University of Kentucky Feminist Alliance in the house!!

This is an interview with Virginia Conn, member of the UK Feminist Alliance. Enjoy!!

1. What is the mission of the UK Feminist alliance?

First, I want to identify and thank some of the people who have been instrumental in working with the Feminist Alliance throughout the last year: Jaime Lazich, Jason Grant, David King, Brittany Moore, and Megan Moore. They have been the heart and soul of our organization, and don’t get nearly enough credit for their hard work both on and off campus.

That said, our official mission statement is: “The UK Feminist Alliance seeks to promote issues of equality across a broad range of social arenas. Focused on—but not limited to—concerns related to women and minorities, we work at the grassroots level to make UK a better place for everyone.” I think the most important aspect of our organization, however, is to show that feminism is an issue that affects each and every individual, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, etc. There’s a place within feminism for everyone!

2. How long has the alliance been on UK’s campus?

I’ve been personally involved with the Fem Alliance since 2005, but it’s been around for far longer than I have, and hopefully will continue on long after I leave.


3. What does feminism mean to you?

Why am I a feminist? I'm almost tempted to say that the answer should be obvious, but I hear so often—in my classes, in the media, from the mouths of my friends and family—that we live in a post-feminist society, that feminism has accomplished its goals and should now, like any good movement which has finished what it set out to do, lay down and die. And that's true, in some sense. Feminism has gained women the right to vote. Feminism has allowed women to work outside the home. Feminism has opened up venues to women that would have been unthinkable even in our mothers' time, let alone our grandmothers' or great-grandmothers'. But how can any movement rest when there's still so much left to do? How can feminism be swept into the dustbin of 'post'-feminism when women still make only ¾ of a man's salary; when shows like The Swan or America's Next Top Model exist to tell us, men and women, that women are only to be valued for their looks; when we have yet to own control of our own bodies in the form of fully-accessible birth control or the hpv vaccine or abortion; when America has yet to elect a woman to the most powerful position in the world? There's no post-feminism when feminism still has attainable goals, and to achieve true equality, there must be feminists who are willing to work for a day when their movement can finally, truly, become obsolete. That day is not today, but I hope it comes soon.

4. What are some of the challenges that feminists face at the university of Kentucky? What about in Kentucky in general?

Most of the challenges we face at UK are the same that any feminist faces in Kentucky or the nation in general: indifference. It’s so easy to think that because we’ve come so far, we’ve come all the way. We get comments on our FB wall pretty frequently calling us anachronistic (not exactly in those terms) for insisting on equality when “women and men are already equal, stupid!” And, of course, there’s always the name-calling and insults whenever we host events, but really, foul language is only secondary. Our biggest challenge by far is the feeling that no one is willing to act for the kind of world they want to live in, they just want it to be here already.

5. Some have critiqued feminism as being a movement that only serves the interests of white middle class women. How does the UK feminist alliance work to include both people of color and people from different class backgrounds?

Honestly, we’re at somewhat of a disadvantage in this area, just by virtue of being an organization centered at a university in Kentucky. The vast majority of our potential members are white and have the means (even if only through loans) to attend college in the first place. Our main method of recruitment is being out in the public eye and drawing attention to issues we care about, which we try to do in conjunction with other multicultural groups. If people in the community see us as a representation of feminism, however, and we’re all uniformly one color and class, then unfortunately we give the same impression as you mentioned in your question. It’s an issue we would like to overcome.

6. In your opinion, are young people eager to embrace feminism?

I don’t think young people are eager to embrace the word itself, because it has (unfortunately) acquired so many negative connotations: man-hater, extremist, etc. I also don’t believe that young people are eager to act to revolutionize ideas about gender. That said, I do think more and more young people are being raised to expect certain ideas about equality that are relatively new in the public consciousness, such as women in positions of power, males taking on stereotypically “feminine” attributes and jobs (I can think of three guys right off the top of my head who aim to be stay-at-home dads), equal partnerships, genderqueer identities, and so on. These individuals may not think of their way of life as a feminist one, but any action that puts men and women on equal footing is exactly that.

7. What would be a feminist perspective on gender? (there is no right or wrong answer of course!)

What a loaded question! This varies so much across the whole “feminist movement” that it’s impossible to say definitively what a “feminist perspective” would be without offensively simplifying the issue for some. I can tell you my own perspective, as a feminist, on the issue, and hope that that’ll be good enough. For me, since feminism itself is all about choice and equality (two nebulous words in and of themselves), gender necessarily both follows and informs those same choices. Unlike sex, with which (most) people are born as either one or the other, some people can consider themselves women, some people can consider themselves men, some are both, some are neither, and some change depending on the day and their mood and the weather. I don’t mean to make light of the topic by saying that; I feel that gender is an identity that is as much a performance of internal and external expectations as it is an integral part of the way you were born, and because your own and others’ expectations are always changing, it stands to reason that the way to enact your gender would do so, too.

8. Feminist movements are often described as being part of “waves.” Currently we are experiencing third wave feminism. What does that mean?

Third-wave feminism is the recognition that there are no all-encompassing feminist ideals that everyone can agree with. It’s a movement founded on diversity and dialogue, not strict rules, but is only possible because earlier waves were united in a push towards common goals that are now foundational. For example, the first wave fought for very basic issues, such as the right for women to vote, while the second wave worked for the right for women to have access/equal opportunity in the workforce, as well as ending of legal sex discrimination. Some of the most prominent issues of this wave are reproductive rights and media representation, but as I said, there is no single issue to unite all feminists contained within the movement.

9. What projects is the feminist alliance working on?

Since the Feminist Alliance is a student organization, we usually take the summer as an opportunity to stop and catch our breath before starting up again in the fall. We have an ongoing project of putting together a Gender Resource Center in the Center for Student Involvement, however, for which we are always accepting donations, and we just finished up curating an exhibit for Boxes & Walls, an interactive diversity museum. Some proposed activities for the fall are a feminist-themed art show as part of the gallery hop, a pay-equity bake sale (which we have done in the past with great success), and our always-ongoing work with the Gender Resource Center.

10. Do you ever work with other campus or community organizations?

We try to collaborate on projects as often as possible. I mentioned previously that we recently finished working with an interactive diversity museum, which was sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and with which we were paired with the VIP Center. In the past, we held a forum about the female orgasm that featured speakers from the UK Medical Center and a representative from Planned Parenthood, and one of our current members is also a member of the Bluegrass NOW, so we expect some overlap there. We have also worked with OUTsource, VOX, and the producers of the Vagina Monologues, and are generally excited to collaborate any time there’s some kind of intersection of interest between groups (which happens all the time!).


11. How can someone get involved with the UK feminist alliance? Do they need to be a student?

We’re always looking for new members! To hold an office or act in an official capacity, someone would need to be a student, but we have currently and have had in the past many people who unofficially belong to the organization. If you have an interest in working with supportive equal-rights activists, don’t hesitate to contact us in any number of ways: our FB fan page (UK Feminist Alliance), our FB group (Girl Club), by e-mail (ukfeministalliance@gmail.com) or on our Twitter account (UKFemAlliance). We’d love to hear from you!

xo,
De Las.