I. Am. A. Feminist. Say it with me, friends. I am a feminist. I am a Feminist. I am a FEMINIST.
I have been teaching university students for almost sixteen years, and when I have asked them if they consider themselves feminists, a lot have told me no. Many have said "yes, but..." Few have simply said yes. People worry about being called the f-word, Feminist.
Yes, I capitalized it. Why? It's practically a proper noun, a religion even when you think about it as an -ism. What do Feminists do? We put our faith in Feminism. We believe that females and males, women and men, and the people who identify as some hybrid or another category altogether, are equal. We recognize oppression. We see discrepancies in things such as representations of people based on sex and gender. We question systems of any kind that inscribe inferiority based on sex and gender. We work hard. We march for women's rights (including trans-rights). We talk about, and write about, these things, too.
Sometimes Feminists wear t-shirts. Sometimes these t-shirts have the word FEMINISM on them. Sometimes they also have cute birds saying funny, foul things, such as "Feminism is for Everyone, Dipshit." Sometimes Feminists wear these shirts in public. Sometimes they wear them to work.
Let's start with this lovely example of a shirt that my friend, Laura, gifted me this week. Here's the image from Effin' Birds:
I can almost hear Laura saying these words! :) I can see now why Laura would purchase such a shirt. As the title of this Huffington Post article announces, "Effin' Birds are Angry at Life for All of Us." Aaron Reynolds created the Effin' Birds, and you can follow them/him on Twitter @EffinBirds, or in the other usual places (Instagram, Facebook, tumblr, etc.). You can also go to the online store to grab your own gear.
Thankfully, I didn't have to go to the store! I got this cool shirt from Laura:
Because I was going to be on campus and not meeting with students or teaching, I wore the shirt. Hey, casual Friday? :D I also wore a sweater. 1) It was in the 40s-50s today. 2) I wasn't quite brave enough to wear a shirt saying "dipshit" around campus. So...this black sweater let the words "Feminism" and "Everyone" stand out, which is basically capturing the message of the shirt.
See? Oh, and I wore some jeans.
So, to return to where I started. I am a Feminist. I now have a Feminist t-shirt. Thanks to all the Feminists who paved the way for me to do what I do--including teaching Feminist theory--on a daily basis, which now can also include wearing graphic tees with foul fowls flaunting Feminism. See what I did there? I HAD to do it. :D
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Earlier this week I blogged about wearing my Doctor Who shirt to campus on a Friday. This week it's the Feminism shirt. Are you sensing a trend? Hope so. Do you have a particularly awesome shirt that you wear to campus on Fridays or non-teaching days? Want to blog about it? Let me know! Guest bloggers are always welcome.
