people as a part of feminism
- Is feminism needed in our day and age + why
- is it needed other places in the world? Where is it and what would you do to help them?
- Is it needed in our country (specifically) + why
Questions to ask
- How would you define feminism
- Do you consider yourself a feminist
- Do you find gender inequality in the workplace
- Has your family help build this foundation of your beliefs
- Do you think feminism is needed in our day and age
Pink tax *taxes that are just for women.
- Is it real
- How about mensuration item taxes
- How do you feel about gendered products?
- one costs more than the other, but are the same thing just different marketing strategies
Should feminism be only for women?
- The complexity of men’s relationships
- Gender stereotypes
- Toxic masculinity?
- Toxic femininity?
- Transgender women in the workforce/ world and the feminists who claim Trans women aren’t real women
Possible interviewees…
- Hillary Clinton
- Government Officials
- Transgender People (MTF, FTM, NB, GF, ect.)
- Random street/college interviews (UVM, Church Street, Middle Bury, someplace with people…)
- Workplaces/peoples jobs
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Rex,
I read you on FEMINISM just after seeing RBG: “An intimate portrait of an unlikely rock star: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. With unprecedented access, the filmmakers explore how her early legal battles changed the world for women.” Great to read/view RR and RBG side by side. The range of your thinking and questions is exciting.
Dixie Goswami
BLTN NextGen
PS my favorite word/phrase: Middle Bury
Rex,
I probably should have read this before reading your first blog. I see where you are heading with your idea-storming.
So, acknowledging that I come at this from the standpoint/perspective of a balding, 67-year-old man, I, like Dixie, am excited by the direction of your thinking.
What hit me was the illustration at the end, Equality vs. Equity. And to me equality has always meant a standard, an even level as it were, but Equity has meant something more active, as the illustration attests: Equality means everyone has a box; Equity means the shortest person has all the boxes they need to gain access to the opportunity or experience.
Feminism, to me, has always meant a movement aimed at creating equity — equity of opportunity, of access, of voice, of power. And we have a long way to go. BUT that transcends the issue, as you so eloquently point out, of women’s rights. What of LGBTQ. What of those with less financial means? What of those whose race is not part of the majority?
So I applaud this blog. You are definitely doing a good job at using writing to explore, consider, present, express. How now do you hone the idea which is, by nature, broad? And what part of the idea becomes your social action? What is the backbone, the thread of your idea and intentions? Do you want to focus on a particular equity that is missing or as yet unrealized? Do you want to focus on a particular group of people who most need equity or who lead lives that have the least amount of equity?
And what of your personal experience? What matters most to you?
Keep going. Keep going. Thanks so much for sharing this.
geoff
Hey Geoff!!
It’s motivating to know other people find this just as exciting as it is to me. To be honest, I didn’t know if including the picture would make sense. I’m glad it brings people to put on their thinking caps and to consider it for a minute.
Your thought on how Feminism, to you, is about creating equity for those who have lesser means made me think back to a quote in an article, I stole from my English teacher. It stated, ‘When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression’ (Chris Boeskool). This struck a chord with me when reading your comment. (I play guitar so that sentence is funny). Equality is the bare minimum or at least the ideal minimum. Right now, people with privilege put others below them with unfair chances and even with their privilege I, personally, haven’t seen many or any start making a change to fix this. But that quote comes into effect again when circling back to here.
My direction with this idea is indeed broad, but I don’t think that I’ll need to incorporate everything I talked about. It’d be interesting to see if we could make this manageable. Your input later on and now, would be effective and probably necessary with how far I take things.
Rex
Hey Rex! Just read your piece on feminism. I love that you are thinking about feminism and also including thinking about it from trans and queer perspectives. At the heart of feminism is an imbalance of power, right? That women are not represented in places where people hold power to make decisions and aren’t fully understanding the issues that are important to them? Those questions you posted…do you want people to answer those or are they there to keep track of your thoughts and next steps?
Thanks for reading my post Ally!
The questions I wrote down are more like a guide, but I’m also thinking that I could use them in potential interviews. Depends mostly on where I’ll go with this and if I do choose this topic. Which seems plausible that I will!
Rex,
If you end up ultimately addressing this issue in your project, I have a good friend from college who might be a resource for you. She is/was a professor of Women’s Studies and has done quite a lot of social action work. Let me know. Her name is Sara.
Abby
Hi Rex,
As a queer, self-identified feminist, I’m excited to see you challenging the gender-binary that underlies the typical notion of feminism. It’s great that you are thinking about this from a number of different angles – wage gap, free speech, pink tax, etc. In thinking about what you want to hone in on, it might be useful to consider which of these areas you see having the greatest impact on your local community.
I love the equality vs. equity image you included – it’s such a great way to convey this concept. Is there a way you could visually convey which groups today you think are most in need of these scaffolded supports? What is the most pressing of our modern “fences”? Where are there problematic cis-centric feminist spaces in your community? And what could a trans- and non-binary inclusive feminism look like?
Thanks for sharing your thought-provoking reflections!
Hello Rex,
Your topic is very interesting. You seem to have a lot to say about equality and inequality. Keep up the good work!.
Thanks,
Stephie