I am a UNC feminist

I'm Sam, and I am a UNC feminist! I started this blog as a course project for WGST 350: Spitting in the Wind. This course is on activism in the American hemisphere. As part of my activist project, this blog will feature images of feminist men and women at UNC and beyond. I was overwhelmed by the response to a Facebook post for feminists willing to answer three questions for me. Even those who are no longer at UNC or affiliated with the university at all wanted to contribute, so their responses are included here as well. I'll go first, and give my responses as an introduction to how the blog works. 

If you want to contribute to this blog, email me your answers to the following questions to: samn216@gmail.com

1. What does feminism mean to you?
   
   Feminism means the freedom of choice. For my grandparent's generation, options for work included being a seamstress as long as it was in the home. Living in rural Argentina, she had no options for higher education and was dependent on her husband for any resources. When he passed away, she was dependent on her children. My mother did not get to go to college either, and though she had secure and stable white-collar jobs, she struggled as a single mother. I feel like feminism gives me the choice to be a mother, or to remain childless. If I choose to have children, I can either work or stay home with them. I am an engaged college student, getting married in May. I am applying to PhD programs in sociology with a future husband who is supportive of my career choices, who does the laundry and the dishes, and who is more willing to put his career on hold to raise children than I am! This is what feminism means to me. I can define and then pursue the life choices that would give me the most meaning. I can find a man to marry who thinks that being a stay-at-home-dad can be a meaningful vocation, and who values my career and intellectual capacity as much as his own. Feminism means empowering not just women, but men, too, to have meaningful lives and families.

2. Do you feel like you have a female role model in college?
   Over my college career, almost every one of my professors have been women. Whether these women self-identify as feminist, being there, at the head of a classroom, with the authority of their doctoral status, has provided a pattern of role models. In my workplace, my three female bosses who are all wonderfully intelligent, thoughtful, strong, and incredible leaders have shaped an intentionally feminist workplace (by which I mean, experiential, non-hierarchical, and very discursive). Each of these women have, in their own way, been an incredible role model.

3. What do you do to make UNC a more feminist-friendly place?
   I try to challenge, in every day conversation, language and thought that is detrimental to women or girls. I challenge "male-generic" language, and sexist jokes or language. I try to engage in frank conversation those who offend or condescend. I challenge the notion that "rape" is a word to be used as a joke. I try to be a leader. I try to do my best to represent women well. And I try to live my beliefs every day.