Here I am speaking at the International Day of the Girl assembly at my school (photo credit: Lexie Clinton).
Within just a few short weeks, the Fierce and Fabulous: Feminist Women Writers, Artists, and Activists class at my high school has opened my mind immensely.
We started off by thinking why we took this class. Almost everybody said they chose to take it because they wanted to see how feminism is relevant today, and shortly we learned that it very much is. We are well aware that feminism is not dead, nor are any of the issues around it.
International Day of the Girl to me is about celebrating all types of women and girls, locally, nationally, and globally, as well as acknowledging the issues that women and girls face daily. Through looking at the topic of intersectionality, I have realized that issues of gender, in one way or another, are almost guaranteed to coincide with issues of race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, ability, age, geography, and so on.
Through Cherríe Moraga‘s, La Guera, Combahee River Collective‘s A Black Feminist Statement, and Slut: The Play, we were able to see examples and pull together ways in which these different oppressions relate and influence each other.
A way I could more personally relate to the theory of intersectionality was through our intersectionality personal essays. This essay allowed me to explore my own identity in relation to how I live at the intersection of different groups. This essay did in fact move me toward a greater understanding of self and identity. When given the assignment, my first response was that I probably wouldn’t have much too write about, because I am white, and therefore, I am privileged.
While it is true that my racial status does guarantee me to be more privileged than some, I was at first apprehensive that if I explored the ways in which I am oppressed, it would seem as if I am denying my white privilege, when that is not the case. As a woman in a feminism class, it is clear that I can connect with the fight for gender equity, but I have learned that feminism is much more than just gender. I was able to see that gender, age, and race are all very relevant to me and my identity.
This class has exposed me to and influenced me to attend all sorts of events that relate to feminism and its relevance today. Already I have seen Slut: The Play, joined the Stop Slut Coalition, and attended the Girls Speak Out event at the United Nations. I have been provided with so many different opportunities and things to attend in such a short amount of time.
Joining the Stop Slut Coalition is a way I feel I am personally doing something and taking action outside of the classroom. After seeing Slut the Play, I was interested in joining the coalition. The play got me very interested in slut culture and slut shaming and the way it is very relevant in my own community.
I already knew that the word “slut” is frequently used, nonetheless by girls and boys my own age, people I personally know, and even myself before all of this, but the play opened up my eyes to why it really should not be used at all. Of course, I knew that being called a slut was and is never a good thing but I did not realize to what extent it devalues women and girls, and our own right to sexuality.
Besides the obvious reason that it is used as an insult, it is often intended to make girls and women, who have a given and natural right to sexuality as well as the right to embrace it, to feel like it is wrong as soon as they do so. To me, when this word is used, it gives off the impression that the degradation of women and girls is justified, when we know it isn’t. Everyone should be taught and aware that sexuality is a natural right and the word “slut” should not be used to identify someone in any situation.
A huge part of International Day of the Girl is acknowledging the need for girls’ education globally. We began our unit on girls’ education by watching Malala Yousafzai speak at the UN. We learned about her empowering story in which she passionately advocates for women’s education. Education is a right for every child and education for all is a step closer to gender equity.
Education is important because it leads to empowerment, opportunity, confidence. Statistical evidence also proves that education is necessary and often leads to a better future for many girls. Malala and her two friends were shot in the face by the Taliban because they were activists for girls education. She says that the Taliban “thought that the bullet would silence [them], but they failed,” and instead “strength, power, and courage was born.”
Malala is a very inspiring young girl and a good example of how education can empower a girl to change the world and become a leader. The Girls Speak Out event that my high school feminism class and I attended displayed the same advocacy for girls’ education and how girls (and boys) like us should know and enforce our rights, as well as know that as Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin from UNFPA said, “you don’t have to be old and experienced to make a change in the world,”
