On Wednesday the Planned Parenthood of NYC Action Fund hosted a panel that brought together three awesome New York feminists: Feministing's own Jessica Valenti, Lynn Harris of Salon's Broadsheet, and former Planned Parenthood Federation president Gloria Feldt .
The discussion roamed from women in the comedy world to Abby Johnson , the Planned Parenthood director turned anti-choice activist, to the weaknesses of the term "pro-choice" in the rhetorical battle over abortion rights. But the conversation centered on the speakers' relationship to feminism--how they came to identify as feminists, how it is has influenced their lives at various stages, and how we can get more young people to embrace the label.
I was especially fascinated to hear about their paths to feminism. Both Jessica and Lynn said their first moments of feminist awareness came at a young age--in 3rd grade--before they had the language to give a name to their sense of injustice. For Lynn it was listening to her gym teacher explain to the class how to do "push-ups" and "girl push-ups." For Jessica it was when the boys on her team told her to pretend to be sick when it was her turn at bat in a class softball game. Yet, despite growing up in feminist-minded families--Jessica even attended pro-choice protests with her mom as a kid--both said it wasn't until they were young adults--going off to college, taking their first Women's Studies courses--that they came to identify with feminism on a personal level.
Gloria's path to feminism, on the other hand, was a bit different. A self-described "desperate housewife in Texas," who had three children by the time she was 20, Gloria said the invention of the birth control pill literally saved her life. Eventually she discovered a new magazine called Ms., sought out the NOW chapter in her small-town community, and never looked back. For her--coming to feminism in that way, in that time period--the personal was political and vice versa from the very beginning.
As a woman in my early 20s, I identify with Jessica and Lynn's path--and I'd wager a lot of younger feminists have had a similar journey. Growing up in a family and community in which a belief in gender equality was kind of taken for granted, I certainly signed onto the political goals of feminism long before I came to appreciate feminism on a personal level. I believed in it--in a kind of abstract way--before I really felt it. And it was only when I started to make the link between how I felt and what I believed--between the personal and the political--and realized that feminism really does provide a lens through which to look at the entire world, that I came to identify as a feminist.
How about you? What was your path? When did you start to really feel the power of feminism?
Crossposted at the NOW-NYS Young Feminist Task Force blog .
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I always sought to achieve a-ha moments based on my own desire to know the truth to the fullest. When I sought to learn more about feminism, I viewed it in the same terms as knowledge: powerful, revealing, and frequently disquieting. Feminism doesn't always invoke discomfort, but it does frequently unearth that which many want to have buried or, failing that, distorted beyond its original intent.
Taking a class on pop culture analysis at 14 was my main "a-ha" moment. Realizing how those women's magazines were really not fun and flirty like they purported to be.
I was in 3rd grade as well, and the teacher was, I think, actually trying to teach us about feminism, because she asked "are there any things that boys do better than girls" and the boys all started calling out stuff and the girls all started calling out "nuh-uh!" back at the boys and I (already a snarkster) called out, "boys are better in band because they have all that hot air" which I thought was fucking brilliant.
The teacher didn't write my example on the board, but it makes sense looking back because I think she probably then told us how the examples the boys gave didn't hold true (i.e. boys are better at sports, and the teacher showed female athletes). I don't remember any of that stuff though because I was so totally bummed out that nobody, not even the teacher, acknowledged my amazing joke.
It still stings a little.
that was in 1979 btw
I was always a tomboy,and I remember a time in third grade (what a significant year) when the boys and girls were playing soccer at recess. I don't remember what was said verbatim, but one boy insulted me by declaring that all the boys were doing the work. At the time, I was infuriated that he was disregarding what the girls brought to the game. When I told the recess teacher what was said, I began crying, and then I called him out in front of the whole third grade class.
I didn't really identify with feminism until about a year ago, when I was a junior in high school. Our school's SALT club (Students After the Living Truth-- a religious club) wore that ridiculous red tape over their mouths that read "LIFE" in big black permanant marker for that anti-abortion day. I was angry that they were using scare tactics and religious propaganda to achieve what they wanted, and I also realized that women had their own set of rights that people are fighting to take away. I also realized that reproductive rights aren't only what individuals are trying to control, and I looked into this more. Now I think I learn something new about feminism every day.