Featured Feminists
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I have been at Boston College for seven years, and currently serve as the Executive Director of the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs office. I live in Watertown and on any given day I am balancing work, school, relationship, friends, family, and my athletic interests. I love to write and so I combine my love of writing with my love of swimming in a weekly blog. For my doctoral research, I am investigating how master’s students engage with the university and how the university supports them; they are often a neglected group and there is little to no research on the master’s student experience. I also love working with and mentoring young women who want to go into the field of student affairs. I am a voracious reader and enjoy history and non-fiction the most. I am currently reading Mika Brzezinski’s “Know Your Value” and highly recommend it. My guilty pleasure is watching Real Housewives. It’s so abhorrent but I can’t stop watching.
2. What are you most passionate about?
The short answer is that I am passionate about most everything in my life: family, work, athletic interests, and academic pursuits. If you asked most of my friends and family, they would say that I feel strongly about a lot of things that occur in our world, large and small. If you asked my partner John he would say I get a little too passionate watching the news or reading a newspaper. I do my best to have patience when people act or speak out of ignorance, even with things that seem inconsequential. For example, I can’t tell you how many people believe that Title IX is exclusively about women’s sports replacing men’s sports on college campuses. Title IX is about civil rights, giving opportunity for women in an academic setting. Many people have used collegiate athletics to attack Title IX, setting up a misguided belief that when women win men lose. It’s not true, but it takes conversation and education to de-bunk that myth.
3. How do you define “feminism”?
I think that feminism is when women believe we can do something without worrying whether we will be limited – in policy, practice, or spirit – by our sex. It’s about confidence and assuming the best of people’s intentions, not the worst. It’s also about appreciating that women and men are different, that we bring different strengths to this world.
4. Why do you identify yourself as a feminist?
I guess the simple answer is that I don’t know any other way to be. It is part of how I was raised, it’s part of who I have surrounded myself with in my life, and it’s part of what I have chosen to do with my work and who I work with. But then again, I identified as a feminist back in the eighties when it wasn’t very cool to be a feminist.
5. Who or what inspires you?
My grandmother, mom, and sisters inspire me. They are all strong, independent women who show how feminism is about bringing your strengths to anything you do. They are an accomplished group – whether you call them wife, mother, nurse, physician, veterinarian – they made (or make) significant contributions to so many people’s lives. And not all lived in a time period where that was valued, but still persevered. I give my mom and grandma a lot of credit.
Oddly enough, I am also inspired by men who advocate for women’s issues. Perhaps this should not surprise or inspire me, but I find myself fascinated by men who go out of their way to break down stereotypes or speak of their own experience with women’s equality. Perhaps this shows my own bias that I don’t think we are quite there yet as a society.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a book reading, rugby playing, French speaking, world travelling, art making whirl wind of adventure. I try to squeeze every minute out of the day because I am involved with a lot of different groups. I’ve recently become a food snob although, somewhat ironically, there isn’t a lot I can eat. I have a little sister who is one of my best confidants. I’m president of the GLC and I can’t wait for senior year to start!
2. What are you most passionate about?
Photography is my passion. My dream job would be as a fashion or travel photographer. I love the human body and I think that it’s a very powerful thing to capture, no matter what the shape.
3. How do you define “feminism”?
Feminism is a state of mind that allows me to be strong and confident about who I am, not only as a woman, but also as a person. Feminism is about being able to speak out when someone says something that doesn’t jive with your beliefs. I don’t like when people say derogatory things about women, so I say something about it. Feminism isn’t necessarily confrontational however; letting people know that you don’t support the language or attitudes that degrade women doesn’t have to be point of argument. When you say what you believe, a lot of times people will respect that.
4. Why do you identify yourself as a feminist?
I’m a feminist because I take care of myself mentally, spiritually, and physically. Feminism isn’t about hating men or any of the stereotypical images with which it’s associated. When I take care of myself, when I respect myself as a person, that is when I’m proclaiming to the world that I love myself as a woman, and no one can take that away from me. Through taking care of and respecting myself, I can show other women that they don’t have to degrade themselves in order to be recognized in the world.
5. Who or what inspires you?
I don’t know if I can specifically pinpoint one person or thing that inspires me. I get a lot of my artistic inspiration from things that I see every day. I really like Marie Antoinette…why? I’m not actually sure; it might just be because I like Kirsten Dunst in the movie. But other than that, I would say I’m very inspired by anyone who gets out in the world and makes a difference no matter what the scale. For example, my fifth grade teacher used to send school supplies to kids in Bolivia and she would have us bring in various items every couple of months. I don’t know how she got involved with it, but I remember being really impressed with her generosity.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I grew up in Minnesota, and am a Midwesterner through and through (it’s “pop,” not “soda”). I’m a sociology major because I love studying why people do the things they do. I’m really artsy and do everything from painting to mosaics. I’m known for being really passionate about things. I’m crazy about TV, and plan on studying it after I graduate. My most recent obsessions are The Good Wife and Arrested Development. Eventually I want to go into academia and hopefully teach about television or gender studies.
2. What are you most passionate about?
Truthfully, television. Ever since high school I’ve been an avid TV watcher. I’m planning on writing my thesis about Lost, actually—people usually think I’m kidding when I tell them that. Most people view television as a waste of time, but I’d argue that certain shows—especially modern-day quality comedies and dramas like Lost, Dexter, The West Wing, Mad Men, and Sex and the City—help us to engage with and think about issues that we wouldn’t otherwise encounter in our daily lives. These shows raise the same issues that a lot of us study in our classes—for one of my sociology courses, I wrote a 15 page paper on how Dexter raises the same questions about authenticity and performance in social situations that Erving Goffman does in his work. I’ve had countless conversations with people about the shows I watch and the issues that they raise. Almost everyone loves seeing movies and watching television, and there’s a reason for that. I think it’s about time we all stop feeling so ashamed about it.
3. How do you define “feminism”?
Feminism for me just means equal economic and social opportunities for everyone, regardless of gender. Feminism gets such a bad rap—I know so many people who either (a) are feminists and afraid to advertise it or (b) think they hate feminism when in reality they believe in what it entails. I would classify a lot of the people I know as feminists, but when I tell them that, they deny it. Limiting feminism to bra-burning and unshaven legs is like limiting Catholicism to Opus Dei. There are always extremes—but we shouldn’t let that distort our viewpoint.
4. Why do you identify yourself as a feminist?
I believe that every individual should have equal social and economic opportunities regardless of the gender to which they ascribe. Yes, I wear make-up and shave my legs—that’s not what it’s about for me. It comes down to equality and respect. Many aspects of modern society foster power imbalances across gender—a prime example is the hook-up culture. Ever notice that there’s no male equivalent for the word “slut”? The hook-up culture is great in many ways but I think it puts girls in a tough spot sometimes—caught between wanting to engage in it and wanting to avoid stigmatization. After three waves of feminism, women are still fighting in their everyday lives for equality and respect. On the societal level, women are still making less than 80 cents on the male dollar—that’s horrifying!
5. Who or what inspires you?
That’s a tough question to answer, because there’s no one person or one thing that I draw inspiration from. What I’ve found really inspiring in my life, though, is when my friends and/or family have been there for me in times of need. There’s nothing more amazing than one person being there for another. Anyone who has ever been through a rough time knows that. I think just watching people try to do their best is really inspiring. In the face of knowing that perfection is unattainable, some people never stop trying to better themselves, and I think that’s truly incredible.