Facts about Feminism | ✓

24

Guy | Girl

He joined her on the school field where she was staring up ahead at a few girls advertising the feminist club. Some were putting up posters, another was rallying everyone with a megaphone, telling girls to come join.

"You start that?" He asked nodding towards the girls.

"Yeah, I did."

"Then why aren't you up there with them?"

She sent him a sardonic smile, "Things are awkward between us right now. We're kinda not talking."

"Wow, I didn't know feminists fought with each other. Aren't you all about standing together against a common goal?"

"Oh shut up." She quipped.

"What happened?"

"I was trying to get Alicia to join us. I know she's passionate about feminism. I've seen her go to the women's march every year."

"Yeah - she's cool." He turned towards her, "Why is that a problem?"

"She didn't want to join. She said that Hannah--" She nodded towards the girl with the megaphone, "--is racist. And that our club embodied American feminism - which has always had a race problem."

"That we should be advocating transnational feminism, to include not only gender but race, sexuality, and class movements as well."

"Did you have a problem with that? It sounds like something you would say."

"I thought she was right. Our club is predominately white. So I spoke to Hannah about it - she told me that it wasn't a big loss that Alicia didn't want to join."

"So I tried to convince her by telling her that Alicia would start another club which would go against the whole message of women coming together, not to mention undermine our club participation. She just shrugged - said that our club was better and she didn't want someone like her ruining it."

"What did she mean by that?"

"I asked her that too, she said 'you know what I'm talking about - she's poor and she's here on scholarship'. So I walked away."

"Well, good for you. I never liked her anyway," He wrinkled his nose. "Why do you look so glum then?"

"Because we're getting a repeat at our school of what happened in New York a year ago. Instead of one big women's march, there were two smaller competing marches because an organizer of one was antisemite."

"So what? A march is still march."

She shook her head, "The impact isn't the same. Fewer people showed up. If they combined together it would have been twice as powerful."

"I don't know how to change it. How to convince people that feminism has evolved from an issue that used to just be about gender. Your identity isn't only male or female - it's multifaceted. And not all women are equal either. Not all women identify with each other. We should be embracing these differences, not letting them drive us apart."