Successes and Challenges – Rebecca Crowley

Prior to enrolling and deciding to major in Women’s Studies, I had not really given the term “feminism” much thought, in fact, I didn’t even really understand exactly what it meant! I can now say that after being in this program for the past five years, having an understanding of feminism has allowed me to recognize so much more about life in terms of how I view situations and also about how I see myself as a woman living in today’s society.

When asked to write about the successes and challenges I face in being open and accepting to others’ concepts, definitions and practice of feminism within the past six months, I automatically think back and reflect on my experiences in the Women in Protest class that I was enrolled in last semester.

Because this course was a fourth year class, it was very involved with the notions of feminism and of protest (two things that I had not been exposed to for a long period of time). At first, I struggled to follow along with the course content, and it was also difficult for me to relate my definition of feminism with my peers’ definitions. I would not even participate in class because I felt as though my thoughts and opinions were not “right.” Looking back, I realize that I was intimidated by my peers’ definitions of feminism.

My experiences were especially challenged when we were told about our final group project. We were required to break into four different groups and work on different aspects of the final project. When our group got together, it was evident that we all had different definitions of feminism. Some girls in the group were strong advocates for women’s rights, while others were not as concerned with protesting and advocating, but still identified as feminists. I wondered how we would all work together as a group, especially with our different views and beliefs about feminism.

After much thought, I came to the conclusion that I had to remain open and be accepting of other people's views and try my best to understand other people's views of feminism in order for our group to effectively work together; after all, feminism is about being inclusive. Therefore, challenges I experienced were accepting other people’s beliefs that did not fit in with mine. This makes me uneasy, and it also causes me to question my own thoughts/beliefs (as I also did in class discussions, resulting in me not participating). Successes I experienced through this revelation gave me a glimpse into the minds of others. I believe that finding similarities between each others ideas and beliefs make feminism stronger; the more people who rally together, the stronger the force is, which was clearly evident in our final project. Our final project was a protest against the school newspaper the Lance because we found that it contained racist and sexist information, so we protested to raise awareness about these issues.

Therefore, as a result of learning to accept other people's views, I grew in acceptance by valuing people as individuals with their own thoughts and beliefs. Accepting people’s thoughts and beliefs makes me a better person because I know my limits. This new-found acceptance also allows me to gain experience in the views of others, which will also aid me as a future teacher, as acceptance and openness are important personal traits in becoming an effective teacher.