Undergraduates and Feminism

This week in Social Problems we covered inequalities of sex and gender. To conclude the week, I talked a bit about feminism and showed different examples of feminist sites and arguments. Then I asked my students to reflect on feminism. Do they call themselves feminists? Is feminism still necessary? Why or why not?

Nobody claimed the feminist label, but 69% (18/26) argued that feminism is still important and useful. Of those who said it was important but did not claim the label for themselves, about half indicated it's because they personally do not fight for gender equality. They believe there should be equality, they believe there currently isn't, and they believe this is wrong. However, for them, feminism involves taking active polital stance to rectify the situation. As such, labeling oneself 'feminist' is not the same sort of self-categorization as labeling oneself 'liberal.'

The other half either didn't claim the label because they don't like to label themselves, or for no specified reason.

Of the eight that do not still feel feminism is useful:

All of them agree that gender inequality still exists. Three dislike feminism because it is too White and middle class. They feel gender inequality is worth fighting against, but they feel like calling themselves feminists means they would be favoring the fight for one at the expense of others.

The other five feel that gender inequality is natural and - yes - even good. There are biological differences, and men make naturally better leaders. It's God's intention, or they just prefer for men to rule (these are women making such arguments).

There was another interesting tidbit regarding the belief about feminist battles. Most students favored (you know, IF they were to be a feminist) a more essentialist approach to gender equality. They feel that many of the differences we see between men and women are natural and we don't really need to bother with that - socialization amplifies differences that are already there. Inequality mainly results from our society's tendency to favor male attributes and contributions. In other words, feminism should focus less on getting rid of gender stereotypes and more on valuing the feminine. Though many of those same students are quick to argue that we shouldn't punish people when their gender performance does deviate from the norm.

So, they seem to interpret gender differences as being aggregate traits rather than categorical ones. They are true on average, but not in total. In other words, maybe the categories are socially constructed, and socialization further shifts these gender differences into even more of a binary, but the basis is still biological to some extent.

I think there might be a research project in this...

My [insert relevant dimension] Privilege Statement

Over on My BackStage, Pitse1eh expresses her joy at not having to teach inequalities again for a while, because paying constant attention to existing societal inequalities is just so damn depressing. And she's right.

I'm teaching Social Problems for the first time right now, and a big chunk of that is inequality. I'm teaching it again next semester. To high school students (egads).

The privileged nature of this orientation to teaching inequality is rooted in the fact that we, due to our social location, can ignore most inequalities if we want to. We can blithely go through our lives completely unengaged with the idea that there are structural inequalities that disproportionately hurt members of some groups comared to others. Because we are both White, and part of a heterosexual dyadic marital arrangement, and ambigiously religious, the only inequality Pitse1eh and I are really on the shit end of is gender.

So we are forced to pay attention to discrimination, "isms", prejudice, etc. in order to teach others about this insidious underbelly of our society. But others are forced to pay attention to these things because they live it.

So here's my privilege statement:

I'm still knee-deep in the insidious underbelly of inequality, always on the lookout for examples and studies to bring to my students. So, when I see something like this, yes I feel sad. But another part of me is super excited.

YES! WHAT AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF RACISM!!!

Because, in a very real way, I am a Collector of Isms.

And that list of resources olderwoman just put up will be a lovely addition to my collection.

Racism, for me, is not a lived experience. It is an academic inquiry. How does that impact my teaching of it? Or the students' listening? The White woman teaching about racism one week - is she heard differently the following week when she teaches about sexism?

I love these guys