My recent reading of Sharon Jayson’s article “As NOW marks 45 years, is feminism over the hill?” (Jayson 2011: 1) made me think about feminism in a new light. I never felt weird saying that I was a feminist or a supporter of feminist causes. However, I was not ignorant of the stigma attached to the word. The article makes the opening statement: “For a movement so vocal when it began, feminism is largely under the radar of most younger Americans today, except maybe from gender studies classes or history books” (Jayson 2011:1). I think that this can be applied to Colgate University but I feel as though that is quickly changing here. Personally, I see and hear about more and more people at Colgate University thinking and talking about feminist issues. It goes without saying that the Women’s Studies Center has been a very popular place to be this year. Everyone at the Center has thought of creative ways to make the Center a fun and comfortable place. All of the Brown Bags and interactive opportunities help feminism seem more tangible in our lives. Moving outside of the Colgate bubble, other students my age think: “…it’s a bit unattractive for a girl to be talking about things like that all the time…you get a little stigmatized, like ‘pushy’ or ‘problematic’ or ‘troublesome’ or ‘a lot to handle’” (Jayson 2011:1). Well, I sometimes get called these things without talking about feminist issues, but I think that it is sad that anyone expressing their opinion would be stigmatized or chastised for doing so. Another opinion in this article is that women in the past have won everything for us; therefore, we can do anything we want. This is just an optimistic statement because there are still obstacles to overcome even in 2011. There is still apparent gender inequality in our society and the world as a whole. Overall, I think that we as a community can do more to make people proud to say feminism or feminist. What do you think? Read the Article Here!!
Natalie George
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