Um, okay, I'm Becca. I'm a sophomore from Sherman, Texas. I'm taking women's studies this semester because, while I guess I've always been feminist in my ideals, I only realized how passionately I felt about gender issues after I took a class last year about myths, of all things. Promoting gender equality is something I care very passionately about.
I think the turning point for me--the reason I'm in this class--was watching the movie "Killing Us Softly," a documentary about the role of women in advertising. It shocked and horrified me how much (and how subtly) women are still being objectified in the media
I want to help change that. I to be a writer--I'm an English major. My main goal is to write stories with strong, female protagonists, something I think is missing in modern literature. Especially in my favorite genre, scifi/fantasy. Where are all the cool women? Why are they all so helpless?
So, with that said, here are a few questions I have coming into this class:
1. When I call myself "feminist," what exactly do I mean?
2. Why is there no active third wave of feminism?
3. Do people avoid the word "feminist" because it's too gender exclusive?
4. If so, do we need a new word that includes both men and women, like "equalist" or something?
5. Who are the major feminist writers and where/what are they writing?