Am I Invisible?

"I think people think it's a bit unattractive for a girl to be talking about [feminist things] all the time," says Szal, of New Hope, Pa. "You get a little stigmatized, like 'pushy' or 'problematic' or 'troublesome' or 'a lot to handle.'"

I must be a lot to handle, quite pushy and definitely troublesome. I must also be hella unattractive. Why didn't anyone tell me?!?

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Sharon Jayson of USA Today wrote an article asking "As NOW marks 45 years, is feminism over the hill?" She starts out by noting that feminism is "under the radar" to most young people today. Now, I am not sure how she comes to this conclusion. I feel like all I do is see examples of feminism and feminists. BUT! I also recognize that I went to a liberal university in the Northeast and have a masters in Women's Studies and want to grow up to be bell hooks. So maybe I am not the best person to ask about how most people see feminism today. BUT! Wait, I exist and am a young person...and the people I went to school with are young people...and...wait...Feminism is 'under the radar'? Huh?

The article notes that the word 'feminist' seems to be part of the "problem". People picture unhappy, angry women burning their bras and unable to take a joke. Unfortunately, I have had a few people make jokes about this very stereotype when I mention my women's studies background. Therefore I do sort of understand why some people shy away from the word "feminist". I have been there. At a dinner during grad school three years ago, someone asked me if I considered myself a feminist. I bumbled my way through the answer mostly because I had yet to define what feminism meant to me...and because, yes, part of me was worried about all the things people would say if I called myself a feminist.

Then I realized two things. First of all, some people already saw me as an angry woman who couldn't take a joke. Not because I studied women's studies, but because I was an outspoken young black woman. Second of all, people say dumb things, make dumb assumptions, and a lot of the time those things and assumptions have a direct effect on how people view and treat me. A lot of those things and assumptions have to do with the fact that I am a woman. (Read some of the comments on the article...you'll see some of those things and assumptions I'm talking about...)

Three years later, I can say now with a ton of certainty that I am a feminist. As the article notes, "the women's movement has evolved to focus more on what's termed the "intersectionality" of gender, race, class and sexual orientation." I most certainly came to feminism through an intersectional lens. I personally cannot separate being black from being female. The things I encounter in my life are usually a result of my race and gender interacting, intersecting. This does not preclude me from being a feminist (though the more I study, the more I feel like I prefer the term 'womanist'...) though and makes my feminism richer, I believe. Just because feminism has been broadened in some ways, does not mean it is dead. Just because my definition of feminism doesn't come from NOW, doesn't mean its not feminism. Perhaps this is not the type of feminism that Jayson is/wants to be talking about?

Jayson ignores Slutwalks, the Women of Occupy Wall Street, the writers of the numerous feminist blogs I read (Feministe, Feministing, The Crunk Feminist Collective...to name only three of the tons of blogs out there), and the many women (and men) on college campuses who proudly say they are feminists. She ignores me...you know, that girl who is unhappy, pushy, and ugly as hell who talks about being a black woman all the time. Yeah, her.

And guess what? She's pissed.

(Yes, I began talking about myself in the third person...don't judge...)