Activity #2 - The "F-Word"

In order to get a wide range of opinions on the topic of women’s studies and feminism, I interviewed my mother, Marsha, an ex-boyfriend, Ryan, and one of my best friends, Kate. I was a bit nervous to bring up the subject of feminism, especially with a male; however, I found the results very interesting. First, I will discuss the results of my interview and then I will conclude with my perceptions of the topics.

I began by explaining to each participant that I was taking a women’s studies class, and found their responses were quite stereotypical. My mother and my best friend both thought it was a great course and a topic that is overlooked during most history courses. My mom was especially excited to hear about the course because she “never had anything like that” when she was in school. On the other hand, Ryan agreed that it was an interesting topic; however, he thought the idea of the class was a bit obscure. Ryan believed, “If there was a male’s studies class, a feminist group would come over right away and sue the school.”

This directly led me into asking what each person’s thoughts were on the term feminism. Surprisingly, I found each person agreed that the term feminism had a negative connotation. Ryan described feminists as close-minded, especially since he believes “women these days have every opportunity males have”. He continued by explaining that the ground is already level and he didn’t understand why feminists even need to exist any longer. My mom took this a step further and related the term feminism to a “racial type of slur”. Kate was unsure about an explanation for the term. When I spoke the word “feminism”, she slightly rolled her eyes; however, she believed that feminist’s opinions were still vital today.

I concluded my interviews by asking what each person would think if I told them I was a feminist. Kate smirked because she knew the idea was not true. She said she would listen to my views if I were a feminist, but that I would not be able to convert her to one. My mother and Ryan both paused for a few seconds when I asked them the question. I think they were unsure whether I was telling the truth and they did not want to hurt my feelings. Both continued by saying that they would accept my point of views as a feminist. My mother stated that if this was true she would explicitly ask me to define a feminist, because she “might not understand the term exactly”.

In conclusion, I have to admit that I agree with most of the participants’ reactions that I just described. I do feel that a feminist is almost equivalent to a racist; however, I think this may be because I don’t completely understand the term. I strongly believe that men and women should be treated equally, but I do feel that feminists go quite a bit overboard with their ideals. Therefore, I do not consider myself a feminist. I was surprised how much discussion these questions brought up with my friends and family. I think many people have strong opinions about the topic of women’s studies, but, as with religion and politics, it seems we are afraid it is too touchy of a subject to be discussed. In conclusion, at this point I am very interested to learn more about what defines a feminist and recognize that my understanding of the term may not be fully correct.