Feminism Y: A New Approach to Activism by Nicole Defenbaugh

I was once asked by an educator, “How would you describe today’s college students and how do you teach them?” In the last ten years since I started teaching, I have been asked questions about my teaching philosophy, new courses, and research interests. But I have rarely been asked about the students I teach and how I would describe their generation. Often the answer is given to me, “Today’s students are lazy and apathetic. They don’t read the textbook, and they often waste class time texting their friends.” Countless colleagues have given a similar remark over the last few years. And although I have agreed with them in the past, I have recently stopped to ask myself why the latest generation of college students, Generation Y or the Millennial generation (born 1985-2005), is portrayed in such a negative light. Is it technological distraction and educational apathy or is there more than meets the pedagogical eye? I am only a decade older than my many of my students and a decade (or two) younger than most of my colleagues so I hear both sides of the “your-generation-doesn’t-understand-us” argument. As a Generation X-er I remember similar comments made by parents and grandparents that I now find myself repeating. But each fall semester as I look out over the room of new Gender Communication students, I wonder if I’m making a fair assessment of this generation. I wonder if my/society’s perception of college students, especially budding feminists, as apathetic and narcissistic is justifiable or unfair. Or is the method of feminist activism merely different/unrecognizable to the rest of us?

If you search the internet for information on Generation Y you will find articles such as “Generation Y Disappoints Employers” (ABC News, 2007) and “Is Gen Y Really All That Narcissistic?” (Erickson, 2008). The media frequently labels Generation Y as “incapable of acknowledging or appreciating others’ points of view,” (Erickson), impatient, bad communicators, unable to take criticism, and demanding. The negative criticism, however, is not unique to this generation as it also plagues young feminists, reprimanded for being self-absorbed and indifferent to the rights their second-wave counterparts worked so hard to earn. But are Generation Y feminists unconcerned and unappreciative or is their approach simply different from past wavers? I have heard from second-wave feminists, for example, that third-wave feminists take for granted the rights their aunts, mothers, and grandmothers protested for in the 60s and 70s. But feminists of this generation are protesting. A few years ago I participated in a free choice abortion protest with many feminists younger than myself. Codepink, for example, is an anti-war group where you can engage in vigils, protests, and sit-ins. In an article entitled, “Go, Young Feminists, Go!” posted on Feministe, a 17 year old Canadian girl raised $2,000 for Eating Disorder Awareness Week to “help them [those with eating disorders] with future education.” But for Codepink, N.O.W. and other groups, involvement is not only socially visible, it can also be virtual. N.O.W. (National Organization for Women) has a section of its website devoted to young feminists regarding conferences, workshops, and campaigns. Allgirlarmy.com, a site for “young feminist[s] looking for a vital community, peer and mentor support, energized discussion and a great place to be seen and heard” has mostly blogs and posts like the website Feminism101 blog and the “Young Feminist Task Force” on MySpace. Feminism is alive as the article “Young Feminists Fight Back” (AlterNet.com) proclaims, reminding us that although this generation’s definition of feminism may not look like your mother’s/grandmother’s, it’s still feminism...no matter how you dress it up.

So how do we connect with Generation Y feminists who may embody aspects of third-wave feminism while engaging in acts of the new fourth-wave (e.g., political activism and spirituality), through mediated methods? The same way past feminist generations did: be involved, listen, and maintain an open mind. Young feminists, like myself, often search for mentors—those with vision and passion for change. They want to connect with others and discuss the inevitable change happening both to them and around them. What better way to stay connected than through advances in technology. Is the blog entry or text message a means of distraction and boredom or a way to stay active in distance communities/cultures? Is the zine a form of expression or social activism? Why not both? Considering a zine, blog, or even text message as an act of protest is worth considering, especially in this increasingly technologically-advanced age. I still don’t know how to describe today’s college students or feminists and that’s o.k. I don’t want to define, label, or offer a cookie cutter response to colleagues’ inquires. I want them to discover the answer for themselves. As for myself, I know if I want to reach emerging feminists in the classroom, I need to consider different forms of communication, keep an open mind and, as Barbara Finden wrote, “listen up to the voices from the next feminist generation” (even the blog, zine, and text message have a story to tell).

Anita Taylor's post on Judge Sonia Sotomayor

If there is a place anywhere to carry out a dialogic, thoughtful and passionate analysis of language and gender (including all gender’s many facets including race and class) in communication, OSCLG should be it. I hope to initiate such a dialogue.

I was primed to open this blog discussing ways we have described Judge Sonia Sotomayor and her proposed appointment to the U. S. Supreme Court. I wondered for example how the commentary has proceeded outside this media and political hothouse in which I live, Washington D. C. How do sources and media other than those based in DC & New York present the information about Sotomayor’s appointment? What do they include? What omit? What emphasize? How do commentators, journalists, respondents there describe the judge? What, for example, do writers and speakers choose to use as descriptors? Is Judge Sotomayor Latina, Hispanic, Nuyorrican, a NewYorkRican, a Newyorkrican, Latin@? And what might such references imply? Or hide?

I also wondered what it means when the furor about her 2001* comment is first raised by white men and focuses on race. Even overlooking the nuances, her statement was obviously as much about her sex as about “race.” Do respondents’ ignoring gender mean, as one commentator claimed, that the current ubiquitous presence of women in the public world has rendered gender unremarkable? Or does it signify, as I suspect, that we continue to bury and hide the effects of gender and class in how we see and treat people. Note, for example, how when either Sotomayor’s ethnicity or her sex is referenced it is as a characteristic she “has,” not something that others attribute to her and respond to.

But then . . . and yet . . . and here I commit a cardinal error: Raise two ideas in one essay. Never mind that they relate. It would take the academic’s essay length to show that; and this is a decidedly different medium. Still . . . comment I must. In an op-ed piece in this morning’s Washington Post, Graham Allison writes that “Iran has lost its nuclear virginity.” The descriptor eerily evokes a news story of just a week ago (May 24) in which the Post reporters noted that Secretary Clinton had just completed her “maiden” diplomatic trip to China. OMG.

The metaphors defy comment. And, not coincidentally, Allison’s comment appeared on the same day as the horrific story of George Tiller’s murder while he served as usher in his church. Violence – sex – gender. A truly deadly triangle.

Five years ago, M. J. Hardman and I asked the question, What new can be said? when it comes to discussing war, language and gender (Women and Language Fall 2004). We gave many examples of the tight interweaving of generative metaphors involving sex, gender and violence; we cited and referenced others who’ve explored the issue. Our collection of such examples continues to grow, exponentially, because those of us who think and talk in U. S. English still accept implicit violence in relationships and tolerate explicit violence in both our popular culture and our daily lives. How willing we are to recreate and reinforce the connections of sex and violence through our language!

I say it’s time we call a halt. It’s time we expose the hidden patterns, unlink sex and gender from violence. Enough with the innocence of “maidenhood” and the virility of armament. Enough with ignoring the class / gender / race-ethnicity of white men and tagging only “others” with such identities.

It’s time we publicly and repeatedly call out the mindless repetition of language patterns that undermine our expressed hope for all individuals and groups to flourish. Let this become a space where we do so.

*Access fulltext of the speech at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html