why why why

Why is it that everyone has to make fun of feminism? I was hanging out with one of my guy friends who is taking gender issue in sport and we were talking about some of the gender issues that he had learned about in his class. I found it fascinating that he actually had an interest in feminism (whether it was because he actually cared or he just wanted a good grade in his class). So we were talking about title 9 and he wanted to know what I knew about it. He knew that I had taken multiple sex and gender classes. Just as I began telling him reasons for why women were refused an education, his roommates walked in. They asked what we were talking about and I said, "We're talking about the history of feminism." Each guy burst in to laughter and would not stop hysterically laughing. I know that guys sometimes are embarrassed about talking about or taking an interest in issues dealing with women, but why is this? Why is it that there are barely any guys even in our class? Is it really that embarrassing to admit that a guy has an interest in the history of women's rights? And if a guy does have an interest then why is it that all of his friends laugh at him? I don't understand what is so funny about it. Even if I ask the guys that laugh why they were laughing they won't give me a clear response. They never have an actual reason for making fun of feminism. So why is that as a society we ingrain in the minds of boys that learning about women's rights is something to laugh at? Where did the joke that I hear day after day about women making sandwiches even originate from? Yeah I get it, women belong in the kitchen, but what the fuck, really, it's 2011. Who even thinks that way anymore?

Just the other day I was with a few of my friends hanging out at a restaurant and I happen to see a girl that I know from one of my other classes that considers herself to be a feminist activist. I say to my friend who is a girl,"Hey, thats the girl I was telling you about who's really in to feminism." One of my guy friends over hears and says, "What? Does she have really hairy armpits?" Why did he say that? Why is it that feminism has such a negative stereotype? And what can we do to change it? 

These are just two things that happened to me in the past week. But constantly I am either over hearing or being told jokes about women. What does everyone think about this? Does anyone else notice how often these jokes are being made?

In honor of WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

Learn about National Women's History Month <--click here

First Day

After our first class of Introduction to Women’s Studies I really have thought a lot about why I am taking this class and what I hope to gain from it. My answer to the question when we went around the room was that I am majoring in business and am all about women in business so I hope to minor in women’s studies. But really, it’s so much more then that. I want to take classes like this one so I can learn more about something that really matters to me. I am tired of the instant reaction of those who know me and those who don't that automatically assume I am a lesbian when I say that I consider myself to be a feminist. I'm tired of my boyfriend thinking he's funny when he calls me fem-ily. I'm annoyed that when I began reading the book Feminism is for Everybody, my best friend says to her boyfriend who is on the phone "Oh Emily is just reading one of her Feminism books AGAIN." I'm tired of people thinking that I hate men or that I think women don't need men. I want to be able to have something to say back to all of the people who assume that feminism is bad and just hates on men. I want to be able to give my friends a clear definition that is easy for them to understand that describes what feminism is all about and why it is so important to me. Before coming to IC I never ever thought that I would consider my self a feminist. When I began to realize that it was something that I really felt was important to me, I was afraid to admit it. I took women's lives last semester and in the book we had to read there was a part about egalitarian gender roles. Ever since reading that I always have said to those who laugh when I talk about feminism, "I'm not a feminist, I just believe in egalitarian gender roles." I knew I was in the right class when we talked about what we normally hear at the end of "I'm not a feminist but…"