Two juniors and one sophomore, frustrated with the lack of activism-oriented feminist groups on campus, have taken over Feminists at Brown to empower campus feminists in a new way — by focusing on effecting change in the real world.
The three women were inspired by the Occupy movement to look outside of Brown at the vast obstacles women still face, said Lily Goodspeed '13, one of the new leaders.
The leaders had wanted to start their own feminist group, but the Undergraduate Council of Students rejected their application, citing as its reason the University's lack of resources to accommodate such a similar group.
Goodspeed, Ana Alvarez '13, a former Herald senior staff writer and Herald staff writer Sophia Seawell '14 contacted the group's then-leaders to ask if they could make the group more activism-oriented. Though she expected the interaction to be awkward, Goodspeed found the old leaders busy with senior theses and more than willing to hand over the reins.
Feminists At Brown has been known in recent years mainly for Tea and Feminism, a weekly event it hosts that encourages conversation about feminist issues. The meeting serves as "a casual discussion group for people who want to be involved but might not have the time," said Julia Dahlin '12, a former leader of the group.
"They sat around and talked, which is good, but it wasn't activism," Seawell said.
"Feminists at Brown has struggled because a lot of feminist issues are about sexual health, and (those issues) have their own groups," Dahlin said. The group's former leaders are excited about an infusion of new energy to reinvigorate the group, she added.
The new leaders began brainstorming ideas with the group's members to facilitate feminist activism on campus at their first meeting Nov. 21. Some members expressed interest in starting a feminist publication, and others suggested hosting a teach-in, similar to the one held for the Occupy movement, to educate the student body on feminism's continued relevance.
Alvarez is particularly excited about an idea to hold a party where attendees dress in drag to "(expletive) gender roles." The party would also give the group a chance to raise funds for other projects.
The three women expressed their hope that the new incarnation of the group not have a formal leadership structure and will focus on specific projects. The leaders, who have borrowed the title of "facilitators" from the Occupy movement, said their job will be to advise and help finance the various ideas that members of the group wish to pursue.
"Everyone in the group has their responsibility — this is ours," Goodspeed said. She added that they will allow others to facilitate.
The leaders had a variety of reasons for wanting to participate in the group. Goodspeed pointed to her mother as a driving force behind her feminist beliefs. Her mother "works really hard" at her job, but Goodspeed has "seen her be tortured by the fact that she feels like a bad mother for it," she said.
"Feminism is now maybe more important now than in the '20s, or in the '60s," Goodspeed added. Back then, the goal was defined, she said, and now it is difficult to convince people that there is still a problem.
Though the group intends to focus its work "aggressively outside of Brown," the leaders have noticed a troubling ignorance about the word "feminism" itself on campus. Goodspeed said her male friends still have misconceptions about the word. For example, when the group put up posters with the quotation, "Feminism is the radical notion that women are people," Goodspeed recounted that her male friends criticized her and said feminists should not be so abrasive if they want to be taken seriously.
Even at Brown, there is still the notion that feminists burn their bras and do not shave, Alvarez said. "And so what if they did?" she added.
Goodspeed cited the experiences of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin in the 2008 presidential election as indicators of the cultural battle women still have to wage. Women should not have to sacrifice their femininity or use their sexuality for political gain, she said.
Still, American women's problems are minor compared to the troubles that exist for women around the world, Alvarez said, pointing to sex slavery, sex trafficking, genital mutilation and the use of rape as a form of war as issues that the group will target in its efforts.
